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has outdated itself as a fortification.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.