Saturday, 22 August 2026

 

Start: Nizhny Novgorod (RU) 8:30

Arrival: Yoshkar Ola (RU) 15:15

 

Total: 335 km

 

 

 

We had an early start because, yes! we needed to find petrol and yes! we were worried that the gas stations might run out. We were lucky though. Just 2 km down the street, a Lukoil had petrol and the line was not too long. Before 9 o'clock, we were on our way out of Nizhny Novgorod.

 

Only to be stopped by the road police. Again, the officer just wanted to see our documents and then sent us off with a "have a good trip". Soon after, we passed a cool Soviet building and Sonia took a pic of dear old dyadya Lenin. On the other side of the road, there was a new shopping mall, but who wants to take pictures of that. ;)

 

 

 

Soon we were crossing the border into the republic of Chuvashia, where the two official languages are Russian and Chuvash, a Turkic language. The road led straight through the capital of Chuvashia, Cheboksary. I had never even heard of that city before, but it was quite large and the streets very well maintained. Sadly, we didn't see any street or shop signs in the Chuvash language.

 

 

Just outside Cheboksary, we passed yet another police checkpoint and who would they flag down but us. I doubt that anyone up to no good would be so harebrained as to advertise himself in a car with foreign licence plates. Wouldn't they rather keep a low profile? Maybe the police thought this was some sort of clever double bluff. In any case, they stopped us and this time they wanted to see my driver's licence (the first time ever! At the border, they had not bothered to check whether I was even allowed to drive a car) and asked me to open the trunk. One glace at our shoes, luggage, blankets, canisters and bags, and any desire to inspect our stuff seemed to leave them. We were allowed to drive on.

 

 

A minute later, the road led us over a large dam, right across the Volga. This was not only the border between Chuvashia and the republic of Mari El, but could arguably also be a potential target for a terrorist attack. So it did make sense that they would check suspicious cars before letting them cross. Then again, they did not really check that much. In any case, right as we were leaving Chuvashia, we finally spotted the very first sign in the Chuvash language: "Good bye, Chuvashia!" Neat.

 

North of the Volga, the landscape changed noticeably. When before we had been driving through fertile wheat fields and birch forests, we now felt ourselves transported to northern Sweden or Finland: endless dark pine woods to both sides of the road. We were half expecting to see reindeers run across the street. Interesting, as the people in Mari El speak a Finnic language related to the ones spoken in Lapland.

 

 

 

 

We were making good speed. Another 70 kilometres and we would be in Yoshkar Ola. We thought, right before getting stuck in the mother of all traffic jams. Two lane closures because of road works cost us almost an hour. When we finally drove into the capital of Mari El, I was tired, hungry and not really in the mood for anything else than a bed.

 

But needs must, we had already booked our hotel in Kazan for tomorrow, so today we would visit the Bruges embankment, come hell or high water. We checked into our little hotel, hauled our baggage up to the third floor (no, no elevator, and no helpful concierge either, but then the room was only 4800 rubley, so one couldn't expect too much). It turned out quite new, clean and quiet, so no complaints. No time to rest either, as we were back in our car in no time, ready to tackle the centre of the city.

 

 

Parking is free and plentiful everywhere in the town, so we drove as close to the sights as possible. When we crossed the bridge over the Kokshaga and the "Bruges Embankment" came into view, I was so nonplussed, I laughed out loud. We had seen pictures of the houses but no photographs can do the reality justice: all around, large colourful new houses that looked like a filmset. A tourist had described it as "fairy tale castles". I rather felt transported into a life-size Legoland. It's so amazing, one has to see it to believe it.

 

In the 2010s, the area around the main square and river promenade was completely transformed by the enterprising head of the republic, in an effort to establish the city as a tourist magnet. I dare say he succeeded. The main square was filled with people enjoying the afternoon sun and watching the interesting performance of a Mari folk dance. The green link takes you to a short video I took. The place was crowded so I was standing to the side.

 

 

We walked around, checked out a huge Eurospar store that is open 24/7, then had coffee and cake in a cute little Phantasialand-like cat café while we waited for the highlight of the day: the 12 Apostles clock show on Patriarchal Square, at 6 pm sharp. Here you can see a few seconds which I filmed.

 

The show lasts for 6 minutes and portrays Jesus and his acolytes coming into Jerusalem. Solemn religious chants accompany the passing of the figurines. Kitschy? Probably. Moving? I did think so. Successful? Judging by the crowd on the bridge and in the square, quite definitely.

 

 

Afterwards, we had dinner at the possibly loudest trattoria ever. I was reminded of my wild youth and the "Check In" bar at the airport. Or maybe I was just too tired. The waiter was quite cute, unfortunately no amount of "medlenno"s on my part could induce him to slow down. But the food was great and in the end it was not important what he wanted to convey. We got fed, he got paid, all was good.

 

 

Before turning in for the night, we walked the whole length of the embankment, all the way down to a statue of Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly. The lights conveyed something magical to the filmset riverside. The head of the republic of Mari El succeeded, I will never forget this town. Yoshkar Ola - the Red City - is truly one of a kind!