Tsunami

Japan / USA / Europe - 21-Apr-20 -

Site visited in April 2019. 

Upon suggestion by a discerning member of this site, I decided to stop at this TWHS on my way from Moscow to Yaroslavl by train. 

The first thing I'd like to mention on this trip was the imposing facade of the Yaroslavl Train Station in Moscow, from which my train left. On the way I skipped Sergiyev Posad WHS, as I had visited it before, but I stepped out of my train at the train station of this city to pay proper respect to my Japanese grandmother who is buried somewhere unbeknownst to me in this city. 

Arriving at the Rostov train station, I found a bus waiting and hopped on. Make no mistake, this is not our typical hop-on, hop-off bus, but it pretty much went straight on a dirt road to the town center near the Kremlin.

If you approach the Kremlin from the center, you'll be first lured into the Assumption Cathedral right next to the Kremlin. As you exit this impressive Cathedral, you'll notice a gate on the Kremlin wall close by.  This gate is not the front gate, but the side gate of the Kremlin. In hindsight I would recommend entering the Kremiln from the front gate, which is further down the paved road from the center. 

This Kremlin is not in a perfect condition, but the white structures against the blue sky was marvelous.  In fact I can't think of any prettier Kremlin than this one: more so than the ones in Veliky Novgorod, Suzdal or Nizhny Novgorod, etc....But you only need one hour on the ground, that includes several exhibitions, unless you start counting the onions everywhere.

A few restaurants, or I would simply call them eateries, were open in the center, so I had lunch at one of them and waited for a bus to take me back to the train station. 

I don't remember how I found out what time the bus was supposed to come, but when it did and I hopped back on, the bus started going in the different direction from the train station. Startled, I had to confirm with the driver if it was really going to the Rostov train station. He confirmed it, even though we didn't speak a common language. As it turned out, this bus was going circular in the city, although I'm not sure if there were any other worthy places to hop off. 

Read more from Tsunami here.

Nan

Germany - 05-Feb-19 -

I think I had my first real encounter with Russia in Rostov. I was walking from the train station to the city along the principal road and was fighting hard to pull my luggage: The main road to the town center was a dirt road. Frankly, I am only used to see those for agricultural purposes or for pedestrians. Not as principal roads of a city.

Rostov itself is pretty sleepy: little tourists, little traffic, little entertainment options. But it has a great Kreml in the middle of the city outshining in white and blue all other buildings of the town.

OUV

Not sure if the list needs yet another Kreml with plenty of them inscribed already. But: Rostov felt distinct from all other sites I saw on my brief foray into Russia. It really felt like a fairy tale castle.

To me it would make for a nice addition. Be advised though that I tend to be more lenient with sites I visit at the beginning of my trip. Rostov was my 2nd visit on my Russia trip ...

Getting There

Rostov is close to Yaroslawl and can be combined as a visit from Moscow. The connections being as they are I think you will not manage to do that as a day trip. The trains don't run all that often. Also, be aware that getting a train ticket in Russia is quite an ordeal, so have some buffer time wise. I had more than 30min in Yaroslawl and it was still a close call.

I stayed over night in Rostov and left the next morning by bus to Sergijew Possad where I left my luggage at the train station.

While You Are There

The Kreml is on the Nero Lake and it's a nice walk along the shores to the Monastery of St.Jacob Saviour. Not sure if this is part of the official nomination, but I would encourage you to visit.