I love the sea, but to Abkhazia only for an excursion
We rested in Gagra in September 2007, with the whole family, including children 2 and 7 years old. It should be noted that the last time I went on vacation was 4 years ago, so by and large, for me this event initially caused only positive emotions: “Take me anywhere, just leave me by the sea... ”
And while my husband and I were arguing where to spend our vacation, our friends turned up under our arm, who, during their stay, had already visited more than one hotel in the world and whose opinion was significant for us. They convinced us that Abkhazia is a great place for a family vacation, especially with small children; especially since they were going to go with their 1.5 year old daughter. The arguments “for” were that everything is very cheap and almost deserted beaches, a good attitude towards Russians, beautiful nature... We believed.
We were recommended to stay at the Donskoy Tabak sanatorium. Read poor reviews about this place on the Internet. Everything, in general, is not bad: mountains, sea, clean beach. In the sanatorium - 2 local suites, physiotherapy, massage, included in the cost of the course. They promised leisure - cinema, cafes, organized excursions; varied, three meals a day. An attempt to pre-book seats turned out to be unnecessary, as they told us on the phone, there are always places available.
Well, that day has come! For the first time, with all my noisy family, having overcome all the troubles of an air flight, not yet realizing what and how it all happened, with a flight delay of 2 hours, we landed at 12 at night in Adler. We received the luggage only half an hour later, and then we realized the beauty of the situation - there was no point in going to the border at night. Children sleep in their arms - we will spend the night or in the airport waiting room. Or you need to look for a taxi driver who will put us up for the night. From the crowd, there was only one cunning comrade who drove us for only 2500 to an empty, not quite completed house, where we stayed until the morning.
The passage through the border took only 20-30 minutes, everything is very conditional: passport control, baggage inspection went without a hitch. At the exit, we were immediately intercepted by Abkhaz taxi drivers, who, for only 300 rubles, took us to the aforementioned sanatorium in the town of Tsandripshen. And here the first moments of awareness began, something did not correspond to that beautiful “picture” of my long-awaited vacation... There were no free rooms in the sanatorium. The administration assured us that it was only for a couple of days, “we are waiting for arrival on Monday”, and we were offered to buy a kursovka, use all the services, but live in the private sector. Okay.
We decided to look around: a really deserted beach, almost not polluted, clean warm sea. The territory of the sanatorium itself and the facades of buildings are all in a very abandoned state and dilapidated state. There was indeed a cinema hall, but having familiarized ourselves with the repertoire, we decided that there was nothing to do there. In the game room there was one billiard table, checkers and chess. Everything was very reminiscent of "soviet times". For children, a suitable playground, except for the beach, was not found. There is only one store nearby, where you can buy only cigarettes and toilet paper. In a small market, along the road to Gagra, grannies trade, but the prices are aching, as in the Seventh Continent.
For 150 rubles per person, they rented a room from the first granny that came across, the house was 100 meters from the sea and the same amount from the sanatorium itself. We unpacked things, looked around, went to lunch in the dining room. What was waiting for us here? Pea soup, in which peas did not come across very often, and on the second - boiled meat to tasteless and at the same time cold, steamed with pasta. Children drank only compote. We decided that maybe this was a coincidence, and did not draw hasty conclusions. Nothing can darken our mood, because here it is the sea and the sun!!!
Four of us had lunch at a nearby cafe for 700 rubles, dinner with a signature dish is 2 times more expensive. The waitress was so praising her homemade Muscat wine, sorry, it tasted like vinegar. We returned home not too late, settled down on the master's courtyard in company with a bottle of vintage wine, cutely poisoned stories, the children rushed around the yard, chasing the ball. And then the hostess came out and began to show us for our children that her husband smokes, and my eldest daughter does not take off her shoes when she enters the house.
By the way, the room we rented was in a summer house, it looked like a damp basement, only with DECENT tulle on the windows and a bunch of plush toys, 2 beds, a table and a sideboard that you can’t use, so all the drawers were stuffed with the owner’s rubbish. So you explain to me, where is the vaunted Abkhazian hospitality? I simply cannot understand - if you live only by renting out housing to vacationers in the summer, then what claims can there be, how my children and I rest. I have paid and I believe that I have the right to use everything that is in the room, including the fact that my children can play freely in the yard. And if you are not particularly disposed towards Russians, and vacationers with children annoy you even more, then why are you calling us from the street?
Having expressed all our claims about the current situation, we decided to look for another place of deployment on the coast, but the next visit to the dining room of the sanatorium put an end to my patience; semolina porridge and a sandwich with tea were served. A benevolent neighbor advised not to give sausage to children, because there is a danger of poisoning. We paid 900 rubles a day for food in this sanatorium.
I sent my husband to the administration of the sanatorium to collect money for kursovka, to which we heard a refusal. "What don't you like? " they asked me. I listed: disgusting food, lack of free rooms. To which they answered that they have excellent food, for all races, we are the first to complain, and the fact that there are no empty seats is rare. As a result of this dispute, it turned out that I was exaggerating everything or frankly lying and ended in mutual insults. In general, the money for the first four days was not returned to me, although I was on the territory of the sanatorium only twice, the rudeness of the attendants was enough to understand that we had chosen the wrong place to stay.
The rest of the time was spent in Gagra, a small town, but it can be considered Civilization, stretching for 10 km along the sea. We rented a 3-bed room for 1500 per day in a private hotel. We ate only at home, as in all places of public catering - complete unsanitary conditions. The streets are not cleaned, there is rubbish everywhere, the contrast is created by dilapidated, abandoned buildings, with traces of vandalism, alternating with newly built buildings of private hotels. It is striking: the Abkhazians are a proud people who sincerely love their country, proudly tell legends about every hill and stream, violently falling into a dispute about a long-gone war, but for some reason not striving for an elementary service for vacationers.
On the 2nd or 3rd day, acclimatization began in children, the only thing that saved me was that I myself was a doctor and took a first-aid kit for all cases. The food in the restaurant is not varied and very spicy, it will provide you, if not food poisoning, then an exacerbation of chronic gastritis - cholecystitis. The pleasure was received only from "live music".
Of the local attractions, I was impressed by the Gegsky waterfall, but I don’t recommend anyone to take children with them, the event is risky. The driver, in one person and the guide, was with a severe hangover, along the way we were stopped by local traffic police officers, then by the environmental patrol, where the driver regularly gave a bribe, drank a stack of chacha for the company and drove us further. But we, under the impression of the beauty that we saw in the mountains, did not attach much importance to this circumstance. Having reached the top where the waterfall was, they grabbed a dose of adrenaline from this way up and the beauty of what they saw. Insanely beautiful and very scary! They dared to return only after drinking the local chacha, they were almost happy, only the children, completely exhausted by the shaking, dreamed of something else.
Another place where you can have a good time is Lake Ritsa, but snags sticking out everywhere, building fittings, garbage spoil the whole impression. Resting in Abkhazia, I concluded that this was my first and apparently last visit to the country. The service is at a very low level, from the former splendor and pride of the best health resorts of the USSR, only dilapidated houses and sanatoriums remain, there is little entertainment, we did not find a semblance of a water park or an amusement park in Gagra and complete unsanitary conditions. Sewerage sewage is periodically discharged into the sea, at this moment it is on the beach, there is not any pleasure. In sum and from the financial side, I can’t say that everything is cheap there. A vacation in Turkey would have cost us a little more, where, hopefully, the tourism business is at a higher level.
Thank you for reading all of my writing.
Well, everything was thought out from the beginning: our friends flew to Adler at lunchtime on another flight, and it was on them to get their bearings on the spot and inform us about how things were going there. As I already wrote, they were also traveling with a little daughter, upon arrival they were met with rain, so while they were passing the border, they got completely wet. Therefore, fearing that the baby would not catch a cold, when they reached the sanatorium, they agreed to any conditions, as long as they gave them the opportunity to change clothes and warm up.
It still remains a question for me why they didn’t say how everything really is, since we discussed this option back at home, I wanted to stay in Sochi and spend the first days there... But I was assured that everything is fine, we are waiting for you. . . And also with the arrival time - after all, the flight was delayed by 2.5 hours, and it was planned to pass the border at 20-21. . . So it's difficult to plan a 100% successful vacation, especially when you leave with the whole family, not speaking of Abkhazia. But overall it was a great vacation! I brought a bunch of shell souvenirs, beautiful pictures, throughout the year I periodically dreamed of the sea, as if with my own eyes, and my children almost didn’t get sick all winter.
