Rostov-on-Don



Rostov-on-Don

Name: Sveta Balashova-Kuzmina

Age: 30

Profession: Photographer 

City: Rostov-on-Don

How long have you been doing photography? What style or genre most interests you? I have been taking photos for over 10 years, 6 in commercial photography. My favorite genre is portraits of women. I love to reveal the beauty and sexiness of women through portraits.

Can you give us a short description of your city? Where is it located? What is it famous for? Rostov-on-Don is the capital of the Southern Federal District. It has access to five seas: the Sea of Azov, the Caspian, the Black, the Baltic and The White. Also there is a port. It is one of the largest and most technically equipped ports in the European part of Russia.

What is something about your city that only locals would know?

In Rostov there is no storm water diversion. So every time when it rains the streets flood heavily (in the center and in the outskirts). The water drains slowly into the Don River because the city is located in the hills.

In Rostov-on-Don, the locals. Maybe this is due to the lack of normal leisure activities... :) There are a huge number of restauratnst on the left bank of the Don. The most important local dish to sample is crawfish. 

Which places or sites are a must for someone to see if they visit your city?

The famous flea market on the Stanislavsky Street. It is in the oldest part of the city center. You can find coins from the tsarist era, antique statues, Soviet memorabilia and more. 

Paramonov's Warehouses are a complex of nineteenth century storage facilities along the banks of the river Don. It is a historical monument. But today the warehouses are in ruins, decorated with springs and waterfalls. Thanks to the constant temperature of the springs – 9° C –  Paramonov's Warehouses have their own microclimate. Nearly all year round the grass is green here.  

The old Central Market of Rostov is included in lists of the top 10 markets in the world. Products are brought from different parts of the region, and neighboring southern countries.

The beautiful old staircase – "staircase artists" on Pushkinskaya Street. The house is over a hundred years old. Once, the entire staircase was decorated with canvases. On the third floor there are often local photographers with glamorous girls, and there is a "smoking room" for employees of the dentistry practice on the second floor.

Anything else? In 2018, Rostov-on-Don will be a host city for the World Cup. A huge sports complex is planned for the left bank of the city.

Website: www.svetasts.com

Instagram: @svetasts

 



Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
22 Russian Crosswords

22 Russian Crosswords

Test your knowledge of the Russian language, Russian history and society with these 22 challenging puzzles taken from the pages of Russian Life magazine. Most all the clues are in English, but you must fill in the answers in Russian. If you get stumped, of course all the puzzles have answers printed at the back of the book.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955