The Black Sea & Caucasus Travel Guide

There are 400 kilometers between teh northern adn southern points of the Black Sea soast of Russia, between the Tamansky peninsula on the steppes and teh subtropical resort city of Sochi. From May to October, all the sea resort life of the country concentrates on this rather small segment of th coast. Scores of settelments and small towns, hundreds of hotels, sanitariums (health centres with medical treatment) and boarding houses, millions of holiday-makers from all over Russia and foreign tourists - all make up the Black Sea Coast. Located at the same geographical latitude as the Adriatic resorts or those of the Italian and French Riviera, it resembles them in many aspects.

Why is the Black Sea called <<black>>?. There are many versions. The ancient Greeks and Romans called it Pontus Euxinus - the hospitable sea. But Turks, on the contrary, have nicknamed it Karaden-Giz - inhospitable, that is black. It is also assumed tha the sea got its name because of the colour of the silt that is thrown onto its beaches during storms, or because of the fact that metal objects lowered to a great depth grow black.