Experience the Russian Riviera
I don’t know when this happened, but it appears that some not-too-long time ago Google Maps updated their sattelite images of Sochi. Previously they did not have high resolution pics of anything but parts of Central district. Now they do.
I found a couple more photos of tornado over sea in Sochi! :-)
These were taken by lav-elena in Khosta district on July 28, 2009.
Another one » Read the rest of this entry »
By the year 2010 approximately 1000 families will be relocated due to the Olympic construction development. Over 2500 hectares of land will be bought out from private owners for Olympic projects in Imeritinskaya Valley, Krasnaya Polyana, Vesyoloe village as well as Khosta and Central districts. Central district is affected by road infrastructure project.
– information from Vice Minister of Russia Dmitry Kozak via Interfax and Lenta.ru
As was promised during the Olympic bid, Russia is trying to reintroduce Persian leopards in Sochi national park — the area they inhabited long time ago. The program is being supported by WWF-Russia, private companies and a number of Russian government agencies. You can read the details in WWW article and in press release on olympic.org.
I’ve heard we have bears, and wolfs in our forests… imagine meeting one of these kitties there :)
photo source: daylife.com
photo source: themoscowtimes.com
“Yota” started testing its WiMAX network in Sochi. “Skartel” operator, owner of Yota brand, have launched WiMAX networks (IEEE 802.16-2005, 2.5-2.7 GHz) earlier this year in Moscow and St.-Petersburg (where they now cover up to 70% of city), and in Ufa in the beginning of this month.
The beginning of beta testing in Sochi and Krasnodar was announced two weeks ago. Yota selected 250 testers in Sochi, and 350 people in Krasondar – the capital of region where Sochi is located. Network coverage in Sochi is already available on Yota’s website, and according to it they currently cover only most of Central district and center of Adler.
So, soon Sochi will join very small number of cities in Russia where hi-speed wireless internet is available.
Btw, WiMAX Forum – Russia will take place in Moscow next month.
Last month Sochi hosted finals of the Beach Volleyball European Championship Tour 2009. Here’s slide show from the event.
(c) piratenergy
I a few amazing lightning-over-the-sea photos taken by other people in Sochi, and wanted to share with you.
The photos are clickable, and lead to the large size originals.
Taken in Dagomys district of Sochi (c) v_kryukov53
Taken in Adler district of Sochi (c) pmirosevic
More amazing photos » Read the rest of this entry »
Landline telephone code of Sochi is 8622, and all numbers are six digits. Telephone code of Russia is 7, so to call a number in Sochi you dial +7-8622-##-##-##.
Mobile operator’s codes are all different, and the numbers consist of three digit code and seven digits number. Here are telephone codes of major mobile operators in Sochi:
MTS (МТС): 918, 988
Megafon (Мегафон): 920, 930, 928, 938
Beeline (Билайн): 903, 905, 906, 909, 960, 961, 962, 963, 964.
TELE2: 902, 908, 952
Calls between operators in Russia are always more expensive than inside operator’s network, and there are no such thing as free long distance calls. So, if you’re planning to get local number, consider this: absolute majority of people living in Sochi have MTS numbers. This is due to the fact that several years ago MTS acquired major local operator «Kuban GSM».
Nissan Russian Adventure 2010 (formerly known as Nissan Caucasus Classic) is once again coming to Sochi on January 21, 2010.
Nissan Russian Adventure will take place at the ski resort Krasnaya Polyana in the Western Caucasus. Krasnaya Polyana is the host of the alpine and nordic ski events of the 2014 Winter Olympics with Sochi as host city. Sometimes called the “Russian Courchevel”, Krasnaya Polyana is the most sophisticated ski and snowboard resort in Russia, located just 45 minutes from the Black Sea, and well known as President Putin’s favourite holiday resort. It is also famous for its awesome heliskiing in the spectacular Caucasus mountain range.
The contest is organised by renowned Russian extreme skier Nikolay Veselovskiy, who is also chief heliskiing operator in the area and pioneer of heli-skiing in Kamchatka. For the qualifying run the contest will take place at the actual Krasnaya Polyana Mountain very accessible for the public. The final run with 22 riders will be held on another peak with heli access. The exact peak will be determined depending on where the best snow conditions are to be found. The snow quality is quite unique in the area as the great proximity of the sea produces a characteristic snow that sticks to the steepest angles.
— nissanrussianadventure.com
Here are couple of photos by E. Vasenyov from last year’s event:
(c) 360sca
Main Stadium
The global design practice Populous is delighted to announce today that it has been selected by the State Corporation ‘Olympstroy’ to design the main stadium for the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia.
Populous has also designed the master plan and overlay plan for competition and non-competition venues and facilities, and now adds designing the main 40,000 seat stadium to their expanding role on the 2014 Games. Populous is joined in the design consortium by Russian contractor Engeocom, and Botta Management.
“The main stadium design, in addition to the venue overlay plan we have prepared for the 2014 Games, delivers a wonderful vision for the winter Olympics, and a lasting sustainable legacy for Sochi. Its sweeping form responds to both its coastal location and mountainous backdrop, whilst its crystalline skin engages with its surroundings by day, and provides an iconic representation of the colour and spectacle of the games when illuminated at night. We are proud to be involved on such a level with Olympstroy,” said John Barrow, Populous senior principal.
This is the 25th year of Populous’ involvement in Olympic and Paralympic Games, and we are now the first design practice to have been officially appointed for the design of two Olympic Stadiums at one time. With Populous being the architects responsible for the main Stadium and venues overlay for the London 2012 Games, designing for Sochi 2014 ensures the continuation of the practice’s unrivalled experience in Olympic event planning and venue design. Each of these stadiums reflects new standards for Olympic sustainability initiatives.
Source: populous.com
A project of the central Olympic stadium – stadium where opening and closing ceremonies will take place, as well as many medal ceremonies – has been finally selected few days ago. The winner of the tender is a group of companies which includes «Mosproject-4», Russia (architecture design), Populous, USA (architecture design), Botta Management Group, Switzerland (construction management), «ENGEOCOM Association» CJSC, Russia (construction).
The stadium must be completed by the end of first quarter of year 2013. After the Olympics it will be used to host football games and comply with all FIFA regulations.
Below are a few renderings from icube.ru which list «Mosproject-4» as a client, so, I guess, we’re looking at what future stadium will look like.
More renderings: Read the rest of this entry »
Organizing committee of the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games of 2014 in Sochi has launched official team blog at blogs.sochi2014.ru … but it’s only in Russian, at least for now.
Looking at the dates it appears they’ve been giving it a thought since May, but revived the idea only now, in September. The announcement was posted yesterday.
The posting is for the officials only – there already are a few posts about marketing, environments, finance, etc. But you can comment, and the best thing is they do reply! You have to register, though, or use one of your existing OpenID accounts (if you’re registered at Google, Facebook, Yahoo (must enable first, though) – you have one).
I’m glad they finally did this, and hope they don’t run out of steam blogging and responding when more people start visiting.
Oh, and it runs on WordPress too! :-)
After a recent comment to a year old post about plans of a high-speed train from Moscow to Sochi, I decided to collect bits and pieces of what I know on a subject into a post.
According to an article on rbc.ru, it sound like a solid plans.
“Sapsan” train. Photo source ru_railway
You can find more photos of this train, exterior and interior, here: community.livejournal.com/ru_railway/
Today Lukoil opened solar powered gas station in Krasnaya Polyana. This is certainly first one in Sochi, and according to Lukoil’s press release (rus) it is the first gas station in Russia to use such system developed domestically. The solar generated energy will mostly be used for internal and external lighting, and as an emergency backup system to ensure station running without interruption.
Solar powered gas station in Krasnaya Polyana, Sochi. photo (c) Lukoil
Russia’s Sberbank, which was earlier selected as an official partner of Olympics in Sochi, is holding public competition for the best Sochi 2014 credit card design. The main prize: a trip to Vancouver in February 2010
The official website for the competition is sochi-card.ru
Unfortunately for most of the visitors of this blog the competition is open to Russian citizens only. If you are eligible you can read rules of participation (in Russian) here. But, luckily for those who have any skills, you’ve got a pretty good chance, ’cause most of the designs submeted by now look more like kindergarten drawings.
Here are a few of the ones I personally liked. You can see them all in the official gallery.
Do you like any of those designs?
