The Rostov Region is located in the south of Russia around the delta of the River Don on the coast of the Sea of Azov.  It is bordered by the Volgograd and Voronezh Regions, the Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories and the Republic of Kalmykia.  It also shares a state border with Ukraine.  The region is considered the land of the Don Cossacks and the main Russian gateway to the Caucasus.  The administrative centre is Rostov-on-Don which should not be confused with the ancient city of Rostov which is located between Moscow and Yaroslavl.  The confusion is made worse by the fact that Rostov-on-Don is commonly just referred to as Rostov, whereas Rostov is usually called Veliky Rostov.

A popular tourist destination in the region is the city of Taganrog which was founded by Peter the Great as a naval base.  It is in Tagonrog that Emperor Alexander I died, although there is a theory that he in fact faked his death and spend the rest of his life as a monk in Siberia.  However the most famous sight in Taganrog is the birthplace of the writer Anton Chekhov which has now been turned into a museum.  The author Mikhail Sholokhov is also associated with the region and the village (stanitsa) of Vyoshenskaya annually holds the Sholokhov Spring Festival which celebrates Sholokhov’s masterpiece ‘And Quiet Flows the Don’ which won the author the Nobel Prize for Literature.