Dagomys Hotel Sochi

Another day and another port with our ship arriving in Sochi and mooring off the coast. Sochi is the longest city in Europe, stretching some 140 kilometres along the Black Sea coast and there were beaches and seaside attractions evident in the area alongside the harbour. After breakfast we waited in the Queen's Lounge for our excursion to be called and were amongst the first off the ship, with the bureaucracy from the port taking time to set up ...

... they? But, there must've been times of suspense, when the outcomes looked uncertain. Let's see how, exactly, our plots thickened.) Thirty kilometers outside of Tomsk, Roma Mesigin's truck and I had crossed the River Ob, where the curvature of our white planet seemed visible, and a town shivered like an Arctic fishermens' village. Near the Ural Mountains, the "white forest" of beech trees was covered in frost. Roma Mesigin recited a Pushkin ...

... learn to greet tourists with at least a smile if nothing else. A couple of people we were with saw two policemen nearby and told us they were going to ask to take a photo with them. One policeman walked away when he saw our friend coming and the other refused to have his photo taken. See what I mean? Doesn't take much to be nice. I can imagine it would be a pretty place in winter as the mountains are visible from the port.

Yesterday we were in Sochi, Russia. Sochi is no St. Petersburg. I wasn't able to get off the ship because I don't have a Seaman's Book yet. Apparently I didn't miss much. The weather was rainy and kind of cold, and there is nothing to do in Sochi. It is not a common place for cruiseships to go to, and I think this company is reconsidering going there as a port. I took a few pictures from the ship that I will ...