Old Tatar settlement in Kazan

What to Expect and Is It Worth Visiting

Another pedestrian tourist zone, Staro-Tatarskaya Sloboda, is located in the historical part of the city, but a little further from Bauman Street, across the Lower Kaban Lake. But the pedestrian part, which stretches for 500 meters along Kayuma Nasyri Street, is not the whole old Tatar settlement. The territory of this area is very large, but for tourists, first of all, the pedestrian street and the surrounding streets and alleys are interesting.

This whole area was formed after the conquest of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible, when local residents were resettled here. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Tatar settlement was formed here with its own way of life, architecture and culture. Its distinctive feature is a large number of mosques. In the evenings, you can hear the muezzin singing here, inviting you to prayer, and you get the feeling that you are in a far eastern country, and not in Russia at all. During the day, the area is almost no different from the rest of the city: life is in full swing here, ordinary shops and cafes are open, transport is gathering on the roads in traffic jams.

The pedestrian part of the settlement is not at all the same as, for example, Bauman Street. There are no large numbers of tourists here, and there are practically no entertainment, souvenir shops and flashy boutique signs, but the architecture and lifestyle of the old settlement are carefully preserved. Therefore, you will not walk along Kayuma Nasyri Street as well as along Bauman Street, discovering something new with interest every time, but it's worth coming and taking a walk here at least once. It is especially pleasant to visit here on a summer evening, when with the coming of darkness you can hear calls to prayer. Along the street there are several cafes, a hotel, a hotel and entertainment complex "Tatar Manor" with a children's cafe and a contact zoo, but all this does not spoil the view and the old style of architecture at all. There will also be an interesting embankment of the Nizhny Kaban Lake near the old Tatar settlement, where you can feed pigeons and ducks, go boating or catamarans on the lake.

And we also advise you to look at interesting options for individual and group excursions with reviews on these proven sites:

• 📷 Search for excursions in Kazan on Sputnik8.com
• 📷 Search for excursions in Kazan on Tripster.ru
• 📷 Excursions in Kazan from the tour operator TEZ Tour