Week 2 - Western Russia
Day 11 - Nizhny Novgorod
Friday, 21 August 2026
Start: Hilton Hotel Nizhny Novgorod (RU) 13:00 / 16:30
Arrival: Hilton Hotel Nizhny Novgorod (RU) 15:00 / 19:00
Total: about 4 km on foot
A lazy day at the hotel. Yes, we are still in Nizhny Novgorod! Yesterday, we'd decided that life was too short to rush through it. I slept for almost 10 hours straight, and after a long relaxed breakfast, we lounged on the bed, organising hotels for the next few days. No running around, no stress, no achy bones.
But you cannot be in Nizhny without visiting at least one site connected to the city's most famous son. The author, after whom this town was named for the better part of the 20th century: Alexey Peshkow, better known as Maxim Gorky. The place where he had lived in the 1900s is now a dom muzey, just up the street from our hotel. So we thought we'd go have a look at it.
The apartment was a pleasant surprise. For some reason, I had imagined a tiny place, where the constantly broke, exiled writer would meet with his revolutionary friends in suitably bohemian (viz run-down) circumstances. Nothing could have been further from the truth! When Gorky rented this apartment, he was already a world famous, established and quite rich author, was married with two children and his home was the centre of the artistic life in Nizhny, where the politics of the future were shaped. The family shared the place with opera singer Feodor Shalyapin, a close friend of the family, and Anton Chekhov, Leonin Andreyev and revolutionary Yakov Sverdlov were frequent visitors.
The apartment comprised about 8-10 rooms, including a large living room, a big nursery, several guest bedrooms as well as studies for the author and his wife, who seemed to have been his manager, translator, editor and personal assistant. Behind every famous man there's a strong and busy woman. Other than the apartment on the first floor, there was also an exhibition on Gorky's life and writings on the ground floor.
On the upper floor, a friendly curator met us with an avalanche of fast Russian. When she realized that we were from Western Europe, she slowed down and handed us an explanatory booklet in English. We then had a extensive chat with her about Gorky's life, our own travels and her children who lived all over the world - and all of it in Russian! I'm quite happy that I managed to understand at least half of what she said and my Russian was not too abysmal. Getting better every day.
Then back to the hotel for a rest. And out again in the evening, to a cute little pizzeria called "Barelli", just up the road. The food was great, crisp fresh ingredients, no fatty sauces, the portions small enough to leave room for dessert, and all of it quite cheap. Afterwards, we took a stroll up the hill to walk off the tiramisu.
Incidentally, the whole of Western Russia is incredibly pedestrian friendly. Cars stop to let you cross the street, traffic lights count down the time until the lights change colour, there are large tree-lined sidewalks everywhere. Makes for stressfree co-living of drivers and pedestrians.
After a short walk, we discovered a little fun fair overlooking the Volga. There was a chairlift taking you down to the promenade, a ferris wheel and even a professional-looking ski jump! With the sun setting over the Volga, we cast a last glance at this mighty river before heading back to our hotel. Farewell, sweet city of Gorky!