Hi, I’m Elena Shusharina, and as part of the “Kudabilin” project, Kazan became my city for travel. I started preparing for the trip in advance: I asked on social networks for recommendations for interesting places, watched all the video guides and read a million articles about the history of this city.
Even before the start of the trip, I felt the friendliness and warmth of the local people. Many guys from Kazan wrote to me, they wished me a good trip and recommended interesting locations.
The journey began with a colorful sunrise through the window and continued with heavy snowfall on the runway at Kazan airport. On the way to the hotel, I watched colorful villages and snow-covered fir trees from the car window. It felt like a real Russian winter in the suburbs!
Having settled into the hotel, I took a city guide from the reception and headed to the Kremlin. The snow in Kazan is surprisingly very clean. And in combination with the white walls, it literally blinded me. Due to the snowfall, there were only a few people on the Kremlin territory, so I was able to calmly walk to the famous Kul-Sharif mosque and take a photo as a souvenir. The façade of the building is faced with marble and granite, and the dome is painted sky blue. The mosque has as many as five floors, on which there are prayer rooms for men and women, observation decks and the Museum of Islam. There is also a library and a publishing house in Kul-Sharif. To be honest, this is one of the most beautiful and majestic mosques I have seen. And on the territory of the Kremlin it was unusually calm and peaceful.
The snowfall was getting heavier, it was gradually getting dark outside, so I headed to the Breadly cafe, which the locals had recommended to me the day before. The evening ended with a quiet walk near the Kremlin embankment – it offers a very beautiful view of the city!
The second day in Kazan began with breakfast with a traditional Tatar dessert – baursak. These are donuts made from unleavened or yeast dough. They are fried in a large cauldron and served, as a rule, with shurpa or tea. First thing after breakfast, I headed to the Farmers’ Palace. This monumental structure now houses the office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. Nearby, I met a local resident who said that this building began to be built quite recently, in 2008, but now it can definitely be called one of the most popular attractions of the city.
The palace is really very beautiful! It looks fabulous due to the “openwork” dome with a spiral lattice, airy columns and a majestic bronze tree inside the arch. And the building is organically combined with other buildings in the historical center of Kazan.
From the square near the Palace of Farmers, I walked along side streets to the main pedestrian artery of Kazan – Bauman Street. This place is reminiscent of Arbat in Moscow. Here you can find cafes, restaurants and souvenir shops for every taste, as well as temples, monasteries and monuments. On the street, I got into a conversation with a girl who advised me to go to Skuratov Coffee for coffee, take a photo near the Printing House and look at the bell tower of the Epiphany Cathedral. She also said that in fact, Bauman Street is the same age as the Kazan Kremlin, so this place is truly iconic!
I ended my day at a local restaurant. Finally I tried real Tatar chak-chak! Tokmach is also a noodle soup cooked in various broths.
The third day I completely devoted to a measured walk through the historical center of the city. I admired the local architecture and replayed all the most pleasant memories of the trip in my head!
Honestly, I didn’t have high expectations from the trip, but after two days I fell in love with this wonderful place. It turned out that Kazan is a very modern city. It has everything for a rich life. There is a large concentration of interesting events, many creative people, beautiful public spaces, cozy coffee shops – and all this combined with the colorful culture of Tatarstan!
