Train station of Sochi hidden behind palm trees
Sochi - Shache (Adyghe: Шъэчы) is a Russiann resort city, situated in Krasnodar Krai near the southern Russian border. It is located among the snow-capped peaks of the Caucasus Mountains overlooking the shores of the Black Sea. At 147 km, Greater Sochi is the second longest city (after Honolulu) in the world. As of the 2002 Census, it had a population of 397,500.[1]
History
From the 6th to the 15th centuries, the area successively belonged to the Khazars, kingdoms of Abkhazia, and Georgia, who built a dozen churches in Adler, Loo, and other districts of Greater Sochi. Ruins of an 11th century Byzantine basilica still survive in Loo. From the 15th century, the coast was controlled by the Ottoman Empire and partially by the local mountainous clans. It was ceded to Russia in 1829, as a result of the Russo-Turkish War.
Sochi was founded in 1838 as Alexandria settlement (Navaginskoye fortification, 1864 - Dakhovskiy Outpost, 1874 - Dakhovskiy Posad). It was incorporated as a city and got its present name in 1896. From 1918 to 1919, the city and its environs saw sporadic armed clashes involving the Red Army, White movement forces, and the Democratic Republic of Georgia.
Sochi was established as a fashionable resort area in the years of the Soviet Union, when Joseph Stalin had his favourite dacha built in the city.
Resort
The resort has a temperate climate and boasts many sanatoria and mineral baths. There are also tea plantations, the most northerly in Europe. The permanent population is about 315,400 (2004) but millions more arrive each summer, when the city is home to the annual film festival "Kinotavr" and the vacation place of Russian leaders. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Caucasian Biosphere Reserve, sprawls just north from the city.
Apart from the majestic Caucasus Mountains, pebbly and sand beaches, Sochi attracts vacation-goers with its subtropical vegetation, numerous parks, monuments, and extravagant Stalinist architecture. The local markets are made primarily of kiosks grouped together in areas with pavilions and more permanent larger structures.
Sochi is also remarkable for its sport facilities: a local tennis school spawned the careers of such notable players as Maria Sharapova and Yevgeny Kafelnikov (both spent most of their childhood here). In late 2005, the Russian Football Union announced that it was planning to establish a year-round training center for the country's national teams in Sochi. The city's warm climate was cited as one of the main incentives (the city's temperature averages above 14 degrees Celsius).
2014 Winter Olympic City
In June 2006, IOC president Jacques Rogge announced that Sochi had been selected as a finalist city to host the 2014 Winter Olympics. The other two finalists are Pyeongchang, South Korea, and Salzburg, Austria.[2]
In contrast to what was perceived as a lukewarm bid by Russia for Moscow to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, the Russian government has committed to a $12 billion investment package, shared 60-40 between the government and private sector, should Sochi be successful. The IOC will vote on a final candidate on July 4, 2007 in Guatemala City, Guatemala. If the current bid is unsuccessful Sochi is widely expected to try through at least the 2022 games to attempt to win a bid.
Environmental organisation Greenpeace has objected to Sochi being a candidate, because, according to Greenpeace, several of the planned sport resorts are located in natural reserves.[3]
Sister cities
Sochi is twinned with the following cities:
