Recommended period: all the year round
Main sights: sightseeing tour, Kazan Kremlin, Folklore program «Yakyn Duslar», Universal Temple, Island Town of Sviyazhsk, Raifa Virgin Monastery, Chak-Chak Museum
Accommodation: 4*
Meals: breakfasts, lunches
Transport: minibus / coach
Itinerary
Day 1
- Arrival in Kazan.
- Meeting with tour guide at the railway station.
- Departure for the sightseeing program.
- A walking tour “White-stone Fortress”. The Kazan Kremlin is the main sight of the city; it is a UNESCO world heritage site. The Kremlin is an official residence of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan and a state museum-preserve attended by thousands of tourists every year. The white-stone Kremlin is the heart of the ancient city that incorporates the culture of the East and West. Minarets of the main mosque of the city – Qul Sharif – shoot up into the sky, and cupolas of the Annunciation Cathedral, oldest one in Kazan, shine with gold. Inside the fortress, there is one of the symbols of Kazan – the famous “leaning” tower of Tsarina Suyumbike.
- Bus and walking sightseeing “Legends and Mysteries of the Millennium-old Kazan” by bus. Enjoy the original beauty of Kazan, see the bright colors of its streets and squares with your own eyes, learn where teeming treasures of Khans of Kazan are kept and where water boiled in a cauldron with no fire by taking the sightseeing tour. The sites of the millennium-old city combine the culture of the West and traditions of the East: Old Tatar Settlement where Tatar residents lived from the 16th century, Textiles Settlement originating as a result of industrial reforms by Peter I, fountain squares, Kaban lake with its mysteries and legends, a simulated Tatar village Tugan Avylym (My Native Village), a new building of the Puppet Show, Kazan Federal University, Liberty Square as a cultural and administrative center of Kazan. During the sightseeing tour, you will see a variety of minarets and cupolas, crescents and crosses, which is a proof of a good neighborliness of the two native peoples – Tatars and Russians.
- Lunch in the city restaurant.
- Folklore program «Yakyn Duslar» will immerse you in the world of the ancient culture of the Tatar people. Each people of the world is unique, and its soul, hidden in spiritual creativity — folklore, is unique. All tourists have the opportunity from the first minute of their stay in Kazan to touch the age-old culture of the Tatar people.
- Arrival in the hotel. Check-in.
- Leisure time.
Day 2
- Breakfast in the hotel.
- Meeting with tour guide at the hotel lobby. Departure for the sightseeing program.
- Observation of the «Universal Temple» in the old Moscow Highway. In 1994, a construction of a by all means unusual architectural structure – the Universal Temple – began in Kazan. It is a unique building that combines features of Catholic, Orthodox, and Buddhist temples, a Mosque, and a Synagogue. The Temple was not designed by its creator Ildar Khanov as a religious center but as a site combining a museum, a concert hall and an exhibition gallery. The Universal Temple is an architectural symbolic symbiosis of religions, civilizations and cultures.
- A walking tour “The Island Town of Sviyazhsk”. Sviyazhsk is a historical and cultural gem of the Republic of Tatarstan. At present, the place where an ancient fortress used to be is surrounded with waters of Volga river. In the past, the fortress served as a military outpost in the Volga region and a place to prepare troops for an assault against an unassailable fortress of Kazan. In the course of time, as its value as a military facility diminished, Sviyazhsk became a spiritual center of the Middle Volga. The sightseeing tour in Sviyazhsk comprises unique monuments of history: the Cathedral of the Joy for All Who Grieve, one of the oldest wooden temples of Russia – the Holy Trinity Church, an operating Assumption Monastery featuring an architectural ensemble of the 16-17 centuries, Stable Yard, workshops.
- Lunch in the café in Sviyazhsk.
- Departure for Raifa Virgin Monastery.
- Excursion “The Land of Legends” to Raifa Virgin Monastery locate 30 Km from Kazan in a sanctuary forest, on a bank of an enchantingly beautiful lake. The monastery was founded in the 17th century. Its architectural ensemble, one of the most magnificent in the Middle Volga, was shaped for centuries. The main relic of the monastery is a wonderworking Georgian image of the Most Holy Virgin (17th cen.). In the monastery, there is a spring of water consecrated by the Patriarch of Moscow and Russia.
- Departure for Kazan.
- Return to the hotel.
- Leisure time.
Day 3
- Breakfast in the hotel.
- Check-out. Meeting with tour guide at the hotel lobby.
- Departure for the sightseeing program with luggage.
- A walking tour “Kazan Arbat”. Bauman Street is one of the most favorite places to walk for both residents and guests of Kazan, a meeting point for people in love. During the tour, make a lot of amazing discoveries: jets of fountains, belfry and Epiphany church where Fyodor Shalyapin was baptized, a monument to Shalyapin himself, a building of the National Bank, zero milestone, Peter & Paul Cathedral. Meet Su Anasy and learn the story of the Cat of Kazan whose monument always attracts crowds. Beyond competition is a replica of a luxury horse carriage used by Catherine II to move around Kazan during her visit in 1767. Shiny windows of numerous souvenir shops are so luring. Being in Kazan and missing a walk in Bauman Street – one of the oldest streets in the city – is the same as missing something most important.
- The Chak-Chak Museum is a place where you will plunge into the atmosphere of the Tatar life and feel like guests in an old Tatar family.
- Here you will learn the secrets of preparing the chak-chak, you will be introduced to the utensils that were used before, you will discover a lot of new things seemingly in the usual things.
- They say that a Tatar can not eat, but tea will certainly drink! And here you will have aromatic tea from samovar, you will try chak-chak, baursak, Tatar pastila, as well as an old forgotten dish that we restored for you.
- Lunch in the city restaurant.
- Departure for the airport.
- Arrival in the airport. End of the tour.
Included:
- accommodation in Kazan 2 nights with breakfasts
- 3 lunches
- sightseeing tour, Kazan Kremlin, Folklore program «Yakyn Duslar», Universal Temple, Island Town of Sviyazhsk, Raifa Virgin Monastery, Chak-Chak Museum
- licenced English speaking guide
- transport according to the program
- 1 FOC in sgl room
- commission
