Kazan

So onto the next stop, Kazan - another city on the Volga river - is the capital of the Tatarstan Autonomous Republic. It looks immediately pleasant, lots of lights, neon signs made it look quite modern when i arrived late at night and a couple of minutes walk from my hotel I found the main street lined with busy cafe bars full of people. It had a good feel, better than previous places. Tatars are Turkic people and speak a dialect of Turkic language, so you will see street names and signs in both Russian and Tatar languages.



Above: The 'Tatarstan' train that runs betwen Moscow and Kazan.


First visit was to the Kremlin which was far more impresive than the Kremlin in Nizhny Novgorod. Surrounded by white walls and towers, it hosts the impressive 'Kol Sharif' mosque and the orthodox Annunciation Cathedral. There is also the 'Bashnya Syuyumbike' (Syuyumbike Tower), a rather tall tower with a story attached. It is named after Princess Syuyumbike who had refused to marry the Tsar at the time. In an attempt to put an end to the constant requests for her marraige, she agreed that in the unlikley case that he could build a tower higher than that of any mosque in the city within a week, she would marry him. Unfortunately for Princess Syuyumbike he did just that. Not wanting to go ahead with the marriage, she threw herself off the top of the tower which was later named after her.



Left: Kol Sharif mosque in the Kremlin of Kazan
Right: Syuyumbike tower.