Yana Paskova

Europe: Pre-Olympic Russia

As the mountainous Black Sea resort Sochi, Russia, prepares for the Winter Olympic games scheduled there for 2014, it emerges as a place replete with contradictions -- glitzy clubs and impoverished street vendors, progress and repression, Westernization and former Eastern bloc ideologies.

For The New York Times :: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/11/16/travel/1116-SOCHI_index.html

Investors have flooded the Russian beach town of Sochi since its award as the 2014 Winter Olympics location in an effort to create a Mediterranean-style resort. Here, a bus rider glances at a mural of the Russian communist politician Vladimir Lenin on Tuesday, August 12, 2008.
  
The Russian communist politician Vladimir Lenin aimed to turn the Black Sea resort Sochi into a Soviet workers' paradise by ordering the construction of dozens of sanatoriums like this one, called Ordzhonikidze, seen here on Thursday, August 14, 2008.
   
Vladimir Makarenko, deputy director of Gazprom, (which is the largest Russian company and extractor of natural gas in the world,) watches over the construction of the Winter Olympics location on Thursday, August 14, 2008 at the Black Sea resort Sochi, Russia.
     
  
A ski lift carries passengers through the Caucus mountains, above the location of the 2014 Winter Olympics at the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, on Thursday, August 14, 2008.
  
A turnstile awaits further construction at the 2014 Winter Olympics site at the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, on Thursday, August 14, 2008.
  
Men play a game of guns by the rapidly developing boardwalk at the Black Sea resort Sochi, Russia on Wednesday, August 13, 2008. The government has pledged to invest $12 billion to transform the Soviet-era resort town into a Mediterranean-style retreat.
     
  
A little boy stares down a pack of homeless dogs at the Black Sea resort Sochi, Russia on Wednesday, August 13, 2008. The government has pledged to invest $12 billion to transform the Soviet-era resort town into a Mediterranean-style retreat.
  
A boy emerges from the water in his scuba diving mask as beach-goers enjoy the warm weather on Thursday, August 14, 2008, at the Black Sea resort Sochi, Russia. The government has pledged to invest $12 billion to transform the Soviet-era resort town into a Mediterranean-style retreat.
   
A woman gathers flowers in front of the Svyato-Mihailo Arhangyelskii Christian Orthodox church at the Black Sea resort Sochi, Russia on Wednesday, August 13, 2008. The government has pledged to invest $12 billion to transform the Soviet-era resort town into a Mediterranean-style retreat.
     
  
A woman sells hand-woven scarves and blankets for small change at the Black Sea resort Sochi, Russia on Wednesday, August 13, 2008. The government has pledged to invest $12 billion to transform the Soviet-era resort town into a Mediterranean-style retreat.
   
Parents wait for their kids to finish playing at a classic amusement park at the Black Sea resort Sochi, Russia on Tuesday, August 12, 2008. The government has pledged to invest $12 billion to transform the Soviet-era resort town into a Mediterranean-style retreat.
   
A DJ spins music at the Platforma nightclub, built over the Black Sea waters, on Friday, August 15, 2008 in the Black Sea resort Sochi, Russia, showing glimpses of the Mediterranean-style glamour toward which the town aspires.
     
  
Patrons dance at the Platforma nightclub, built over the Black Sea waters, on Friday, August 15, 2008 in the Black Sea resort Sochi, Russia, showing glimpses of the Mediterranean-style glamour toward which the town aspires.