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Kazan is the capital of the Tatarstan Republic, the land of the Volga Tatars.  Here both Church belfries and minarets stud the skyline as Volga Bulgaria adopted Islam in 922 – 66 years before Russia became Christian. When the Bulgarians attempted to convert Vladimir I of Kiev to Islam, he rejected the notion of Rus giving up wine, which he declared was the “very joy of their lives”.

After the destruction of the Golden Horde, Kazan became an independent khanate but was ravaged some 100 years later by Ivan the Terrible, who brought it under the control of Moscow and was quick to build a new city. Architects who built St Basil’s in Moscow which honours the seizing of Kazan, were employed to build the kremlin here and the city grew to be an economic and cultural capital.

Chris found our night on the train a bit disturbed and rattly but I slept like a bug in rug, snug in my top bunk! Kazan station looked very grand and we took a bus to Kazanskoye Podvorye Hostel and were able to check in and leave our luggage even though it was only 7.15. Another huge red brick building here too, the Epiphany Church Tower.  Straight away we noticed more headscarves, a minaret, messages on the bus in Russian. Arabic and English and Arabic numerals on a clock. Also today is Eid al-Adha, the festival that remembers Abraham sacrificing his son so not sure if we will notice anything.

Nowhere was even open for coffee so early, so we headed to the river port to arrange trips for the next two days. With some help from a couple of Russian ladies we booked one trip for the next day and decided to go to Bolgar today. Fortified with a couple of jam turnovers, we boarded the hydrofoil for a 2 hour trip south down the Volga. The river is wide and the shores lie quite low, green with trees and farmland.

Bolgar is the descendant of Great Bulgar, the capital of one of the most powerful states of early medieval Eastern Europe. It is now an open-air museum which has become a major place of pilgrimage for Tatars in search of their roots. The unsettled weather has passed and it was sunny and warm and the views of the river were stunning, far better than in the photos.

There was a brand new mosque by the entrance, then remains of the the original Bolger settlement – a mosque, palace, and mausoleums as well as a later C17th church. We wandered around and ate typical Tatar buns for lunch – Chris’s with curd cheese and raisins and mine with chicken, onion and potato.

When we got back, Baumana Street had certainly woken up with lots of souvenir shops and street entertainers and after dark the volume increased as small rock groups vied for the biggest audience along the length of the street.

Fortunately our hostel, despite being central, was quiet and cosy. There is a cafe downstairs and dorms here as well as doubles with ensuite and everyone can share the common areas, use the kitchen and laundry and even have bedtime milk and cookies at 9pm!

We went to Priyut Kholostyaka for dinner, which translates as Bachelors Shelter, a modern cream cave with a green apple on each table instead of flowers! They gave us each a tablet with the menu loaded, complete with photos, so we could choose what we wanted and put the items in our basket. We then rang a bell and the waiter took our order! All worked beautifully with a good choice of veggie delights for Chris and salmon tartar for me – yum!

Next day we left at 7.30 and were given packed breakfast picnics to take on the boat which headed west on the River Volga to Sviyazhsk.

Ivan the Terrible chose this promontory as his base from which to attack Kazan. He had a wooden fort comprising walls, towers, gates, civilian buildings and even churches constructed upstream then floated piece by piece to Sviyazhsk where it was reassembled in just four weeks, thanks to its pre-fabricated design. Ivan named the new town Sviyazhsk, and after the defeat of Kazan, it continued to grow as an outpost of Christianity and the center of Russian culture, but after the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks destroyed about half the churches and the remaining buildings became a Gulag prison. When the Kuibyshev Water Reservoir was constructed in 1957, the entire area was flooded leaving only the historic downtown above water and Sviyazhsk became a small island, connected to the mainland by a serpentine road. The historic city has since been restored and has just been added to the list of UNESCO world heritage sites this summer and seems very popular with day trippers.

It was a lovely day to spend looking at the old buildings, munching more local pies and drinking the local fruit drink called mors. There are large crosses showing where destroyed churches once stood.

Just as other places we’ve visited, the main church areas are surrounded by walls and contain a number of buildings – here Holy Mother of God Assumption, which contains first a prison then an asylum …

… and John the Precursor Monastery.

We found out that Sviyazhsk had been vital in the civil war between The White Army and the Red Army led by Trotsky who managed to edge into the stronger position and had directed troops and propaganda from here.

As we walked to get the boat back, we heard music and came across Kazan Radio with some costumed singers and an orchestra performing  opera …

In the evening we went to Dom Tatarskoi Kulinarii for dinner, so I could try a particular Tatar speciality and as they also had a veggie menu for Chris. The interiors are amazing and the waiters wear white gloves and produce your dinner from under a silver dome! I had a salad with Kazilik, a smoked horse meat sausage, followed by a horse meat stew which were both very good, but no different from beef really, Chris had these amazing little dumplings with spinach and carrot called hanuman.

Finally, despite having been here for two days, we have a chance to see the Kazan itself and began by walking to the kremlin.  The whitewashed wall surrounds a variety of buildings …

The oldest and most familiar landmark being the Suyumbike Tower. According to legend, after Ivan the Terrible seized Kazan, he wanted to celebrate by taking the deposed Khan’s niece, Suyumbike, as his bride. The beautiful Princess Suyumbike initially refused, saying she would only agree to marry him if he could build a tower higher than either of them had ever seen. The conquering Tsar did just that, erecting the spire in just six days. After it was completed, Suyumbike said she wanted to look out upon the city from the high tower. When she reached the top however, the princess jumped to her death. Ivan may have taken the city but he could never have Suyumbike’s heart. Almost certainly only a story, but quite a dramatic one!

The Annunciation Cathedral was built following the fall of Kazan on the site of a razed mosque …

… and the newest and most shiny is the Kul Sharif Mosque, built in 2005 and named after the imam who died protecting the city against Ivan the Terrible in 1558.

The Musa Dzhalil Monument honours a Tatar poet executed by the Nazis in 1944.

There were good views across the river …

… then lunch was calling so we tried out a Kazan institution, the colourful Dom Chaya, a Tatar tea house where we had pies and salad and really enjoyed the Gubaida pie for dessert, containing cooked rice, nuts and raisins.

We had timed lunch perfectly as the rumbling skies that had been teasing us with sunny spells and spitting rain all morning finally opened and there was a downpour.  Later we ventured out again and peruse the souvenir shops for a couple of last minute purchases.  It had become obvious we were seeing cats everywhere …

… and just wondered if there was a reason.  A quick google told us that the Cat of Kazan is a lubok or woodblock print from the C18th which might be a satire of Peter the Great. The text reads “Cat of Kazan, mind of Astrakhan, reason of Siberia, he lived sweet, ate sweet, and farted sweet.”

Having said that, cats from Kazan cats which were so famous that the Empress Elizabeth ordered that the best and biggest cats capable of catching mice should be sent to the court. There are still cats at The Hermitage  today. We spotted a cute chap so he can come home with us but hopefully he won’t have any work at 41!

We also picked up some chak-chak which is for sale everywhere – a mound of honey-drenched sweet pastry balls eaten as a a dessert or sweet which was once a ceremonial food brought by the bride to the reception at the bridegroom’s home.

The Soviet Lifestyle Museum packed with Soviet knock-knacks provided a brief diversion, and although a lot of the items were generic 70s and 80s memorabilia, there was definitely a soviet edge, including Misha the 1980 Olympic mascot.

Maria in Ziferblat in Niznhy Novrogod had urged us to visit the one in Kazan, and finding ourselves close by, we popped in for a coffee and a look round. A slightly different concept but just as comfortable and we were welcomed by Margarita who made us coffee and offered us cookies. We sat and chilled for a while, writing the last couple of journal entries in fact!

Having fortunately avoided the rain all day, our luck didn’t hold as there was a huge downpour with thunder and lightening overhead as we left the hostel for dinner.  We ducked into a shop for a while and it seemed to be easing, so we set off again.  When it came to cross the road, there was a river running down it, and despite waiting, in the end we went for it and got rather wet feet. Fortunately it was all worth it.

For our last dinner in Russia we chose Khinkalnaya, a Georgian restaurant, mainly because they offer such good veggie options.  I started with salmon caviar, which I ate with a small spoon while Chris had the spinach and walnut starter called phkali.  We each chose a stew for our main, mine lamb and tarragon and Chris a mushroom dish, both of which came in pots.  I started mine first and had several mouthfuls – which were delicious – before Chris put his spoon in his pot, only to find a piece of meat … oops! We queried this with the waitress, who apologised but we had been given the wrong pots … and I had been eating Chris’s dinner! Needless to say I’ve not heard the end of it at any opportunity, as to how I could have confused tasty mushroom stew for lamb with tarragon … I just ate what I was given … and it was after all tasty!

This brings us to the end of our time in Russia.  In the morning we’ll get a taxi to the airport and fly via Moscow and Munich back to London.