Sochi, in Russia, proved an interesting place, though probably not one that is going to attract too many tourists if only because of the hoops you have to jump through to get a Russian visa (as I was flying in to Sochi I needed a visa; if you arrive on a ship and only go out on a ship's excursion, you don't need one).
Having said that, it is the host city for the Winter Olympics 2014 so they are going to have to learn to cope with lots of visitors, even if only for a couple of weeks.
Our guide for the day, Elena, was not impressed that her adopted city was wasting so much money on the Olympics. Somehow I felt a certain kinship with her.
Elena was originally from Novgorod in the much colder north but has lived in Sochi for 23 years and was explaining how strange it had seemed when she first arrived that you didn't need fur coats, hats or boots in winter.
I was in Sochi to join Princess Cruises' Royal Princess, but had a night in the city first, which meant I had to be registrered. Here's my registration document. There is still a lot of the Soviet Union left in Russia.
I can't say the town is packed with must-see sights, but there were a few little gems - the tall apartment building they call Titanic because it is sinking (strangely they are struggling to sell the flats in it!) and the central market, packed with stalls selling fruit, veg and these great slabs of meat.
You'll notice the health and safety police have not been in town. I'll simply observe that the pork and chicken I ate at a restaurant the night before was the tastiest I've had for a long time. Could there be a link?
We also visited Matzesta, what the Russians call a sanatorium (an unfortunate word, I think, as really it's a spa hotel, but of the Russian variety, without the marble, whispered tones and calming music, I suspect), and sniffed the sulphur water.
Words cannot describe how awful it was - and people actually immerse themselves in this ... and out of choice! It's supposed to have great healing properties. I suspect they make sure they get better to avoid a second dip.
The highlight of Sochi had to be Stalin's dacha, just one of the many dachas he had around what was then the Soviet Union.
I did enjoy seeing the house and hearing Elena talk about him and his family, but there was something rather unpleasant about the waxwork of Stalin at his desk. Even worse, people were having their picture taken with it. I made do with the plaque at the entrance.
The tour over, I boarded Royal Princess and we set sail across the Back Sea. Next stop Yalta, where I'll be visiting the Livadia Palace.
It's famous as the site of the Yalta conference between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin after the last war but for me it will always be the home built by Nicholas II, the last tzar of Russia.
But more of that later.
Jane Archer
