EN KA

GEORGIA 1990'S: TIPS ON SURVIVAL

'The salty taste of the Black Sea' - Anna Dziapshipa

This page of the magazine is a guide to Abkhazia.

The images date 2017 - 2015, whereas the annotations are taken

from the old tourist books of the Soviet times. Assembly of the

booklets published during the USSR and the contemporary

documentary images shape an attempt to mark the border

between the reality and the romanticized perception of Abkhazia.

In this metaphysical guidebook the text resembles the memory

and the photos - a small chink into reality.


...in comparison to other seas, carbonic acid, calcium and potassium

chloride are more present in the Black Sea, whereas the sulfuric acid

is less. Sodium chloride (table salt) responsible for the salty taste of

the Black Sea, sodium chloride and sulfuric acid are responsible for the

bitter taste. The sea water contains 46 different chemical substance,

among which are: gold, silver, radon, radium and other - represented

with a strongly small amount.


Among the sunny Georgian resorts, the resort of the autonomous So-

viet Socialist Republic of Abkhazia stands at the top.

For a long time, Abkhazia was known for only it’s beaches (Gagra, New

Atoni, Sokhumi, Gudauta, Gulripshi, etc.), whereas the explorations of

it’s natural remedial factors has lead us to discover other primary cli-

matic-balneological resorts.

The Sea is not only a wonder of nature, but also a source for health.

The cool sea water, it’s chemicals, the waves and the ultraviolet rays

which the water carries freely have a positive effect on the swimmer’s

organism. As it is known, the salt particles are excreted in heavy seas,

which saturate the air. Inhaling this air with a help of a respirator effects

the whole body...


Swimming in the sea, without a loaded physical activity is permitted

starting from the middle of May until the end of October, depending

on the warmth of the sea. In Leselidze the temperature of the water is

characterized with its permanence, there is rapid fall in temperature,

as it would in Kobuleti.


...Yet before the revolution in Russia, Gagra had been predicted to have

a bright future as a resort by professor Pasternatskí. He wrote: ‘Gagra

has outdated itself as a fortification. Taking into con-sideration it’s con-

venient natural climatic terms, it has no other option, but to become a

resort - for swimming and generally speaking a curative place and turn

into a real ‘Russian Nice’.


... At the 8th km from the village of Bziba, on the left side of the road is

located the so called Blue Lake. Here, by the stiff cliffs, the limpid spring

waters running all the way down from the local mountains have found

their natural habitat. The lake occupies around 60 square meters. The

tem-perature of the lake is quite low (around 8 - 9 Celsius).


... The swans are floating on the mirroring waters of the pools, the

tortuous lanes, the peafowls, that proudly flaunt with their rainbow

colored tales. A true fairy tale it is...

The land and the sea are not heated equally during the day and the

night. This contrast creates seashore winds called Breeze. Daytime

breeze is humid, because during this time of the natural day, the sea is

cooler than the heated seashore and cooler air masses of the sea move

towards the shore. During the hot days of the summer, these airstream

brings the desired coolness. During the night the dry and hot breezes

blow from the seashore towards the sea, because during this time of

the natural day, the sea is warmer, than the at the quickly cooled down

seashore at night.



Carefully listen to the legend: A beauty Ritsa had three brothers. They

were hunters. Once the brothers staid late hunting. While she waited,

charmed by looking at the stars in the night sky, the beauty sang songs.

The brigand brothers Gega and Iupshar heard her sing in woods and

went to see her. Mind blowed Iupshara watched her passionately. Carried

away with desire, he caught Ritsa and would not let her go out of his

arms. Ritsa would scream and try to escape, but what was she supposed

to do against the evildoers?! A mountain falcon witnessed the scene of

violence and flew to let the brothers know about what had happened.

The brothers ran towards their sister straightaway. The younger brother

- Pshepshikha, swung his gargantuan sword at Iupshar but missed the

target. The cowardly bandit Iupshar saved his life by running away, but

Ritza could no longer stand the humiliation and jumped into the lake

which suddenly appeared by her feet. The unhappy brothers ran after

Iupshar. The older brother Agapsta threw Iupshar into the lake with his

strong hands. The seething water threw the submerged body of Iupshar

to the feet of the younger brother Pshepshikha. Iupshar turned into a

river and he moved towards his brother Gega, who also had become a

river. Ritsa’s horrified brothers transformed into mountain peaks, who

now guard their sister’s eternal sleep. It is since then that Ritsa stands

for the beauty which is humiliated, trampled and walked over, placed

between the sadness and sorrow of her brothers, resembled by the

mountain peaks.

The climatic peculiarities of the seashore significantly affect human or-

ganism. The large scale of the sea surface provides with the clearness

and transparency of the air, because of what the sun radiation on the

beach is rich with the ultraviolet rays...


Bibliography:

1. Resorts of Abkhazia: Ritsa-Avadkhara, Sokhumi, Abkhazian

Sakhelgami, 1949.

2. Z. Danelia, The Gagra resort, Tbilisi, 1976.

3. I. Chogovadze, The Leselidze resort, The Soviet Georgia

publishing, Tbilisi, 1975.

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