Hello there! My name is Vlad Feoktistov. I am new to this site but feel free to comment.

Many foreigns sure that palm trees can’t survive in Russia’s scary climate . Many of them don’t know about the City of Sochi. Sochi is the #1 destination as summer and winter resort and SPA in Russia. As we know, Sochi enjoys humid subtropical climate. Average January temperature of 6 °C (42.8 °F). The average summer high temperature ranges between 25 °C (77 °F) and 28 °C (82.4 °F) with occasional extreme heat in some interior locations exceeding 40 °C (104 °F). Average annual precipitation is about 1,500 mm.

Is it OK for palm trees? YES! Lots of species can grow in Sochi. So I want you to know about most popular palm tree species that can be found all around the Sochi.

Trachycarpus Fortunei – the most hardy palm tree

You can see it everywhere! It loves Sochi’s climate so much that it germinates everywhere. It is the most popular souvenir that tourists bring from Sochi. Not Matryoshka but palm tree!

Washingtonia genus – the most tall

Very popular palm tree now days. Native range – California. They need some protection at winter when young. We use to buy them from Italian nurseries but we shall organize some local ones soon. Very tall. You can see most mature specimens on the street Navaginskaya, some old ones near Sochi Museum and Dendrarium arboretum.

Phoenix Canariensis – the most beautiful and spectacular

Very popular palm tree. Native range – Canary Islands. City services protects youngest trees because of frost (very rare in Sochi but can occur here). You can see most spectacular specimen near Central Railway Station, some very old ones on Sochi Theater Plaza and Dendrarium arboretum.

Blizzards are rare in Sochi. But palm trees should be ready for surprise. That is why Zelenstroy company make protection ‘wear’ for young trees. Global Warming is our hope :] At the beginning of XX century Sochi was 8a Hardiness Zone. Now it is 8b/9a.

That is all for today. Next time i will tel you about another exotic plants that can be found in Sochi.

A hotel in Adler’s center.

Central Post Office in the Central district.

Orthodox church in Adler.

Here are a few more: Read the rest of this entry »

I might as well post list of airlines that I know fly to Sochi from Moscow and St. Petersburg: Read the rest of this entry »

Only 3 airlines have direct flights to Sochi — Russia’s largest summer resort, from Saint-Petersburg — Russia’s second largest city, a home to over 4.5 million people… in the middle of the summer season. One of them flies with a stop in Krasnodar (that adds several hrs to your travel time), and another one of the three only flies 4 times a week.

Compare this to 12 (!) airlines (that I know of, there could be more) that have direct flights between Sochi and Moscow.

Many other cities have it worse than St. Petes, there either no flights, or flights only a couple of days a week. There’s no competition, and because it’s the middle of the vacationing season there are no special deals. This makes Sochi one very expensive destination to fly to.

Consider this: s Saint-Petersburg – Sochi round trip flight in the first half of August with convenient weekdays (weekends) and departure times on “Russia Airlines” – the only one that has direct, non-stop flights daily – costs 548,00 EUR ! And this is with 5% off for buying tickets online already calc’ed in.

At the same time there are plenty tours (which include travel, accommodation, and, often, food) offered to Egypt, Turkey, Bulgaria, and resorts in other countries for approximately the same price or even lower… while I couldn’t find anything similar for Sochi, or any other resort on Russia’s south.

And comparing these prices to the deals available on inter-European flights from low-cost European airlines, all this drives me crazy.

A couple of photos I found on Flickr today…

Sochi – Cheltenham’s sister city

“Cheltenham’s sister cities.” (c) Dave Hanmer

Sochi’s sister cities, or twin cities…

Luring you in…

(c) Masha Kuvshinova

Sign reads: “Holiday romance is your dream! It will realize in Sochi! Come…” :-)