Kazan

in Russia

My favorite city in European Russia so far, Kazan is capital of Tatarstan, an autonomous region largely inhabited by the Tatar people. With its stunning white Kremlin containing, which you freely wander inside and explore - even walking right up to the gates of the presidential residence - it's an easy city to like. It's also rather different to a lot of the rest of Russia, with an abundance of mosques as well as churches, and all of the street signs are in both the Russian and Tatar language. Ah, and of course, since there's lots of Muslims there, there are awesome kebabs to.

Top Picks

• The Kremlin is the place I enjoyed most. The enormous mosque and the cathedral are probably the most impressive bits of architecture to be seen there, but there's plenty more. It's well lit up on a night too, though a little lonely (I felt quite safe enough wandering around it alone on the evening, but I did make an effort to blend in and keep a look out...)
• Opposite the main entrance to the Kremlin is the National Museum of Tatarstan, which is most certainly worthwhile. I'll probably remember it not as much for the exhibits as for the school teacher who spotted me, gathered her class of young children around, asked me a few (thankfully simple!) questions in Russian, and then got them to say hello to me in English, which they had already started to study a bit in school! Cute, and one of those wonderful things that can happen when you travel. :-)
• The area by the lake has a bunch of fountains that light up by night, and there's some piped music. Slightly surreal...make of it what you will.
• Sultan Kebab on the main pedestrianized area was a good source of kebabs and other such nice food (and also had a desert called Viagra).

Photos

Along Bauman Street	Tower on Bauman Street	Along Bauman Street
Tower on Bauman Street	Along Bauman Street	Building on Pushkin Street
Pushkin Street	Statue overlooking the city	Statue overlooking the city
Statue overlooking the city	Looking over the city center	Looking over the city center
Looking over the city center	Building in Pushkin Street	Statue overlooking the city
In a park	Building on Pushkin Street	Along Pushkin Street
Church on Pushkin Street	Church on Pushkin Street	Along Pushkin Street
Brick church - name unknown	Brick church - name unknown	Another brick church - name unknown
Another brick church - name unknown	Bells on a brick church	Church on Pushkin Street
In a park	In a park	On the square by the lake
Lake Qaban	Lake Qaban	Square by the lake
The Kremlin	Kul Sharif Mosque rises above the kremlin walls	A (closed) kremlin entrance
Looking over the city from the kremlin	Looking over the city from the kremlin	A (closed) kremlin entrance
Wall of the kremlin	Wall of the kremlin	Front of the kremlin
Building near to the kremlin	Front of the kremlin	Building near to the kremlin
Front of the kremlin	Church near to the kremlin	Statue of Musa Jalil
Statue of Musa Jalil	Inside the kremlin	Inside the kremlin
Inside the kremlin	Inside the kremlin	Kul Sharif Mosque
Kul Sharif Mosque	Kul Sharif Mosque	Kul Sharif Mosque
Inside the kremlin	Inside the kremlin	Soyembika Tower
Annunciation Cathedral	Soyembika Tower	Inside the kremlin
The President's residence	Inside the kremlin, looking to the river	The President's residence
Annunciation Cathedral	Annunciation Cathedral	Another church visible from the kremlin, but outside of it
Statue in front of the Annunciation Cathedral	Annunciation Cathedral	Inside the kremlin
Metro station entrance		Along Bauman Street
Along Bauman Street	Along Bauman Street	The road to the kremlin
Tatarstan National Museum	Buildings by the kremlin	Exhibits in the Tatarstan National Museum
Exhibits in the Tatarstan National Museum	Exhibits in the Tatarstan National Museum	Exhibits in the Tatarstan National Museum
Exhibits in the Tatarstan National Museum	Exhibits in the Tatarstan National Museum	Exhibits in the Tatarstan National Museum
The kremlin	The kremlin	The kremlin entrance for cars
The kremlin	Inside the kremlin	Inside the kremlin
Inside the kremlin	Inside the kremlin	Inside the kremlin
Kul Sharif Mosque	Kul Sharif Mosque	Inside the kremlin
Inside the kremlin	Kul Sharif Mosque	Inside the kremlin
Kul Sharif Mosque	Kul Sharif Mosque	Annunciation Cathedral
Soyembika Tower	Annunciation Cathedral	Soyembika Tower
Gates to the presidential palace	Inside the kremlin	Inside the kremlin
Annunciation Cathedral	Annunciation Cathedral	SS Peter and Paul Cathedral
SS Peter and Paul Cathedral	SS Peter and Paul Cathedral	Along Bauman Street
The end of Bauman Street		Statue overlooking the city
	Statue in a park	Fountains by the lake
Fountains by the lake	Fountains by the lake	The square by the lake
Lake Qaban	Lake Qaban	Lake Qaban
Lake Qaban	Lake Qaban	Lake Qaban
Nurulla Mosque	Nurulla Mosque	Nurulla Mosque
Nurulla Mosque	Lake Qaban	Lake Qaban
Lake Qaban	Lake Qaban fountain	Lake Qaban fountain
Lit up waterfalls	Lit up waterfalls	Lit up waterfalls
Lake Qaban fountain and waterfalls by night	Lake Qaban fountain and waterfalls by night	Lake Qaban fountain by night
SS Peter and Paul Cathedral by night	SS Peter and Paul Cathedral by night	The kremlin by night
The kremlin by night	The kremlin by night	Annunciation Cathedral by night
Annunciation Cathedral by night	Soyembika Tower by night	Soyembika Tower by night
Kul Sharif Mosque by night	Kul Sharif Mosque by night	Kul Sharif Mosque by night
Kul Sharif Mosque by night	Kul Sharif Mosque by night	Kul Sharif Mosque by night
The train station	The train station	The train station