You can live...
I won't write much here. Laziness after vacation. I will focus on the main points. However, how does it work. . . )
Border. We didn't have any difficulties. We arrived at the border at about 10 pm and passed it in about 15 minutes. The crossing in the opposite direction, two weeks later, completed at about 3 pm, took about the same time. Separately from our company, I went to Sochi - again, no problems with the transition, a minimum of time. To Russia - about 11 o'clock in the afternoon, back to Abkhazia - about midnight. The only thing depressing is the mess, which is the state border of the Russian Federation. Wretchedness, dirt, lack of normal lighting at night - this is how our Soviet homeland meets and sees off its citizens. However, what can you take from it... The Abkhaz side, by the way, is no better. It is not clear why there are "border guards" and "customs officers" there. As for passports, Abkhazians just look to have them. There is no question of any customs at all. The only purpose, apparently, is extortion from visitors, called "insurance". Moreover, the amounts are always called different. And a fine in the event that it is not there is apparently a great Abkhaz joy in general. Well, okay, let's leave the Abkhazian border alone with the Russian one and with their common greed. Let's move deeper into this newly acquired Russian province.
In the village of Monakh, having read the charms in various forums, we lived with Olga and Sergey. I can't say anything bad about them. Normal hosts. But I would beware of special delights. We lived in a separate house, occupied two rooms. Both are air conditioned. I don’t know how much these air conditioners cost, maybe these are special, very inexpensive models produced only for Abkhazia, its “poor” population... These “Samsungs” just rumble so that you fall asleep while in the room they “ventilate” , is decidedly impossible. So midday sleep sometimes turned into flour. It's good that air conditioners are not needed at other times of the day. I don’t know how it is in the main house, but in those that stand separately at night it can be frankly cold (apparently it pulls from the mountains along the gorge). Thin blankets, which, perhaps, have been used since the 70s in some nearby pioneer camp, and now are living out their lives with Olga and Sergey, do not save from the cold. You have to sleep dressed. It's good that this (cold) didn't happen every night.
Electricity is a separate story. Basically it is. But the voltage in the network frankly and decisively "jumps". So we left the laptop and other gadgets to “charge” with great apprehension. Luckily, nothing went wrong. Maybe, of course, modern devices provide protection against such "surprises", but it's still not pleasant. By the way, air conditioners also suffer from insufficient voltage. Sometimes the light is cut out altogether. Okay, still in the afternoon, but in the evening somehow not camelfo. Once Sergei turned on the generator. And one morning, on the way to the beach, we saw how local electricians were repairing something in the transformer (or what is it called? ) booth: one of them was simply pounding on something inside with an impressive piece of wood. Of course, I'm not an expert, perhaps this is a common practice, but it looks strange. ))
In the very separate house where we lived, everything, in principle, is acceptable. At least for 350 rubles per day, which we paid per person, we did not expect anything more - normal beds, a couple of bedside tables, a small wardrobe with a mirror. What else do you need on vacation? The furniture is cheap but not old. It will do for the countryside. )) But the bed could be changed once in 2 weeks. Or at least clean up the house. However, we cleaned ourselves, did not break. Just once Olga told us that it is desirable to leave the house at 12 o'clock, "like in a hotel. " Well, if "like in a hotel", then let's be it to the end... ))
Toilets and showers. Well. . . The first ones aren't holes in the floor. It's already good. Although, given how many people live in the house, they sometimes smelled not too good. In the showers, the bad thing is that instead of a door there are curtains. And why didn’t they hang these in the toilets ?? )) And the rest is tolerable. In the end, you don’t come to the toilet to sit there. ))
Summer cuisine. I do not know. I have not been to other summer kitchens. But the one in the house of Olga and Sergey is clearly not enough for all the guests. It's good that they put a separate table for us right at our porch, walnut. At least we had the opportunity to dine separately from the rest of the vacationers, with their screaming children (I understand everything - children are children, but this does not prevent me from disliking their op), playing cards and stories of "experienced" - vacationers in Abkhazia almost 10th year in a row (it so happened that during our stay there, it seems like a few of them came together). There are only two normal refrigerators in this kitchen. There is also a third one, but it always turns off due to power surges. And there are a total of five gas burners, and on one of the stoves (both of them are very old), the knobs that need to be turned when you light the gas turn barely... And not everyone, I dare to assume, will be able to understand correctly whether he turned the knob or no... All this somehow does not contribute to security, it seems to me. It seems that the installation of two new four-burner stoves could solve the problem. Moreover, they are not expensive.
However, Olga is a tight-fisted hostess. This, of course, is better than if she squandered her own property right and left. But without "excesses on the ground" is not complete. So, for example, vacationers are forced to wash with their hands. For example, I have not done this since 1987, when the Vyatka-automatic machine appeared at our house. Is it really difficult to buy an inexpensive washing machine for vacationers? I don't think it's so ruinous for the family budget. In the end, you can charge vacationers for laundry. So do in small hotels in the same Greece. Last September, the laundry cost 6 euros. There remains, of course, the problem with "jumping" voltage - not good for an automatic washing machine. But, you know, in the 16 years that have passed since 1993, it was somehow possible to solve the most burning problems, such as electricity and water. In fairness, I note that Olga and Sergey did not have troubles with water.
It would not hurt Olga and Sergey and a couple of three bicycles, which can also be rented. In the end, rather than buying something at the monks' bazaar, with its presumptuous traders who offered to buy watermelons for 30 rubles per kg, and when we tried to bargain, they almost began to call names, it's better to drive a bike to the same fish factory market. . . But Olga said that 6.000 rubles (that's about how much an ordinary bike costs) - although not very big money, it's a little expensive... Well, of course, she knows better... )
With Sergey we communicated a little. More with Olga. A sweet woman in communication, she looks good despite the fact that she is already a grandmother (well, in the Caucasus, grandmothers often become early... ). Bought her vegetables. The only thing is when she started telling us how honest she is. . . Well, how should I put it? There is nothing wrong with self-promotion. But still, the form could be some kind of softer or something... Everyone has it differently, of course, but in such situations I have all sorts of suspicions. However, I'm probably the one who's suspicious. . .
The road to the beach is 700 meters. We were not tired of these walks at all. The beach itself, in general, nothing. I've seen dirtier ones too. And on the monastic medium in this sense. Sandy. Sometimes cows come to sunbathe, but lie down away from the rest. Pigs are rare guests, but they do visit. Some Muscovites are slowly building a hotel in that corner of the beach where cows still like to sunbathe (on the way to the rest of the gorges). So far there is only a foundation like. But few people doubt that sooner or later it will be built. The day when this happens, perhaps, will be the day of the end of the Monk, as a place of more or less calm rest. However, even this summer, although the hotel is not yet ready, there were people on the beach... well, maybe a little less than in Sochi. So do not rely on silence and solitude. "There are 40 houses in the village and vacationers live in all of them" - Olga's words.
There are two cafes on the beach. They say that in the "wooden" they feed better. In principle, we ate in another - also normal. And in a wooden one, sometimes you wait a long time for an order, especially when there are a lot of people. There is probably a shortage of workers... Prices are the same as in ordinary cafes of an average price level in central Russia. Borsch (for some reason without meat) - 60 rubles. Khachapur - 150 (large, enough for three or four), kharcho - 90 rubles, stuffed tomato (completely stupid) - also something like 80-90 rubles... I don’t remember the rest. There is also a third cafe ("Brook"), it is next to the house of Olga and Sergey. There prices are about the same. True, they don’t know how to make meat in the shack, although they charge 90 rubles for it and their wine is 50 rubles more expensive (250 for a bottle of factory or a liter of local). And on the beach, by the way, in the "wooden", there is an acceptable "home" wine for 50 rubles per half liter. Beer "Sukhum" - 35 rubles per half-liter bottle, Turkish "Marmara" - 70-80 per liter. In general, you will not die of hunger and thirst in this village. The minus of the "Brook", like most Caucasian cafes, is loud, and in the evenings also loud "live" music. But it's all subjective, of course. After all, someone likes to listen every evening to a sentimental story about the difficult fate of a comrade being transported from Tver or to find himself on the "left-left-left bank of the Don. " And in the "Brook" the waitress once told us that "she can't keep track of the prices on the menu, because they change every day. " And she laughed. Indeed - fun. ))
To the village of Rybzavod - a kilometer and a half from the "beach and restaurant center" Monk. We walked, the road is not tiring. There are a couple more eateries along the way, but we haven't been to them. In one of them, judging by the screen stretched on the shore, a movie is shown in the evening, or something else is shown. Minibus from Rybzavod to Pitsunda - 20 rubles. Taxi - 100. Minibus to Gagra - fifty dollars. From Gagra to Athos - 100, from Pitsunda to Sukhum - like 150 (I don't remember exactly, but no more). We took a taxi from Sukhum to Monakh for 1300 rubles. From Gagra to Monakh - for 800. From Pitsunda to Monakh - for 500.
We went everywhere ourselves - to Sukhum and to Athos. We were in Gagra on December 31 - enough. They just didn't go to Ritsu. Something somehow became lazy. A five-hour excursion directly from the Monk cost 500 rubles per person when we rested there. Sergey on the UAZ broke 1300 per person. But this is also with a trip to a couple of waterfalls (if, of course, "male... " and "female tears" can be called such), a blue lake, there is something a little bit in the surrounding mountains, but without meat and wine. In the sense - the banquet is not included in the cost of the trip... )) At the end of our stay, however, Sergey stopped taking tourists to the mountains - the license ended. I don’t know if he will consider it necessary to extend it, given that there is not much time left until the end of the active season... Maybe something will come out with bicycles... ))
It's time to finish, I guess. You probably won't remember everything. The general impression of Abkhazia is twofold. Yes, stunning nature. . . But that's all. People? People are like people - I didn’t notice any special cordiality or sincerity (the Country of the Soul, after all! ) (sometimes even the opposite, but let’s not talk about sad things). Everything is as usual here - you are normal to them and they are to you too. As in any country in the world. And this is probably correct. Although, the inhabitants of Abkhazia still have to learn, forgive me for moralizing. Kulturka in the country tremble. Another observation is the love to talk about the war. This seems to be such a national occupation - to listen to a portion of sympathetic words in your address and be satisfied with this. Like, we had a war, so everything was destroyed (and really a lot was destroyed). At the same time, it is somehow not accepted to remember how many years have already passed since that war, and also that something could still be repaired. Luckily, Luzhkov donated trolleybuses to Sukhum and helped renovate the center so that it would not be so scary in the capital of independent Abkhazia. They also helped with the maternity hospital. But ordinary, residential areas of the city look scary. But in Pitsunda, there were no military operations, as such, there is no devastation there, but there is some kind of neglect. At least it was possible to patch up the hulls of the famous boarding house, I think. Go up to the 15th floor of the "Bzyb" building to the bar - there is a great view from there. And if you want to go to the toilet - go down to the 14th - there you will find views of a completely different kind, views of a building that has not been repaired since Soviet times. However, I digress again.
It seems to me that you need to go to Abkhazia. At least once. However, it should be remembered that, alas, she has lost the status of a cheap abandoned paradise. Abandonment and in some places paradise, of course, remained, but forget about cheapness. And it will not be possible to take a break "from everyone" in Abkhazia - the people are immeasurable. For solitude, you will have to go further south, beyond Sukhum... But in any case, thanks to Abkhazia for the sea, sun, sunburn, interesting trips, chacha, mountains: for our wonderful vacation. Will I come to Abkhazia again? I have no idea. After all, it was said - "do not promise". )))
