It's been a busy week of Olympic work over here in Sochi, site of the 2014 Winter Games. I haven't had much time for writing, but here's a glimpse of the area and some of the venues that are in the works.
Pamelia took this shot as we neared Sochi after a two-hour flight from Moscow. Those are the Caucasus Mountains rising behind the city. Sochi bills itself as the world’s longest city—it runs for 145 kilometers (90 miles) along the Black Sea—and the coastal Olympic complex in the previous photo is about 25 miles south of downtown. Basically, the entire Olympics will take place either south or inland (up the mountains) from the core of the city.
This sculpture of Black Sea dolphins sits near the Sochi airport entrance. A dolphin was one of the Olympic mascot candidates favored by local residents, but it didn’t make the final cut (a polar bear, a snow leopard and a hare were chosen instead). Environmentalists have been concerned in recent years by the dwindling number of Black Sea bottlenose dolphins, which have fallen victim to poaching and pollution.
Oranges grow plentifully in Sochi’s sub-tropical climate. This is one of the many trees we saw on the ride from the airport into the mountains.
On that same ride, we saw several roadside fruit and vegetable vendors like these. Their crates were especially well stocked with oranges and tomatoes.
This is Vladimir Putin’s Sochi dacha, adjacent to our hotel grounds. Those grounds, like the dacha, are fenced in and monitored with security cameras. That, alas, makes it impossible for hotel guests to walk out and hike in beautiful Sochi National Park, which surrounds us. Nevertheless, as part of its effort to make the Games environmentally friendly (no small challenge with so much construction going on) the Russian government is introducing new green building standards, minimizing the Games’ carbon footprint and trying to protect or restore wildlife in the national park, including the endangered Persian leopard (also called the Caucasian leopard).
Those ant-like figures are construction workers on ropes atop the new Bolshoi Ice Dome hockey arena in the coastal Olympic complex. The roof of the dome is like a curved TV screen on which images will be projected during the Olympics.
The Beijing Olympics had the Water Cube swimming arena; the Sochi Olympics have the Iceberg arena, to be used for figure skating and short-track speedskating. Nearby is a curling arena called the Ice Cube.
The Causasus Mountains are beautiful (and currently an autumn yellow) but roads and venues are being gouged out for the 2014 Games. Here’s the view from finish line of the Alpine ski courses.
When we visited the new Olympic bobsled run (which is also surrounded by a messy construction site), the South Korean luge team was training.
A key infrastructure project is a high-speed train line connecting Sochi and the Olympic venues. It’s being built along a riverbed. The river will need time to recover from the ecological trauma.
While we received heavy rain all day yesterday, snow fell farther up the mountains, giving Sochi a Winter Olympic look for the first time.
A photo for our Russian-linked, cat-loving friend Anne: This kitty patrolled the hotel grounds but stopped to pose for us. I’ve also seen several friendly stray dogs wandering near the Olympic venue sites as if they were part of the construction crews.
Answer to the Last Puzzler: The leaves in the photo were from an American chestnut tree.
Today's Puzzler What does the word bolshoi mean? a) brown bear b) grand or great c) delicate like a flower