Botanical Garden and Honey Tasting

Today was our last official lecture at Kuban State. We were joined by an ecology expert from Kuban State who told us all about the ecology in the Krasnodar Krai. It was a very interesting presentation.

Following lunch at the university, we were taken to the Kuban State University Botanical Garden. The university has created a beautiful garden that includes over 2500 different species of plants. Some of the most beautiful were their lotus and water lilies. They were gorgeous plants!

While we were touring the garden, a group of young folksingers was waiting for us. They began to sing traditional Russian songs while we toured the grounds. When our tour was over, the group was waiting again, and performed for us. While they sang, we were treated to tea and different types of honey. Kuban State has a department that teaches students about bee keeping and to their knowledge, it is the only such program in Russia.

We tried three different types of honey and even a honey drink. It was interesting. They get the different flavors of honey from different trees. We tried honey from White Acadia and Chestnut Trees, as well as another (but I can't remember what it was...whoops!) They were good, but my favorite was the White Acadia! On blini!!! (like a really thin pancake) YUM! We really had a fun afternoon!