Abandoned sanatorium and art museums

After breakfast we drive to Sochi. The first attraction is the S. Ordzhonikidze sanatorium in Khost, a real "Soviet period park", a phenomenal example of Stalin's Palladianism of the 30s.
Sergo Ordzhonikidze, People's Commissar of Heavy Industry, himself chose the site for a sanatorium named after himself. In 1934 the place was determined, in 1935 the architect Ivan Kuznetsov signed an agreement with Narkomtyazhprom and by December 1937 the first guests were improving their health undermined by the pace of industrialisation.
Decorate resort was the People's Artist Sergey Gerasimov. Palekh masters under his direction painted murals, his own pictures (such as "Peony", which hang in the Sochi Art Museum) and paintings of other state farms decorated the halls of the club-dining room and dormitories.
Later the sanatorium (it is on the mountain) was connected to the seashore by funicular railway, which most of the way followed in a tunnel running under the highway and the territory of other resorts. At the end of the noughties the sanatorium closed. And stands here as such a time-worn beauty - proudly and silently, a monument to a bygone era.
To get to the territory of the sanatorium (on foot) is possible through the central gate.
You can park your car just before the Sanatorium entrance (you will need to walk to the main entrance). You can also park at the side entrance (when passing the fence of the sanatorium turn right to the bypass road and go up by it to the entry gate, where you leave your car.)
By the way, if you didn't manage (or didn't want) to have breakfast at the hotel, you can take some dry food with you and organize a picnic with a view to the fountain and Greek porticoes of the sanatorium buildings.
One more thing! The sanatorium and its territory were used for filming the Soviet blockbuster "Starik Hottabych".

Comfortable parking in the center of the city. Covered, with hourly (100 rubles/hour in cash or by transfer to a card by phone number) payment. To avoid looking for a place along the road, you can leave your car here and go for a walk.
Keep in mind: the exit from the parking lot is only suitable for high clearance cars; if you're traveling in a racing supercar, exit where you entered).
To reinforce the theme "Great Style of the Soviet resort", go to Sochi Art Museum, it looks like Stalin's sanatorium and is filled with it as well.

From the parking lot go straight to the museum, it is located on Arts Square, it is a five minute walk along Ordzhonikidze Street.
It is impossible not to recognize the museum: the building with a four-column portico for the office of the Commissioner of the All-Union Central Executive Committee for the construction of the Sochi-Matsesta resort city (the temple of resort construction became a museum much later) in the mid thirties built Academician Ivan Zholtovsky, one of the most famous Stalinist architects, a classic of neo-Renaissance. Other completed projects of Academician Zholtovsky in Sochi, where he worked in the mid-thirties, are the Riviera Bridge over the Sochi River, a pumping station in New Matsesta and the sailors' hospital.
The central importance of the house with columns for the whole of Greater Sochi is confirmed by the monument to Ilyich on the other side of Arts Square (by sculptor Zinovy Vilensky, famous for his dozens of monumental statues of Kirov, and architect Lev Rudnev, author of the Moscow State University building).
The museum collection has works by Aivazovsky and Shishkin, but after you have been to the picturesque almost ruins of the Ordzhonikidze sanatorium, I would not recommend looking at them, but rather a selection of paintings, sculptures and decorative porcelain, decorating the interiors of Sochi sanatoriums (Room 3), primarily paintings by Peter Williams (ceremonial portrait of ballet dancers), Isaac Brodsky (author's repetition of pre-revolutionary "Italy") and Alexander Gerasimov ("Peonies") and other classics of academic socialist realism.
In the same room are paintings by Dmitry Zhilinsky (the museum is named after him), Natalia Nesterova and Boris Talberg, who are closer to us (in time and outlook).
Hours of operation: Monday: closed. Tuesday - Sunday: 10:00 - 18:00

For lunch (5 minutes walk from the museum) go to the restaurant, the name of which has become a nickname - "Baran Rapan".
The cuisine of "Baran-Rapan" is of very high quality, very local, quite authorial; a complete gentleman's set, which turned the restaurant into a real gastronomic institution.
In spite of all persuasions I never tasted mutton in "Baran" (I got it somewhere else, I'll talk about it later), but I had enough of crawfish: with porcini and purple potatoes (a joke on the subject of potatoes with mushrooms), as stew with tomatoes in leek soup, and in legendary cabbage rolls. And all three of these dishes suited me just fine, I love the texture of this antebellum gastropod, it complements any other dish perfectly, whether it's a foamy sauce, a puree soup or a savoy cabbage shell.
The restaurant has two floors with different menus - the first has a simpler, livelier menu (and atmosphere) and the second is more formal. I tasted great bruschetta with halibut, quail eggs, truffle sauce and cod liver (a real brain bomb, I highly recommend it!), ceviche from the Black Sea sea trout with cucumbers and wasabi (wasabi wins here), the same rapana with ceps - all this from the second floor, cabbage rolls (they are from the first menu) and dessert (parfait of rye-cream with salted caramel). I'd like to especially mention the wine list, but I can't recommend it - you're driving!
Open daily from 12:00 to 00:00 Phone for booking: +7 (862) 295 04 41 or at website

Go down the same street Ordzhonikidze, past the parking lot where your car is parked, to Moskvin Street, there right at the junction of the two streets - the gallery "Fort".
The Fort is housed in the restored "Politidi House", built in 1911, an 18-roomed house of the Greek building manager John Politidi, which used to be a clinic during the Soviet times.
Politidi was one of those who actually created the resort of Sochi, turning a swampy and generally cursed place into a point of universal attraction. One of the first projects he was involved in was the construction of a railway tunnel, which connected Sochi with the outside world.
John Politidi built his house on the ruins of the Navaga fortification of the Sochi fort (hence the name of the gallery), opposite the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael. During the restoration of the building, by the way, parts of the fortification walls were uncovered and left as is, the old brick can be seen in the exhibition halls.
Opposite his house Politidi built the house of his cousin Chionidi, and therefore the stairs leading today to the entrance to the gallery territory (and further - to the Seaport), in the old days other than "Greek" was not called by the local population.
On the first floor of the gallery there are paintings by local artists, sometimes not terrible, sometimes even good, on the second floor - ateliers and stores where you can buy souvenirs: "Grey Wolf" with monochrome brooches and interior items and "Lightness of Being" with excellent linen (why didn't I buy that plaid?), Japanese scissors for the care of bonsai, porcelain, Aleppo soap with the scent of laurel, hats and other things absolutely necessary in everyday life.

Come back to the hotel to take advantage of the SPA "SIBO" (why did that name never occur to me?), only book in advance on the website or through the concierge.
Phone: +7 862 243 33 44 Email: spa.sibo@radissoncollection.com Opening Hours: Daily from 07:00 to 23:00

Go to a fishy place, the restaurant Klyovo (this is Arkady Novikov's project). The restaurant is within walking distance from the hotel.
By the way, the gates leading from the hotel to Imeretinskaya Embankment are opened with the same key that gets you to the parking lot and to your room. As you enter the embankment, be extremely careful - the gate leads directly to the bike path, on which scooters are also racing; look around and quickly cross over to the pedestrian area.
Klyvo has an extensive fish menu, of which I tried fried mullets, the same mullets, only smoked, and also kalkan, a local substitute for turbot, and vegetables cooked in the oven. The roasted mullets and roasted vegetables were flawless!
Open daily from 12:00 to 00:00 Phone for reservations: +7 (928) 44 54 112 or at website

After a busy day, you can rest and sleep well (leave the balcony door open for the night) - real adventures are planned for the next day.