Do not doubt, the continuation follows! And what a continuation! On our way to the Black sea, we have stopped in a village Saratovskaya.
- Hey, fellows, you do not mind? - Father Vasily has inquired us.
- Oh, nooo... - we answered, perplexedly looking at each other, meanwhile trying to understand, why suddenly Lara became a fellow. I even began to doubt... But everything appeared to be fine, Sacred Father was simply mistaken.
Let's moor in Saratovskaya. Do you know what is this village remarkable for? Its rich market? No! Its girls, which sell mad pies with potatoes? No, no!!! A magnificent sturgeon shashlick is cooked in Saratovskaya! Imagine a brazier with carbons, the big skewer and a stunning half kilogram piece of sturgeon on it, and this piece is stewing sweetly on a quiet heat of embers. The scent of shashlik probably spread in a pair of kilometers around the place of a feast. Great! To this appetizing piece of sturgeon you should also add a pair of slices of white, hot bread and madly tasty sauce... anyway, I'll be short. We sat down with the Father, ate and went further. What else to tell? Just had a bite and everything was alright.
So, let's continue our trip! Arhipo-Osipovka is waiting for us!
After Saratovskaya our trip was much easier. I can say that everything became just fine! The delicious sturgeon shashlik somehow has shut our eyes to all Father's driver's mistakes. We did not notice the mad eyes of the coming drivers any more, did not hear the strident whistles of police officers. It is very pleasant, you know, to rush at high speed, to remember the recent sturgeon, and to think about the fresh water of the promptly oncoming sea.
In a couple of hours after our departure from Krasnodar on the Dzhubga's police post we said goodbye to Father Vasily, who have already become very dear to us. We brushed away our avaricious male-sacred-female tears and wished each other the happy further trip. And in another twenty minutes we were at the object. Oh yes, it is very interesting to hitch-hike. I recommend it...
And by the way, I absolutely forgot to ask. What for do they build a bridge on the road near Goryachyi Kluch? (!) Does anybody know by chance?
Arhipo-Osipovka. What does this miracle of nature and man's hands represent by itself? Imagine two rivers that flow into the sea, surrounded by mountains from all sides. The settlement is spread between these small rivers. Some know-alls scornfully call it "village". I repeat especially for them: "Arhipo-Osipovka - is a resort settlement of city type. I insist to remember it". There is almost everything that is needed here: the church, a school is shared by three settlements, a hospital with a new metal roof, 3 (three!) nine-storied buildings, first-class Health-Improving Centre, a holiday house, a lot of tourist centres and campings. By the way, to tell you about the Health-Improving Centre, in Soviet times (in a period of stagnation) it belonged to mysterious 4-th Border. What kind of border it was and what business it was engaged in, local residents did not know, but the Centre was up to the mark: the magnificent centenary park, new buildings, a swimming pool, a cinema and tennis courts. I would like to tell a few words about a cinema. During the already mentioned period of stagnation (quite a good period, by the way) there were eight cinema theatres in the settlement for the 10 thousand population. And in the cinema that was in the Centre there were soft armchairs and, what is the most important is that after each performance there were glasses with very tasty Soviet kefir in a hall for the cinema-goers. Do you remember kefir? And all this was free-of-charge!!! I don't even know why people were going there: to see Pierre Richare, or to have free kefirâ”≤ But this action was made daily. There was no Church then, or rather the building itself was, but it was a sports go
We have digressed a little, but it is impossible to feel the atmosphere of the settlement without it. It will be the same to go to a restaurant without rolling the forthcoming supper in your head and without having made the virtual menu. In other words, you can't have a rest in a place, about which you know nothing, good mood is necessary, to get impregnated with a local smell before return (those who were in Krymsk, will understand me). Do you know how to distinguish local residents from vacationists? By the colour of skin, you think? No, in a couple of weeks all visitors become like to Negroes and start to play basketball, but were playing tennis in the beginning. Well, it is very simple to distinguish them - by clothes and by their appearance in general. Local residents almost always wear clothes of dark colours. Men never wear shorts. Quite often they are loafing around the settlement in shoes or old killed running shoes in 40 C heat. While the vacationists are well seen at once. The majority of them are red skinned, i.e. sun burnt in the first two days. More than a half of them are with labels on their noses, all are dressed in white. It is a real aerobatics for the big city bosses to pull on a white T-shirt, shorts and new running shoes on a long white sock. It is easy to understand them - all health-resort visitors are shown just like that in the commercials. And the local residents are also easy to understand: the first - hot water is given only on Saturdays, the second - you can wear dark clothes for weeks, and the third is that all of them are work during the summer.