(Source: http://rslovar.com/content)

The Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Central Market stand side by side in the heart of Rostov-on-Don, near the intersection of Stanislavskogo Street and Budennovsky Prospect. The Cathedral is a famous building resembling a cake designed by the architect Ton, doomed to decorate all Rostov postcards. The market is a chaotic conglomeration of pavilions and indoor shopping rows, far from any ideas of architecture.

However, the competition for the attention of residents and tourists is won by the cathedral of trade over the religious one, without any doubt. And it is very much in Rostov style. The most interesting things here are not museums and monuments which are plenty here, but the real life, generous south, a mix of everything and everyone.

The Central Market, or the Old Bazaar, has been the quintessence of that spirit for two hundred years. Its second name is historical and generally accepted among the city residents. After the revolution the market received the official name after the city district - Andreevsky, and simply Tsentralny (“Central”) from 1992. But people continue to call it the Old Bazaar, not simply market, namely bazaar. Without going into the linguistic subtleties, we can say: the Rostov Old Bazaar in more in line with the notion of an oriental bazaar than the boring concept of a “market”.

The market is simply a place for trade – the bazaar is for talks, meetings, laughter, sharing and deceit. People communicate. The city residents go to “their” salespersons, know them as close as family members. The “circle of friends” of the Rostov Market includes not only regular customers, but also all tourists that are not too reserved. You can get involved in the conversation and stay there for a long time. Jokes, gossip, breaking news - there will always be a topic for discussion.

On Sunday the market is crowded. The bells of the cathedral chime directly above the noisy rows, once again emphasizing the vivid and pure Rostov connection between purely earthly things and heavenly ones. People eagerly trade here – just like in XVIII century, when this was a trading place, and the merchants of all the surrounding lands brought their goods here by Don.


Pecularities

The Central Market opens at about 9 a.m. and works until 6-7 p.m. However, each salesperson has his/her own schedule, no one comes and goes at predetermined time. The hottest days are Saturday and Sunday. According to statistics, the market is visited by 200 to 300 thousand people daily. A total of 800 people work on a total area of 3 hectares: in addition to retail outlets, there are laboratories, warehouses, a radio centre, freezers.

There is its own order in the colorful chaos of the market. Meat and dairy products are sold in separate pavilions. Pavilions with clothes are for some reason interchanged with pavilions selling nuts and dried fruits. Korean women with their food stand in one row, each of them has a badge with the name.

Photographing at the Market is not welcome, especially among the Red Book fish sellers. If you shoot overtly, you can provoke a scandal. So it is better whether to agree upon it beforehand or photograph unnoticed. It is better to come in the morning – all goods are fresh. The prices at the market are not lower than in stores, sometimes even higher. As they say here, “tasty things cannot be cheap”.

There are a lot of marinated and pickled things - from cucumbers to melons. Pickled watermelons are needed for the traditional Rostov New Year’s dish - carp with watermelons. The recipe of the exotic treat can be read in the article “5 New Year’s Recipes of the Country”. You can buy salted fish and take it with you, if you go by plane. It goes without vacuum package, but it will survive one day without a refrigerator – it has been tested.