I was invited to stay with an inhabitant of Arkhipo-Osipovka at his dacha. I was glad to accept this invitation and I immediately found out the first favorable circumstance. In contrast to 1992 (when I flew for the last time to the sea), our Yekaterinburg Airlines could at the beginning of May not only reserve but also right away sell the ticket for August from the booking office. The tariff was labeled R, which is railway, though it was strange enough. Exactly twice as cheap as the basic one. At the top of the season!
Host party was making jokes if we would mind to go back by train because of that R tariff, or would there be any emergency brakes in the plane according to that tariff and so on. Running a few steps forward - we have returned the same way as we had flown there and moreover - we have VIP places in the plane.
Taking into account that through this site one can order the meeting in the airport, delivery and accommodation, (the host party put this service at our disposal with the highest skill), it makes a great difference from the conditions that were 20 years ago. As soon as we have arrived we went to the beach. Immediately we noticed two distinctions from the majority of photos we've seen on this site earlier. First, the number of people on the beach. In August everything looks so:
Second, the sea is muddy.
I should say Arkhipo-Osipovka copes with such an influx honorably. Lavatory, shower, free of charge cabins - everything is practically without delay (the queue is only in the rush hours, but it is endurable). One can choose what to eat or to drink cheap or expensive without any problem. Range of alcohol beverages is also great. Overcrowded as the beach may be, you can easily find the deck-chair (sometimes free of charge because the people who've paid for it have gone to have some rest - even if they would come and drive you away it's not very difficult to find another vacant place).
And concerning muddy sea, the natives said that it is much more wholesome than the clear one - all the algae and micro-what's-it's-names are raised from the bottom of the sea and the water contains them in abundant quantity. Hospitality of the hosts, it was the same as 20 years ago. Our arrival was celebrated on the dacha. We had a good party with shashlik, crayfishes, fruits and cocktails made of different sorts of beer which we bought in the local shop. As a result we were settled not on the promised dacha (a great deal of guests had arrived), but in a room of the comfortable, spacious house what was even better. This snapshot is my son's favorite.
And after our arrival - it has turned out so - in the late evening we found ourselves near the quay - I've got the most powerful impressions of it. In the daytime I took a photo of the street which led from the famous cross to the center of the quay. Here it is.
Typical street of small village in Krasnodar region. And at night it looks so.
I spent another couple of evenings on the quay. It's a pity that it was impossible to take photo with my camera. It looked like reduced copy of Las Vegas and Brazilian Carnival at the same time. In the every fifty meters on this street and a little bit less frequent on the quay is located a cafÐ≤ out of which streams new music. The great difference of that feast of life in Arhkipo-Osipovka from many others is that it is very democratic. If you have 20 rubles it's enough to buy a glass of beer, stroll about the quay which is approximately 1 kilometer long and choose music to your taste (there are also unplugged music) and dancing company. Th
There are a lot of karaoke and one Super karaoke - with the huge screen. To sing there costs twice as much as in the usual one (60 rubles). Here I spent a lot of money for karaoke because I enjoy singing and people like to listen to me. The guy from Khabarovsk also sang very well. We performed some songs together with two microphones. It's a pity he did not come the next evening. I would have liked to fix us on a video tape (attendant services of that karaoke).
Alone I also did not fix myself on video tape. But camera worked permanently and one could see the audience and the singing man on the screen of the small TV set sideways. A part of the audience not so much listened to the song as examined itself in this TV and waved there to itself. When I sang one of my favorite songs, I turned from the screen to the public. I had no need in looking at the screen because I had known the song by heart for a long time. The owners of karaoke did not become confused. They switched broadcasting from the camera to the big screen then took the camera and began to fix everybody around. The result was amazing. Everybody periodically saw himself taken close up on the big screen, waving hands and smiling with the background song "Ocharovana, okoldovana"*. The mood resembled that on Olympiad 80 when the song "Do svidanya, nash laskoviy Misha"** was sung.
To go home by car from this night paradise to any place in the village costs 50 rubles (if it's not very far, but the holiday-makers prefer to live nearby). To go by foot is also possible.
We had not intended to make tours save aquapark. Concerning aquaparks each of hospitable hosts and good fellow-holiday-makers gave their advice.
As a result of it we worked out our own plans. By private car it is better to go early in the morning for a whole day to Nebug, it is behind Dzhubga in the direction of Tuapse. And without a car it is better to book an excursion and the best variant is Gelendzhik. Representatives of some tour agencies sit on the street near the beach, so one should learn as much as possible and only then make a decision. We have chosen a tour to the aquapark "Begemot"*** in Gelendzhik.
Everyday after a good night's rest we went with other holiday-makers to the beach and stayed there all day long.
By the way, if you do not like music in the night, it is better for you to live farther from the shore. Even in the house which is far from the shore the music is audible through the seaside windows. And they say it is impossible to sleep at night when the house is nearer. But tastes differ. So we used to go to this beach, stay there till the evening come and choose what to do. My son liked to somersault in waves and to dive from a breakwater, and also for a change he swam away on a catamaran and bathed in clear water (with jellyfishes) far from the shore or (a little bit of extreme) - on a banana far away from coast also to bathe, or on "tablet", or (the big extreme) - flew on a parachute.
As for me, after one and a half years of hard working without a holiday among the heap of employees of financial sphere, it would be very desirable for me to wander somewhere (instead of lying on one and the same place) and to have less people around me.
The most favourable for it is the place behind the mountain "Jozhik"****. If one looks at the sea - it is on the left side of the beach.
Here is the view of this place (behind my back) from the opposite mountain.
I sometimes visited the rocky shore (about three kilometers long). And the opposite side of it looks so.
Lying on the beach in the middle of the hot day, among thousands of overheated bodies, when you are tired from heat and want to find a little bit of shade, it's difficult to imagine that on the left side of mountain "Jozhik" one can walk along the wild rocky beach and meet people in groups or alone, about in every 100 or 200 meters. There is a lot of fresh air and one can walk with pleasure in the very heat. Generally speaking it is a paradise for a person who wants to be alone a little, because he is tired of crowds of people at work and at home. It is better to meet people and communicate with them here than in the cram of the beach. If I were alone, I shall go there for the whole day.
One can often see picturesque canyons.
I had never visited them. My holidays were not long enough. I believe next year I shall manage to do it.
Some of the people on the deserted beach sunbathe and bathe naked. It is not really a nudist's beach - the majority is in the swimsuits. There is absolute freedom and nobody is exited about it. Once I bathed naked and had no problem with it. Anyway there was nobody around. The desolation can be probably explained by that fact that the seabed is rocky in this place. But if you have an aqualung and a mask - you are recommended to go only there.
One day when I went for a walk I got under the rain. It began when I was still on the beach. It's strange but a lot of people run to bathe and not to hide from the rain.
And only after it turned into a real cloud-burst everybody hid under the shelter.
I took a good English umbrella and went for an extreme walk there to the left.
It was terrible. The long shore stretches far away, but the rain wall conceals it. After half an hour my umbrella was wet and rain began to drop through it.
And one day I wandered onto the mountain. That one just behind "Jozhik" if one goes from the sea to the village. I decided to take picture of the landscape and as one who was raised up in mountains have a good view of the locality. And I want also to eat blackberry that grows near the mountain (instead of buying it in the market).
I surveyed the surroundings. The worst thing was that in the evening I'd drunk a great deal of local wine. It was very difficult to rise with such tachycardia and weakness which I had not had since long ago. Our hostess supposed that we should not have mixed all the kinds of wine yesterday. The winewoman said it was no danger in it, because the ferment is the same, only the sorts of vine are different. One should not drink so much wine. I just give advice for the others.
Democracy of the rest is not only in free of charge access to the night carnival on the quay. It is remarkable that for a good rest one can have a minimum of items. According to my accountant's habit I calculated all the costs taking into account the prices of 2004. Here is a list of lump-sum costs. You should not buy all the things because you have some of them at home.
Shoes âˆthe simplest beach shoes for 150 rubles. They are good for every occasion. At home you are barefoot, and on the beach, street and so on you can use them. Even if it rains there would be no trouble with them. The expensive shoes are not more functional, believe me.
One more thing. One from our company wore shorts everywhere (in the market they cost about 150 rubles) he bathed in the sea (it was the washing at the same time), sunbathed, walked in Arkhipka, and slept in them. It is necessary to mention, the fellow got used to the comfort. Well and a T-shirt - the simplest one. I have brought some with me. All the rest is unnecessary.
Oh, yes. A straw hat a la cowboy's, on it is written something like Marlboro (look at the photo above). One can buy it in the local market (60 rubles). In American currency it's approximately 2 dollars. At first I wanted to throw it away when I left the seashore, but then I took it with me to home. It will be of some use the next summer on our Chelyabinsk lakes. It's more functional than any of the coolest summer caps. The head is ventilated, and a face, a neck and shoulders constantly in the shadow.
It is better to go to the beach with the bag (it is sold here and costs 300 rubles) which after unzipping turns into a rag. Also it is desirable to have a sunshade. Also costs 300 rubles, but for two or four people it is better to take for 500 rubles the most popular size. I have bought such a sunshade too and have taken it with me.
Now only the trifles are not mentioned - a cream (or you will not become tanned but burned). It costs about 100-200 rubles. But it is necessary to look for it in several places. I could not understand in one place why the cream I need # 16 was for 87 rubles though # 12 and # 19 cost 150 rubles each. Schoolboys sellers could not explain it to me without the owner. It's date of issue was in order, so I bought the cream and never regretted it.
You need nothing else. You may check. Women also should buy their swimsuits; they could not wear shorts only. And the rest is the usual stuff which you take to the trip (I did not use the half of them).
To rent a room costs from 100 to 200 rubles per day for a person, the cost depends on improvements and affinity to the sea. To find lodging is always possible, even at the top of the season.
The current expenses for a beach: to visit toilet 5 rubles, to take a shower 30 (if it is not in the house but then the lodging is cheaper). 30 r. per day a deck chair. To do some shooting in the shooting-range costs: one shot from 3 rubles, on interest (with a prize) - 10. To drink some beer - from 15 for 0,5 liter. Wine is better to buy from private traders about 100 rubles for 1,5 liter. To have a good meal in the public canteen - about 100. In more decent cafe it is possible to have for the same sum an easy meal or from 200 r. a hearty meal. The prices for foodstuff differ a little, fruit - in comparison with Ural Mountains are cheaper.
Entertainments. A banana 100 r., "tablet" 200 r.. A parachute to one 1000 r., together 1500 r.. Children can be sent to a computer club for 30 rubles per hour (it is located on the quay).
To visit an aquapark with bus excursion costs from 400 rubles plus charges inside an aquapark cafe (it is a little bit more expensive than on the quay). All this is a minimum (probably except a parachute, which is really a whim). There are a lot of excursions as well as entertainments for new Russians (discos, striptease and so on). But it is no sense in calculating. There are no limits to the perfection.
That's all
I went home with excellent impressions. Having been asked about how he liked the trip my taciturn son answered: it was cool, (his highest estimation). Before departure the hosts invited us to visit them next year again. By now they have constant clients. Last year's lodgers from Novorossiysk stayed by them when we were there. For the time present I'd like to accept the invitation. We shall see what to do.
* Russian song about romantic love
** Good bye our tender bear Misha (the symbol of Olympiad 80 in Russia)
***Hippopotamus
**** Hedgehog