Russia

Kazan

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The restaurant of haute Tatar cuisine is situated in a small building. The interior here is in national style. Menu is full of dishes of local cuisine with incomprehensible names, and they all are a must try. Salad with tripe (i.e. horse belly) is a good starter. Horsemeat is solid meat that is similar to soft cartilage. However, the taste of the horse belly is much better than the sound of all these names. In old times, the Tatar ancestors were nomadic people and used to eat milk and meat of the animals that they took with them to their long marches – that is why there is so many dishes with horsemeat in national cuisine. One of the popular main dishes of the restaurant is baked horsemeat tenderloin that tastes almost like beef. Worth trying are kystyby – a plain flapjack slightly fried with mashed potatoes inside. And of course, you can’t miss trying the famous dessert – chakchak.

DOM TATARSKOY KULINARII

This club is considered to be the most elite one in Tatarstan. Despite the first impression (the club outside doesn’t look luxurious), the inside of the club is great: DJ girl is playing nice music, the premise is full of light that comes from the glass wall – and there is something from famous Del Mar café in Ibiza in it. In addition, this is really the place where all glamorous local people gather.

ELITE CLUB “VODA”

To visit Kazan and not to go down the Volga river – is a crime. Renting a yacht for this purpose is a great idea. It is better to go down the river: the views are considered to be better there. Anyway, the Volga river is the main river of Russia, if not to say more – it is Russia itself: large, mighty and amazingly beautiful – it just claims to make a cruise on it.

YACHT CLUB  “LOKOMOTIV”

The place that is located on the bank of the lake Nizhniy Kaban is worth to be mentioned first of all because there is hardly any other place in civilized Russia that will be a better example of combination of bathhouse (banya) and restaurant. Having visited all saunas, and there are four of them here (pay special attention to the one with salt wall) and having swum in the swimming pool with river view, the customer of “Pir & Par” has only one road left – to the restaurant. In moderate interior of Canadian cedar and bizarre lamps it is worth drinking a glass of red wine while waiting for the Tatar pasta with horsemeat (where else could you try this dish) or barbeque. The average bill in the restaurant is 1500 Russian rubles, the hour of sauna rent – 1000 Russian rubles, the possibility to feel yourself distinguished – is priceless.

RESTAURANT AND BATHHOUSE “PIR & PAR”

Every big city has its flea market, Kazan is not an exception. Every Sunday in a small park on the cross of two noisy streets behind the lake Nizhniy Kaban a tiny town appears. It is populated with Kazan old ladies and gents who sell absolutely everything you can imagine: coins, books, vinyl records, CDs, antique things, military uniforms, semiprecious stones, family jewelry, kitchen utensils, objects of Soviet welfare, and lots of other various stuff like forks without prongs and dolls with torn heads. As always in such places you have to bargain and not really rely on any success – it often comes to happy-go-lucky passers-by, who find treasures for future stories in bunches of junk.

FLEA MARKET “KNIZHKA”

It is always nicer to wander near the water, so the local embankment is a perfect place for bicycle rides, roller skating and Tatar talks during lazy walks with a bottle of bugulmeister and fresh chak-chak. The embankment opens an amazing view on the Kazan Kremlin, Agricultural Palace (you will be surprised, but there is something worth seeing there), and the palace of weddings (and here as well). There are many beach restaurants here with hookah, music and food. The boardwalk of the Kazanka is not only a touristic route of Tatarstan capital city that makes you feel the rhythm of modern city, but also a rare opportunity to sit at the open water and meet the sunset.

THE EMBANKMENT OF THE RIVER KAZANKA

It is just impossible not to visit American eatery with special juicy burgers and craft beer – your eyesight is caught by original rack for pretty bottles over the bar and genealogical beer tree – an option how to kill time if your friend is a bit late. The average price for burger and alcohol is 500-600 Russian rubles. A delicate moment that shows that the owners are experts in what they are doing is the presence of cucumber pickle on the menu; everyone knows that being treated is not less important than being fed.

BURGER HOUSE “TOP HOP”

In Kazan there are of course the Kazan Academic Russian Drama Theatre named after V.I.Kachalov, and the Kamal Tatar Academic Theatre, but they are too academic and you can easily find information on them in any guide. Creative lab “Ugol” was founded for those love modern play more than traditional drama theatre. The space of the place is transformer and ideally suits for the main styles of modern theatre – verbatim, documental theatre, site-specific, storytelling, theatre for kids. The stage contains several levels and easily transforms the lab from the auditorium into the place for performance, show, online excursion or lecture hall. Theatre staging from Moscow and Saint Petersburg are regularly brought here; including the play “Karina and Dron” by Dmitriy Volkostrelov, the Golden Mask award winner.

CREATIVE LAB “UGOL”

This is a popular in Kazan center of modern culture, where art albums and books are sold, exhibitions, creative gatherings, film shows, lectures, master classes, presentations, festivals and everything a young person needs to understand modern reality are held. Here the works of Kirill Garshin, Vladimir Tchigarev, Ilgizar Khasanov and other classicists of modern art were exhibited. There is no regular exposition in the gallery, so it’s better to call them in advance to know the program of the day or get to know it on the website of “Smena”. The book shop of the gallery deserves a separate half an hour stop: here you will easily find anything you can’t find anywhere else in Kazan (for example, the latest book of Lena Dunham).

THE GALLERY OF MODERN ART

The capital of Tatarstan Republic is becoming more popular every coming year. It is connected not only with the high euro currency rate, but with the consecutive cultural development of the city after Summer Universiade in 2013. Nowadays it is easy to find dozens of places and events that are worth buying ticket for.

New in Kazan

Kazan is the city that is officially considered to be the third capital of Russia. The knowledge of tourists about the capital of Tatarstan (autonomous republic within Russian Federation) is very scarce though modern Kazan can amaze you: nowadays it is a European level city that has many places of interest and everything is rather cheap. It is better to visit Tatarstan in the end of spring when all the country celebrates its seasonal event – sabantuy.

Reasonably priced sabantuy in Kazan

Kazan – the capital of Tatarstan (autonomous republic within Russian Federation) is not often taken into consideration while planning vacation but should be. During the last years the city has transformed a lot: newly built neighborhoods were constructed, many new buildings and infrastructure necessary for entertainment was created. Even if you have high demands for spending your leisure time, it is easy to find activities here – learn diving, try horsemeat, get to know local traditions and folk songs.

Kazan

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Places of Kazan