Blue Minarets and Tatars

Nestled on the conflux of the Kazanka and the Volga, Europe's longest river, Kazan feels unlike any other Russian city, instead resembling those further south in ex-Soviet Central Asia. The city was founded in the 11th century by a people called the Volga Bulgars, who built one of this country's most beautiful and famous kremlins. When the terrifying Golden Horde thundered through Old Russia under the direction of the great conqueror Genghis Khan, the people of this region began to be referred to as Tatars (a historical misnomer, since the native people were not, in fact, Mongol). The name stuck, the Tatars were absorbed into the Bulgar populations and the new Kazan Khanate quickly grew as an important trading center in the Mongol empire.

In 1552 the city was smashed by Tsar Ivan the Terrible (who celebrated the victory by having crazyass St Basil's Cathedral in Moscow constructed) and the city was absorbed into Russia's rule. Nowadays Kazan serves as the capital of Tatarstan, one of the republics united, albeit uncomfortably, in the Russian Federation. The city recently celebrated its 1000th birthday by unveiling the reconstructed and stunningly beautiful Kul Sharif, the largest mosque in all of Europe.

Time to get back on the funtrain, this time all the way back to Moscow.