Matsesta has sulphur baths known to Europeans since the middle of the 19th century, and functioned as a resort since 1902. Khostinsky City District hosts the major part of the couple of dozens resorts in the limits of the city of Sochi. Transportation The railway which connects Adler and Sochi follows the coast. There are two stations within the district, Khosta and Matsesta, both served by suburban trains from Sochi and from Krasnaya Polyana. Long-distance trains do not stop within the district. Akhun railway platform is disused. The M27 Highway connecting Novorossiysk with Adler crosses the district. The highway serves as the bypass road for the center of Sochi, and it joins the coast next to Matsesta. South of Matsesta, it follows the coast. There are roads up to the valleys of most of the rivers including the Khosta and the Matsesta, but there are no roads crossing from valley to valley, or across the ridge to Adygea. The western part of the district is a part of the road network of the center of Sochi. Culture and recreation The Sochi Arboretum, which goes back to 1889, is located in Svetlana and possesses the most comprehensive collection of subtropical flora in Russia, including 76 species of pine, 80 species of oak, and 24 species of palm. Matsesta has been a spa since 1902. A long tunnel, constructed between 1996 and 2000, connects it to Kurortny Avenue, a street running along the coast between Khosta and Sochi proper. The area does not retain many marks of antiquity, although the eponymous river was noted as Masaitica as early as 137 CE, in a letter from Arrian to Emperor Hadrian. Khosta is an old village, attested in medieval documents as Casto and Khamysh. It contains the ruins of a medieval church, going back to the 14th century, and the comparatively modern Transfiguration Church, consecrated in 1914. Khosta has an array of tourist attractions: Khosta Fortress, or rather the ruins thereof, perched on the top of a 100-meter high cliff within six kilometers () from the sea coast. The fortress stands on the grounds of an ancient grove of yews and boxwood, which may be up to 30 mya old. The largest yews attain a height of 50 meters; one is estimated to be 2,000 years old. The grove covers an area of 301 ha and has been affiliated with the Caucasus Zapovednik since