Kazan
July 2018
Over 100 languages exist within Russia. The one most used after Russian is Tatar. This Turkic language is spoken by over 7 million Tatars, the majority living in the Republic of Tatarstan. Nicole and I took the night train from Moscow to Kazan, Tatarstan’s capital.
Kazan was once the centre of the Khanate of Kazan, an Islamic state in the 15th and 16th century. The Khanate fell after Russian forces under Ivan the Terrible conquered Kazan in 1552. In this period the walls of a kremlin were built. Mosques were banned, only to be built again after the more tolerant rule of Catherine the Great in the 18th century. Nowadays about half of the Kazan’s population is Tatar, the other half consisting of ethnic Russians. It’s a wealthy city, partly due to the oil industry.
Kazan Kremlin
Kul Sharif Mosque
Annunciation Cathedral
More recently Kazan made international news as one of the host cities for the FIFA World Cup 2018. We visited in July that year, just after the games. The lady who checked us in at the hotel spoke English, not very common outside of Moscow, and told us she recently learned Spanish as well. While walking around the city we encountered more English than elsewhere in Russia.
The city’s main attraction is it’s impressive Kremlin overlooking the river Volga. This walled complex is dominated by the more recently built Kul Sharif Mosque. An abundance of flowers made the Islamic and Orthodox architecture even more beautiful. Kazan is touristy, though this wasn’t a big deal in the huge Kremlin. This was however a problem on the Bell Tower of the Epiphany Cathedral, as visitors here liked to slam the bells once they reached the top. The view wasn’t special, and the noise didn’t make it better.
Though the citycentre is walkable, it’s worth taking the metro between Kremlevskaya (Кремлёвская) and Tukay Square (Площадь Тукая). While other large Russian cities have a metro system from Soviet times with communistic iconography, Kazan’s metro stations are interesting for their traditional decorations.
Kazan Kremlin
Inside the Kazan Kremlin
Decorations in Kremlevskaya Metro Station
Tatarstan isn’t only unique for its history, language and architecture. We enjoyed the Tatar music videos shown in restaurants. Like anywhere in the world they’re mostly love songs. But they’re generally about traditional values. A couple of them have the following type of story: a man is working hard, and suddenly a picture of a loved one falls out of his wallet. This triggers him to abandon his work to rush to his wife, children or granny, ending with a happy reunification. Another common theme in the video’s is water, mostly the Volga of course.
Practical advice on traveling here
The night train from Moscow to Kazan takes about 12 hours, and the flight back was less than two hours. Kazan is on the Trans-Siberian railway from Moscow to Vladivostok. Having done the Trans-Siberian, I wrote a guide on traveling this way. My guide on transport in Russia can be found here.