GAGRA (Republic of Abkhazia) 2008 Part 1/2

The town was founded in the 2-nd century B.C. by Greek colonists between the rivers Joechwara and Gagripsh as a Triglite. Gagra accommodates one of the nicest health resort parks on the Black Sea coast. He was furnished in 1902 to 1905 by architect Sherwinski by order of the duke of Oldenburg on a drained marsh area. Today its accommodates palms of the Canary islands and from China, cedars from the Himalayas and magnolias from the USA. There are peacocks, a lake with black Australian swans and a pond with Chinese goldfish. The park area contains a byzantin church from the 6-th century. The "promanade" of Gagra is planted with palms and plane trees. In bars and cafés fish dishes, local wine and Turkish coffee are served. After the end of the war (1992-1993) actions and the conquest Gagras by Abkhasian guerillas on the 2nd October, 1992 or Septembers, 1993 it came to the decline of the tourism in Gagra. Only since 2001 tourism is possible by the relative opening of the Russian-Abkhasian border. 2006 visited approx. 1.1 million tourists the town. The streets are Moscow-like.. and LAN-Internet possible in the whole town. Destructions from war (1992-93) are hardly to be seen in the town. Today Problems in Gagra are the electricity supply, as well as the lacking of living space for tourists and skilled worker's supply. In the middle of 2008 the power station that was hardly damaged by georgian mortar fire will be repaired and going to supply 90% of the town`s electricy in 2008. Skilled workers from Turkey and Central Asia going to build by 2010 20,000 new residential unities for tourists.