Гелен в Тамани.

Okroshka - although a British friend of ours had described this soup as "an ordeal," I still decided to try it. It was perfect in every way...except for the fact that it was fizzy. I have to say, one thing I never thought my tastebuds would experience in life is fizzy soup. The reason for this is that the soup is made from Kvas, which is a kind of non alcoholic beer soft drink. But it is actually a little bit alcoholic. But by Russian standards it is not alcoholic. So, our teacher took us on a trip to Taman, a southern Russian town immortalised by Lermontov in his book "Hero of our time." We ate fizzy soup, visited a kind of reconstructed Cossack village and swam in the sea of Azov.

Lermontov.

"Тамань — самый скверный городишко из всех приморских городов России." - М.Ю. Лермонтов (Taman - the nastiest little seaside town in all of Russia)

Cossack house.

Cossack husband and wife.

Cossack oven/bed. Slightly contradictory to the strict Russian rules which dictate that you shall never sit on stone. It is bad for your ovaries, you know.

Nice cossack garms, Sam.

Tasting of Kuban wine. Slightly contradictory also was the fact that our teacher presented us with ten glasses of wine in about 30 minutes after 4 months of having told us not to drink alcohol and praising our abstinence from alcohol...