>since it was the place where so many children, now adults, had spent their happy summer vacations, flocking there from all over the Soviet Union.

yes, Russian climate makes you yearn for hot climate vacation near sea and giving the Iron Curtain there weren't much options. These days Russians go en mass to Mediterranean : Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Chernogorya, Italy, Spain. Despite all the propaganda they aren't going to Crimea. As joke has it these days "it is so quiet on Crimea beaches that one can hear Russian tourists having drink party ("buhayuschih") on Egypt beaches"