Alright, so the first pic is not even of Kazan. It's one of the many bus stops dotting Russia's highways. I love the colour of the overpass. All over Chuvashia, Mari El and Tatarstan, the overpasses had this same distinctive colour. Neat. Also, much better than the alternative, namely to have the cars slow down to 70 (which most drivers just ignore) and the pedestrians run across the highway. I love overpasses. :)

 

We drove the short distance between Yoshkar Ola and Kazan in one go, just stopping at an Irbis gas station along the way to get dyevyanosta-pyat for our car and fresh juice, coffee and croissants for ourselves.

 

 

The hotel was nice enough to let us check in at 1 pm, so we had the whole afternoon to explore Kazan. Which we promptly did. It was only a 10-minute walk from our hotel to Bauman street, which is Kazan's main pedestrian street leading up to the fortress. Along the way, we found a cute French cafe named "Mathilde", an elegant canal to rival the rives de Paris, and a great view over the skyscrapers of the business district.

 

 

On a sunny Sunday afternoon in August, this area is packed with tourists. And where there are tourists, there are touters for restaurants, river cruises, city walks and various good causes. We ignored all the leaflets shoved into our faces and instead climbed the hill to the kremlin. On top, a half-naked hero with a cute ass awaited us. As good a place to take a rest as any. :) Next to the fortress walls, one could dress up in traditional Tatar costumes, buy souvenirs and do all kinds of tourist stuff, if one was so inclined. We weren't. And sadly, there was no soft ice on offer.

 

 

I had been looking forward to seeing Qol Sharif, the white and blue mosque erected inside the kremlin in the early 2000s. From the outside, it is a beautiful building but I have to admit I was disappointed by the visit. First of all, there were dozens of tourists trying to get in. None of them were dressed appropriately. So the entrance was blocked by people in shorts and crop tops borrowing wrap-around shawls and scarves and donning them in a very haphazard fashion. We were of course prepared and allowed past with a grateful "Dobro pozhalavat".

 

Inside, the entrance was less than spectacular, a simple white hall with a low ceiling. To the side, a staircase led up to the "visitors' balcony". We started to climb up, but there were so many people and we thought that it would lead to a platform outside, to have a view over Kazan. Not worth it. I beat a retreat. Later, we found out that it would have led up into the cupola from where you can admire the beautiful interior of the mosque. A pity we didn't go all the way up! Maybe tomorrow. Monday should be less crowded.

 

 

In any case, there was so much else to see inside the kremlin walls! We watched a young couple in a traditional wedding dress getting photographed, admired the old wooden stalls, tried to decipher the Tatar writings (like Chuvash, Tatar is a Turkic language) on the menus and museum walls, took advantage of the many benches to rest in the shade of trees, and finally made our way up to the highest point, which offered an amazing view over the Volga, a scooter racing rooftop, the regal Palace of Farmers, and beautifully restored townhouses as far as the eye could see. I took a short panorama video which you see by clicking on the green link. Can you spot my sister in it?

 

 

It was getting late and we were getting hungry. Luckily, Bauman street was not far away, the sound of street music showed the way, the enticing smell of grilled meat beckoning us irresistably. Here you see the face of one who knows that right behind her, for hundreds of meters, one restaurant follows the other, all with delicious food and drinks. Fifteen minutes later, we were sitting in front of a mouth-watering plate of shashlik and kartoshka as well as a huge jug of mors at restaurant Gudini. Yep, most liveable city alright.

 

After dinner, Bauman street was even more packed with people and musicians. It was getting a wee bit loud. We hopped across the street to check out the menu of a place that promised "Tatarskaya kukhnya". Maybe a good address for tomorrow? Hm, no, this seemed to be a fast good joint. But they had soft ice! We hastened in. For a fast food place, the interior was very comfy. And their ice cream was delish!

 

 

Licking our dessert, we ambled through the streets and found a Harry Potter café, a take-a-pic-on-a-cool-motorcycle stand and many other little gems. The sun was going down (which happens quite early in Tatarstan, as the region lies 3000 km to the east of Luxembourg, but is only 1 hour ahead of us) when we returned to our hotel. The canal with the fountains looked enchanting in the light of the setting sun. A perfect ending to a beautiful day.