"The Soviet government's passion for mass-organizing is on display in Sochi, where the tumbling green slopes of the Caucasus Mountains meet the Black Sea in a subtropical climate that allows a May-to-October vacation season."
That's how the Chicago Tribune introduced Sochi to Americans in a 1987 travel article.
Before winning the rights to host the 2014 Winter Olympics, Sochi was known as a resort town, if it was known at all.
Over a million people visit the Black Sea city every summer to swim, shop, lay on the beach, and generally relax.
You'll see a lot of cold-looking imagery coming out of Sochi next month. But these photos of Sochi in summer show what the host city typically looks like.
Sochi sits on the Black Sea. It's one of the warmest places in all of Russia.
Kids jump off an old concrete embankment.
Just like any typical Jersey Shore town, there's a water park near the boardwalk.
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