Rest in Abkhazia in 2010.
We rested in the family building of the boarding house "Literary Fund" (bought a last-minute tour in 1956 per person per day). The room justified its cost, there is nothing to complain about: air conditioning, 2 beds, refrigerator, TV, table and 2 chairs. Towels were changed as needed (they put them on the floor in the bathroom), bed linen was changed 2 times. The maid and staff are friendly. As the shower broke - it was repaired after 40 minutes. The territory of the boarding house is well-groomed, well-lit with lanterns, it is pleasant to take a walk in the evening. Children's animation was every evening, the children ran like funny (there are none of their own yet, so it seems : )).
The food was frustrating: veal and pork came across rarely and in extremely small pieces and exclusively in stewed vegetables or pilaf. Separately, it was possible to find only chicken and fish (they fried alternately sole and something like mint), 2 times there was a boiled heart. For meat lovers, the only way out is to buy barbecue on the territory of the Literary Fund or a neighboring boarding house. 1 skewer - 200 rubles, a small grilled trout - 250 rubles. It is advisable to eat ice cream before a vacation - next to a boarding house, a quality ice cream costs only 40 rubles of an Eskimo USSR, they don’t sell cheaper analogues in cups, only terribly vegetable.
It's good that it happened just before departure. When I saw that someone was sliding off my bun and tried to the last to believe that it was an ant... big and bloated, but an ant or a bug... but it was him....Cockroach! Since nothing like this had been noticed before and the waitresses look neat, I decided to quietly report this fact to the administration... this is what came of it: in the administrative building they told me that they did not consider such issues and sent me to the administrator in the dining room. Approaching the administrator, I waited for the vacationers to leave so as not to spoil anyone's vacation and quietly said that they had cockroaches. The answer is a smile. I thought that she had not heard and repeated, to which she looked at me like I was a fool and said: “Who doesn’t have them? ” and that smile again. I was extremely surprised and asked: “So you know that you have cockroaches and do nothing? ” To which she again received a corresponding look and in an already dissatisfied voice: “Well, we sometimes poison them” and that’s all, only this smile again...
Fruits: if you remember the wonderful Abkhazian peaches - forget it! They sell only Turkish and for 120-110 rubles (at the Cossack market in Adler they cost 60-70), Armenian grapes - 90 (Cossack market - 70). In the dining room of the literary fund of fruits - apples cut off on all sides (which are sold at a discount in the markets) and oranges cut into circles (they sometimes came across sweet).
1 massage procedure in a boarding house costs 1500, Charcot's shower - 150 rubles, but showers only after 16.00.
Naturally, we drove for the sake of the clear sea and magnificent nature, which we remember from the previous trip. The beach is almost clean, the water in the sea is also clear when the sea is not worried. There are not many jellyfish, the fish are small and rare. But the attitude of employees to vacationers was very upset: the territory for water entertainment is not fenced off in any way. Employees do not monitor safety... not quite sober and not quite well-mannered men got into the habit of riding a jet ski. As a result, every day they swam close to the shore, and started talking with friends and not really, apparently trying to show their "coolness". When they talked, the engine was not turned off, as a result, the entire coastal strip was covered with yellow oily foam. Naturally, in order to swim closer, they maneuvered between the heads of bathers and children (!!! ). I passed by an employee when 2 Russian women asked not to let such men behind the motorcycle, or at least move the motorcycle parking lot away from the bathing area. To which the employee said that he was not responsible for this and sent them to another person. After about 30 minutes, I was walking back, this employee was talking to the one to whom he sent the Russian women and told him the phrase: "these have already grumbled. " Until we left there, the administration of the boarding house did not take absolutely no measures to prevent violations of safety regulations. On a parachute ride on the seashore costs 1200, for two 1700. How much a banana cost there and did not ask.
We took 4 excursions to nature, traveled from Mza to Ritsa, visited Gagra and 2 Stalin's dachas, numerous waterfalls. 1 excursion took a sightseeing tour of Gagra - it turned out to be the only one where it was not necessary to pay extra guides for something. Nature has not changed - pristine and beautiful. Only the guides have changed. Now they are very much like the teacher Snezhana from our Russia, who in each episode offers rich children to raise money for another scam and not tell their parents. Incidents:
1. Of course, everything is brought to wineries, we had no exception, BUT nowhere else did they collect 50 rubles from tourists for this. Usually imported, but guides deduct % from sales. And here they were deducted from the sales of the campaign + the guide collected it, but I did not see him hand over the money to the employees of the tasting room. My husband and I basically did not pay (I was in European countries and China, tourists never pay for tasting anywhere), we saw swallows under the roof, and started taking pictures. An employee passed by, saw that we were interested, and he took us to the inner room, where there were a lot of nests, there were barrels, and told us how things were going with production. When we left, we accidentally got from the tasting room, the employees did not kick us out, they did not demand any payment.
2. On a trip to Lake Ritsa, the guide said: let's go with you to Stalin's dacha, you will give me 300 rubles per person, but then you won't tell anyone.
3. As part of an excursion to the Athos caves, we were supposed to be taken to a monastery located on a hill. At the foot of the hill, the guide said: the bus should not go there, according to the plan, you have to go there on foot, BUT we can take you there for an additional 30 rubles per person! I said that the program did not say anything about this, and during the time allotted for the tour, we would be able to walk there ourselves or take a walk in the city, since the monastery does not interest us. …. We climbed the hill along a well-paved road for about 8 minutes, did not pass a single checkpoint, no one stopped and did not take money for the fare. The only one who collected the money was our guide.
4. It does not apply to guides, more to the local population: 3 years ago it was possible to buy wine during excursions, tasty and homemade. And when they sold, they praised their own. Now they are not so much praising their own as slandering their neighbors, the rest of the wine sellers. A very unfortunate wine was bought from a very nice woman: aggravation of gastritis occurred from 1 glass. Then I talked with Russian tourists, it turns out that for several years in Abkhazia it is almost impossible to buy high-quality homemade wine. Many experienced tourists in Abkhazia now buy only factory wine.
At one of the waterfalls, a local resident offered to hold a horn in his hands, supposedly with wine. When I wanted to give him 10 rubles for a photograph on our camera, he raised a terrible cry demanding 100 rubles. Since the not very friendly faces of his comrades were peeking out from behind him, it was time to give 50….
Honey: honey on excursions was sold for 300 rubles / 0.5 liters for regular honey, 350 rubles / 0.5 liters for chestnut. In the Odenburgsky park, prices are cheaper, but strange honey. We bought from the locals a very tasty chestnut and not burning for 800r / 1.5l.
5. On all excursions, local guides say that they are happy when Russian tourists come and spend their money.
6. One of the excursions was very difficult from 7.30 until late at night and ended with a picnic on the way back. There was nothing on the table except wine, and the tired tourists naturally got drunk for the most part. The guides hardly drank, and when they got back on the bus, they began to entertain drunken tourists and themselves having fun with it. It got to the point that they offered drunken Russian women to dance in the aisles between the chairs at full speed. This sight looked disgusting. How can they respect us and not milk us for money if Russian men are clapping when their drunken wives are dancing in the aisles?
Summing up the sad results, I would still like to wish the inhabitants of Abkhazia not to go too far and be more correct in expressions and attitude towards the Russians. Of course, we understand that money is needed for reconstruction after the war, but Russian citizens who really earn money do not go to Abkhazia, and those who go are not particularly pleasant, that they are treated like cash cows and overprice without justification.