Rostov Veliky



Rostov Veliky is a city in Yaroslavl Oblast, a Golden Ring destination and a birthplace of Alyosha Popovich, a legendary medieval knight.

Understand
There are two Rostovs in Russia, the other one is in the south and called Rostov-on-the-Don. This Rostov is the oldest and Veliky stands for the Great because of its age. It was first mentioned in 862 BC in the Primary Chronicle, and two centuries later it was joined by Rurik to his Kingdom. Since then it became a big political center and the throne of Church. Population of Rostov the Great is small. It is over 30,000 people.

By train
Rostov has a train station on the Moscow - Yaroslavl railway and is served by several trains, Moscow - Yaroslavl expresses and local trains from Yaroslavl to various stations between Rostov and Alexandrov. It is possible to get to Rostov from Moscow by local trains with change in Alexandrov, but check timetable first, because trains from Alexandrov to Yaroslavl sometimes are cancelled. Express or morning trains from Moscow seem to be most convinient connection though.

Return from Rostov to Moscow by train, there is an evening gap in connections - there are no trains between 20:00 and 02:00, and there might be no tickets on 20:00 express and you may spend several not so comfortable hours on the train station at night.

By car
The distance from Moscow is 202 km (3 hours).

See

 * Spaso-Yakovlevsky monastery on the shore of the Nero lake.
 * Abramiyev Bogoyavlensky monastery.
 * Abramiyev Bogoyavlensky monastery.

Do

 * Fishing at the Nero lake that is 500 thousand years old.
 * Hour-long boat excursions on the lake

Buy

 * Finift, a combination of enamel and metal covered with traditional paints. This is what the city is famous for.
 * Black pottery, clay pots, whistles and figurines of unusual tint.

Drink

 * Russian sort of mead Medovukha and home-made kvass in the Rostov Kremlin.

Go next

 * Borisoglebsky Monastery, founded in the 14th century.
 * Jeep-tours to Sarskoye fortress, a Merya tribe campsite who lived on the shores of the Nero lake.