Discover beautiful Tartarstan
The land of 1001 delights
Tartarstan is one of the highly developed and most attractive destinations in Russia for tourists. It is a region of wealth, peace and harmony. A unique place known as “The Land of 1001 Delights”. Here you will plunge into our authentic way of life, with its own cuisine, music, fashion, art, architecture and hard working & joyous people.
There are three UNESCO world heritage sites in Tartarstan. The Kazan, Kremlin, The Great Bolgar and the island town of Svivazhsk. Only in Tartarstan, the great Russia River Volga reach its widest span at 43 kilometers.
The capital of the Republic of Tartarstan, Kazan is the third capital of Russia. The city has more than 1,000 year history and at the same time is a huge megalopolis, modern, fashionable and innovative. Kazan hosts Russia’s largest music festivals and international sports competition explained Sergey Inanov Chairman State Committee of Tourism of Tartarstan in his briefing. Last year 2.9 million tourist visited Tartarstan, mostly from Russia, China and Europe. Tatar 53.2 million and Russian 39.7 with other ethnic group live in peace and harmony.
The Temperature in summer from May to September is between 1520 degrees and it is the best time of the year to visit this touristic spot. For Kuwaiti and Gulf tourists it is the best place for shopping and more for quiet and enjoyable holidays. Tartarstan offers exciting, pleasant and safe experience for all categories of tourists.
Spending four days in Tartarstan was a unique experience, Kazan and Moscow has some similarities, for example Kremlin in Moscow and Kremlin in Kazan, Moscow with red and Kazan in white without V.I Lenin Mausoleum. Moscow has a very famous Arbat street with famous Russian poet’s residence “Pushkin” and in Kazan you find “Bauman” and “Karl Marx” street with Lenin statue.
First day started with a visit to Kazan Kremlin, as a part of Fam/Press trip to Tartarstan.
Kazan Kremlin (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
The stunning white walls of the Kazan Kremlin (Fortress) are the primary an attraction point in Kazan. The Kremlin dates back to the 12th century and host a wealth of sights within its walls. The most obvious is the blue and white gem of the Kul Sharif mosque, one Russia’s largest. Next to it is the Russian Orthodox cathedral, and the mysterious learning tower of Syumbike, the legendary last queen of Kazan.
The Kremlin is a home to governmental bodies, a dedicated museum, as well shops and cafes. One can easily spend a day here, especially during art show and festivals. Kazan Kremlin was designated a UNESCO world heritage in 2000.
I will share some stories narrated by our intelligent guide “Alexander”
The Legend of Suyumbike Tower
Once there was a country called Kazan Kaganate. Its ruler was Khan SafaGirey who was married to a beautiful lady called Suyumbike. As the legend holds, Suyumbike was so beautiful, that whenever she stepped out to the balcony of her palace, the Sun would hide behind a cloud being ashamed of its ugliness, and when she spoke, birds would fall silent in the garden.
Their marriage, of SafaGirey and Suyumbike, was blessed with a son UtyamyshGirey. However, their happiness did not last long, as SafaGirey died when his son was two years. So, Suyumbike had to rule the Kazan Kaganate on her own as a regent for her under-aged son.
Apart from being beautiful, Suyumbike proved herself as a wise ruler, and Kazan Kaganate florished under her rule.
At the same time, in Moscow, a young and ambitious Prince Ivan the Fourth ascended the throne after the death of his father. Prince Ivan learnt of the beautiful and wise
Kazan the third capital of Russian Federation
“Lady Khan” and decided to marry her, as he thought her to be a perfect match for him, firstly, because such marriage would enable him to demand the throne of Kazan for himself. So Prince Ivan sent some matchmakers with precious gifts to Kazan, but Suyumbike still loved her late husband, so she refused to marry the Russian Prince.
Decades later, Prince Ivan would be called “Ivan the Terrible”. A person who would bear such name did not tolerate refusals even at a very young age. So he raised an army of about 150,000 men and besieged Kazan. Finally, after more than 40 days of siege, his troops breached the walls of the Kazan Kremlin. Suyumbike was captured and brought before the eyes of the victor. He proposed to her once again, this time in person. Of course, Suyumbike was not in position to refuse this time, so she said neither yes nor no. Instead, she put a condition for Prince Ivan and his men to build the tallest tower in the Kazan Kremlin within 7 days only.
The construction began; workers built the first tier of the tower during the first day. However, they realized there was so much work ahead of them, but the time was so short, and they were very tired already. So the second tier of the tower built on the second day ended up smaller and shorter than the first one, and the third tier was even smaller than the second one. Nevertheless, by the end of the seventh day the tower was complete.
On the next morning, a wedding feast began. During the feast, Suyumbike asked for a permission to climb the new tower to give her farewell to Kazan and its people. Once she was at the top, she saw the beauty of the land around her and crowds of people at the foot of the tower crying for her soon departure for Moscow. The heart of Suyumbike broke, and she threw herself down from the top of the tower, but an instance before crashing on the ground, she turned into a white swan and flew away.
One can believe it or not, but the tower is still there in Kazan Kremlin. It has exactly seven tiers, and the people of Kazan still call it Suyumbike Tower. Please come, count and make sure for yourselves.
The Great Bolgar
The second day, visited Bolgar by bus on a two hours journey, a thousand years ago on a tall shore high above Volga, 180km away from Kaza, there sat the buzzing capital of the thriving and formidable Volga Bolgar civilization. Here the ancestor of Tatars adopted Islam in 922 and in the 13th century Bolgar became the capital of Golden Horde. A UNESCO world heritage site, Bolgar remains a sacred pilgrimage place. A visitor can admire the cathedral mosque, with its big minaret, north and east mausoleum, Khan Tomb builds in 13-14 centuries. So important is Bolgar for modern Tartarstan that it continues to be developed, keeping it live and present in Tartarstan culture in recent years. An elegant white mosque was added, and a commemoration monument to celebrate the adoption of Islam. Its hosts the world’s largest Quran with pages 2 meters tall and solid malachite cover weighing 800 kg. The excellent on-site museum displayed intricate pieces of beautiful medieval jewelry, runic scrolls and weapon, and tells the engaging story of what was once the core state between Europe and Asia. After a day full of sightseeing, a visit to bread museum with a working mill is rewarding.
The Island Town of Sviyazhsk
Pushkin’s fairy tales come to life on the Sviyazhsk river island only 60km from Kazan. Initially a fortress built by Ivan the Terrible to size Kazan in the 16th century. Sviyazhsk has grown through the ages into a quintessential place of Russian culture. The island has less than 300 residents have 37 cultural sites. Two of them are currently being considered world heritage status. The solitary and pure nature of the island is preserved with no industry or public transport allowed on the island. Today Sviya has a lively arts and festival scene. There is a museum, a stable yard and a medieval theme center, complete with an iron monger, archery stalls, and interactive knights armor displays. The serene and spiritual Sviyazhsk is a firm favorite with locals and visitors alike. It is good news for football lovers that June 2018 World Cup will be played in eleven cities of Russia including Kazan with state of the art stadiums and Turkish Airline will be flying to the all destinations of World Cup in Russia.
Al-Yaish Travel and Russia tourism board in Kuwait headed by dynamic Basil Al Aswad is doing a fine job in promoting tourism to the Russian Federatio, including visa facilities, travel plan and other relevant information .
Spasiba means thank you in Russian language. Rahmat means thank you in Tartarstan language.