Sochi Club

September 23, 2007

With a record attendance and $US 23 BLN worth of deals in the bank, the International Investment Forum in Sochi has been deemed a success. City leaders say the event was a dress rehearsal for the 2014 Winter Olympics with hotels dealing with a mass influx of visitors.

Indeed, Sochi seemed a little bit more 'Western' than many of the towns I had visited so far. Not only were the buildings in better shape, hotels where lining almost the whole way from the airport to the city center. The town being so close to the Caucasus also left its mark. Even before entering the airport terminal after leaving the plane, already twice where my papers checked by militia keeping an eye on all passengers. Apparently, to them I looked more like a terrorist then a tourist.

By Frank Thomas

My journey to the Russian Riviera was by train from Kiev, two days across the Kuban Steppe, by the edge of the Sea of Azov and into the foothills of the Western Caucasus, my home and playground for the next two weeks. I was hosted by kind friends in the district of Bitcha high in the hills east of Sochi from where the glorious Black Sea shimmered and sparkled under the ever- blue sky.

by Richard Randell


Adler Airport is about thirty-two kilometres from Sochi. A narrow triangle of flat land provides just about the only possible entry into the wall of the Caucasus Mountains which rise almost sheer from the Black Sea. Our Aeroflot jet from Moscow executed a smooth left turn over the sea before nosing in through the haze to land facing the mountains. It had been a pleasant two-hour flight. The heat rose from the tarmac as we stepped off the aeroplane, the palm trees outside the airport building testified to an exotic climate, our interpreter's smile matched the flowers that were everywhere around as we boarded our bus. After two visits to Russia's North I was unprepared for the warmth of this Southern welcome.