Thursday, July 10, 2008

Lazarevskaya and mountain training

We have reached a small beach town, called Lazarevskaya, on the shore of the black sea.
It is a beautiful and vibrant place, with all of the characteristics of a beach town: the
tanned bodies of beautiful people, boats flowing in and out of the piers, water sports
ripping up close to the beach, warm sunny weather and lots of small hotels spread around the
streets.



I especially liked a small coffee place called 'Botanik'. We frequently went there for some
good green tea (They even serve it with a plate of diffrent nuts - can you believe it?) or a
light meal. Vadim, a good friend and brother and my companion for this trip has taken upon
himself to teach me the game of chess. We spend some of our nights in this charming place,
playing the game. I love it. Cant believe I didnt learn it until now...




What is even more apealing in this place to me is the close by mountains with their small
villages, the river crossing through and nature life.





We decided to hike into the unexplored woods and do some physical training while we are in
there.
In the first day, after a 90 minute hike up the mountain we reached a nice spot and put on
the rings on a tree branch. We went a head to do some sets on the extreme rings.






After the workout we went down to the river for some cool down. How about that Tarzen, ha?!



Vadim went ahead and performed his famous 'ugliest jump in the world' into the waters. Take
a look:


After the workout we had some glycogen replenishing fruits as the first part of our post-workout meal:


On our second day in the nature we went up a diffrent route and hiked a realy difficult path
right through the river. We have reached places I believe few humans have reached, and it
was quite an experience.




This day I suggested we do some training with a rock. I found a nice spot and we went ahead
to complete a strength endurance circuit with this rock as our challenge. Back squats,
presses, deadlifts and push ups performed for 21,15,9 reps. Quite a heart pumper. Vadim
handled himself great and didnt let go, pushing until the last rep was completed.



Overall great couple of days, stay tuned for my sailing and fishing experiences... I hope
you are listening out there...

Saturday, July 05, 2008

From Russia with Love 3

My third trip to Russia. I love this country.
I got to Rostov after a connection flight I took from Kaliningrad. The flight was bad, and we arrived in Rostov on Don at 0300 AM, but I wont dwell on it.
We went to Vadim's apartment to sleep it off and woke up to a beautiful and warm day.
We went to eat in my favorite place in Rostov. The Azerbaijanian market. There is a small workers resturant, all dirty and rough, and I love the simplicity and taste of their foods. They served us with a lamb stew, fresh cut veggies and some delicious lamb chops. The meat was to die for. In the end of the meal they served us with a spicy black tea, I liked it a lot. Tea should be drank bitter, in its natural form, no sugar or additives.
In the market here you can buy blueberries in a very cheap price. I couldnt believe it.
This box of 6 Kg of blueberries costs here 10$.... In Israel we pay 8$ for 350 Grams... And frozen, not fresh! People here dont value their berries. Antioxidants for free...

After the Azarbaijanian market we had to use a couple of hours of the day to register my passport as required by the Russian Federation. You think Israel has a lot red tape? Russia is much worse. Many forms to fill out, all for foreigners and not even one of them in English.... Amazing.

After completing the registeration process we went ahead to the country side to a 'Dacha' (Spring house or Villa in the countryside/seashore) of Vadim's friend on the bank of the Don river. It is a beautiful place, very quiet and I started to wonder how will life be living in a natural place like this. I got to the conclusion that you either choose to live in the city and vacation in the village or vice versa, but for a city born person, the combination essential if he wants to maintain sanity.
We went into the river for a short dip and went back to the house's garden to pick up fresh, organic berries of all shapes and colors right there from the bushes. I was like a kid in a toy store. Those berries were delicious and full of taste and I enjoyed it very much. We drank some tea made from mint and berry leafs and it was heaven.
We went home to rest a bit and we are just now going out to drink some tea. Stay tuned for more, I only leave for the seashore Monday morning, more to come...