Staraya Ladoga Fortress

Staraya Ladoga sits where the Volkhov runs down to Lake Ladoga, on the river route between the Baltic and the Black Sea, and dendrochronology has dated timber here to the 750s - which makes it among the oldest known settlements in what became Russia, older than Novgorod or Kyiv. The chronicles say Rurik ruled from Ladoga before moving to Novgorod, and it is sometimes called the first capital on that basis, which is a claim worth treating as tradition rather than established fact. The stone fortress that stands is largely of the 1490s on twelfth-century foundations, with towers and walls above the river and the church of St George inside - a twelfth-century white stone building holding fresco fragments including a St George and the dragon in which the saint does not kill the dragon. Around the village are burial mounds, one of which local tradition calls the grave of Oleg, and further churches.

What you actually see

• The fortress - 1490s stone walls and towers on twelfth-century foundations.
• The St George church - a twelfth-century building with surviving frescoes.
• The dating - timber dated to the 750s, among the oldest in Russia.
• The mounds - burial kurgans along the river, one traditionally called Oleg's grave.

When to go

May to September. Half a day. Buses from Volkhov are infrequent; a car is easier.

Honest expectations

The Rurik and Oleg associations are chronicle tradition, not established history. The fortress is partly reconstructed. The St George church opens only in dry warm weather to protect the frescoes. The village has few facilities.

Nearby

Volkhov is south; Lake Ladoga is downstream to the north.