Gathering of tourists: 09:45.
Bus departure: 10-00.
Gathering place: Voroshilovsky Ave., 47/69/st. Bol. Sadovaya (next to the RGEU/RINH building).
As soon as the eastern outskirts of Rostov end, the town of Aksay appears on the high bank of the Don, where unusual adventures await you.
Historical characters will come to life at the Customs Outpost, bringing you into the setting of the 18th century. Filka, a tax collector, will check 'customs certificates', your pass tickets to the dungeon. Lieutenant General A. Suvorov will set up tests for the visitors in the old basement, which appears to be watched over by invisible guards, while landlady Maryushka will tell tales of hidden riches, buried treasures, and mysterious ghosts haunting the unexplored underground.
Only those who don't get the wind up and pass all the tests will be able to return to our time through a secret doorway, and they will find themselves in the beautiful Mukhina gully.
You will take a short bus ride to the underground command post of the North Caucasus Military District, which was once a top-secret military installation. The maze-like system of underground passageways and chambers is a reminder of the Cold War. You will go through the underground passage, which isn't typically visited by tourists. You will need lanterns, otherwise...
Then you will examine military equipment exposed in the open air, including airplanes, military vehicles, cannons, anti-aircraft guns, armored tractors, tanks, boats, missile mock-ups, and more. When you leave the facility, the 'polite people' will insist you sign a non-disclosure agreement, which will forbid you from sharing anything you saw underground.
However, you will take a tour of Aksay's above-ground areas so you have content for your social media posts. It would be a pity to ignore its famous locations. Particularly as the city celebrated its 450th anniversary in 2020 and in the 19th century, it laid serious claim to be the Don Cossack capital.
On the general sightseeing tour, you will see the city’s historical center, kurens (traditional Cossack houses), the Virgin Hodegetria Church of the 19th century, and the monument of the times of the Great Patriotic War dedicated to the battles of 1941–1943 at the Aksay crossing over the Don river. You will also go to a memorial square honoring the heroes. There is a bust of N. D. Gulaev, the legendary ace who received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union twice. During the Great Patriotic War, he shot down fifty-seven enemy aircraft, the third most in all the war’s years.
After the tour, the city of Aksay, which is geographically close to Rostov, will become even closer.