Going Out & Sightseeing in Rostov

Below is a tour around Rostov, that'll let you see all the main sights of the town in 4-5 hours.

Most probably, the first thing you'll see when you arrive in Rostov Veliky is its concrete railway and bus stations' building, situated a bit outside of the centrum. To get to the centrum of the city you need to take the Lunacharskogo (Луначарского) street, that leads from the station to the Kremlin. It's better to walk along this street to get the first impression of Rostov: rustic calm provincial town, with low wooden houses, each made in a different way. After 10 minutes of walking straight ahead you'll reach the central street of the town, very alive Karla Marksa (Карла Маркса), where various shops are nested in old simple buildings and restoration works are taking place. If you turn right, walk ahead, and then turn left, you'll get to the western gates of Rostov's Kremlin.

The place where the Rostov Kremlin situated is the core of Rostov, not only because of the famous sight, but also because it was this place, where long time ago the Finn-Ugor 'Merya' tribes founded their first setllements, which preceded the old town of Rostov. In the 19th-20th century there were archelogical researches on the terriory of the Kremlin, and many items and things found, exhibited now in the Archelogy museum of the Kremlin. Among the findings are the old drakkar's parts, ancient tools and items that were used by pre-historic people, by the Meryas and the Slavs. The archeology museum is on the right of the west gates of the Kremlin, opened 10 to 17 daily, admission 15 r - $0.5.
The Kremlin itself is not old, judging by Russian measure, the majority of the buildings inside were built in the 17th century. The Kremlin was never supposed to protect the town: its main function was to be the residence of the local head of church, so it was skillfully decorated, rather than fortified. Now the Kremlin is divided into three parts: Cathedral square (Sobornaya ploshchad), Bishop's court (Arkhiereiski dvor) and Metopolitan's garden (Mitopolichy sad).

The main cathedral of the Kremlin and of the town, located on Sobornaya square is the Assumption cathedral (Uspensky sobor - Успенский собор), that was built in 1508-1512. Actually, it was not the first Assumption cathedral elevated at this place, the first one was wooden, then a new cathedral was elevated made of white stone, and only in the beginning of the 16th century the Assumption cathedral you see now was built (on the photo below). The cathedral looks very nice with its white facads and wooden domes, especially that it's not completely restorated, so it's preserved the ancient appearance.
You can get inside the cathedral through the northern gates of the Kremlin (from the inside), or through a small church shop facing Karla Marksa street. The cathedral is opened from 9 to 17, but you can also get inside the Sobornaya square (where the cathedral is located) after 17.
Next to the cathedral there's a bell-tower, built in 1680s. On top of the bell-tower you can see 15 bells, that were also made at that time. The heaviest bell (on the left) called 'Sysoi' weighs more than 32 tonns and required much space, so the additional tower on the left of the bell-tower was elevated. Sometimes the monks let people climb up the bell-tower, so you can touch the bells and see Rostov and its Kremlin from high. When we were in Rostov, there was a goup of tourists and their guide wanted them to climb the bell-tower. The monks didn't want to let anybody in (especially that everything was already closed, it was 6pm), but the guide arranged that every member of the group pays 5 roubles ($0.16), and the monks let everybody in. So, if you want to climb the bell-tower so much, you can offer something to the monks (I think around $2 will be enough, no matter how many people there are).

The central part of the Kremlin, bishop's court, started in the 17th century. One of the first buildings was the Ascension church (Voznesenia tserkov) (on the photo below), above the northern gates (that lead to the Cathedral square). It was in this church, where for the first time in Russia the altar-screen (iconostas) was made out of stone (before they were making it of wood). Opposite to the church, on the other side of the bishop's court there are Metropolitan's chambers.
The walls and the towers (on the photo on the right) of the Kremlin were built in 1680s didn't have any military significance, even though they could be used for protection. Their main purpose was decorative.
One of the latest Kremlin's buildings is the gate-church of John the Divine (Ioanna Bogoslova church), built in 1683 in the best traditions of Russian architecture of that times.

In 1630s the ramparts were elevated around the Kremlin, designed to protect the town from invasions. At the south-east part of the rampart there's a working Rozhdestvensy convent, and if you walk along the eastern side of ramparts to the north, you'll see Ascension Church (Voznesenia tserkov), built in 1566 after Ivan the Terrible's decree. There are richly decorated Tsar's gates (Tsarskie vrata) and some interesting frescoes inside, made by fresco-painters from Yaroslavl in 1570. At the western part of the town, on the shore of Nero lake, there's the Monastery of Jacob Saviour (Spaso-Yakovlevsky monastery) (on the photo on the left), founded in the 14th cenury. The monastery looks especially magnificient from the shore of Nero lake next to the Kremlin. You can take a boat to the monastery for around 100 r ($3.5) there, or walk for 25 minutes. The majority of the buildings inside the monastery were built in the 17th century. The first cathedral of the monastery was Zachatievsky cathedral, first built in 1686, but altered since then.