A gleaming late-model tractor traverses the mile-long field, preparing the rich black soil for planting. Nearby, a hunched babushka (grandmother) peddles a pail of tomatoes to passersby on a busy highway.

Long lines of trucks snake their way down hills to gleaming export terminals, their cargos of grain bound for world markets. As the trucks roll on, they pass wheezing Ladas — standard Soviet-era passenger cars — and an occasional horse-drawn wagon headed to a local farmers’ market.

In cities and villages, internationally known big-box stores and newly built convenience stores crop up among centuries-old churches and the cookie-cutter apartment buildings that have housed several Eastern European generations.

Daily life in the Black Sea region is a study in contrast — and opportunity.