History

Founded: 21 April, 1838

City’s birthday: Celebrated each year on the 4-th Saturday of November

Figures

Population: 399,67 (as of 2014)

Area: 176,77 square kilometers

Geography

Location: Resort city in Russia, located on the Black Sea coast near Caucasian mountains in the Krasnodar region with the distance of 1,700 km from Moscow.

Latitude: 43°35?07? North

Longitude: 39°43?13? East

Weather: Average weather in Sochi (Celsius): January +6,1 | February +6 | March 8,2 | April +12,1 | May +16 | June +20,2 | July +23,2 | August +23,6 | September +20 | October +15,8 | November +11,1 | December +8,1

Time Zone: UTC+4

Main point: The city is located between Caucasian mountains and the Black sea with a great natural resources.

Interesting facts

In 2007, Sochi was elected to host the XXII Olympic Winter Games. September 15, 2009 Sochi joined the World Union of Olympic Cities. In preparation for the Olympics on the development of the city and its infrastructure has been spent 500 billion rubles.

Main natural phenomena: Perfect combination of Caucasian Mountains and The Black sea.

Origin of the name: It has been argued that the first written mention of the word "Sochi" (in the form of "Sadsha") refers to 1641 and is owned by the Turkish military leader and traveler Evliya ?elebi, who called "Sochi" tribe living in the mountains above Adler.

Name changes:
Harbor Alexandria April, 1838 — 1874
Dahovsky post 1874 — 1896
Sochi, 1896 — Present

Nicknames: “Summer, South and resort Capital of Russia” (referring to the most popular resort place in Russia)

Symbols: Unique complex of natural balneology and climatic factors.

Seal: Palms, sun, sea and mountains are amazingly attractive in this region.

The Black Sea resort of Sochi dates only from the end of the 19th-century. In 1887, its population was only 98.

Sochi National Park has a breeding centre for Persian Leopards. Its first cubs were born last year.

Sochi has 13 train stations, six post offices, one gay nightclub and no mosques.

Sochi has been twinned with Cheltenham, Gloucestershire since 1959. This was suggested by the Russians, possibly because both are spas.

Sochi has Europe’s most northerly tea plantation.

The Friendship Tree Garden Museum in Sochi has a citrus tree that has had sprigs grafted on to it by visitors from 167 countries as symbols of friendship.

There is a double-decker fast train service between Moscow and Sochi. The journey takes almost 24 hours.

Almost 3kg of pure gold has been used to cover all the gold medals for the Sochi Winter Olympics.

Vladimir Putin has a summer residence in Sochi where he entertained David Cameron recently.

Joseph Stalin also had a summer house built in Sochi where his study, complete with a wax sculpture of the dictator, is now open to the public.

Infrastructure

Local government: The Governor in Krasnodar region and Mayor of the Sochi city

Money: Russian Rubles. Many stores accept credit cards, and all stores accept only rubles that you can change you money in the hotel's cash machine. If you would like to change your money in the bank, please note that you will be asked for passport.

Zoning: 4 administrative districts

Transport: Trains: from Airport to Sochi or Krasnaya Polyana and many other stops. Buses are available everywhere. Taxi as well.

Airports: International and domestic airports in Adler.

Sea port: Commercial Sea Port in Sochi and just opened Port Imeretinskaya in Adler.