Sochi, a Russian city on the Black Sea, (Sochi is the Florida of Russia) is known as a summer beach resort, and was host of the 2014 Winter Olympics. Its parks include the palm-filled Arboretum. It’s also notable for 20th-century neoclassical buildings such as the columned Winter Theatre. Forested Sochi National Park is a 1,937-sq.-km protected area in the nearby Caucasus Mountains. Some 70 km inland, Krasnaya Polyana is a prominent ski resort.

Sochi is famous for its tea plantations, most northerly located in Europe, owing to the experienced tea grower I. A. Koshman, who was the first in 1901 to produce the tea variety adapted to that climate. Thus, Russia got its own brand of tea with a special unique flavor.