Day 1 Kazan - third class was a mistake and my poor aching feet

10 October
Day 1 Kazan

OK - third class was a mistake!  The bed was about 6 inches too short and it was a plastic box so I had to alternate between sticking my feet out and dangling them in front of the next person's head or trying to stay in the foetal position.

It was not a comfortable night.

My train was arriving in Kazan at 5.30am and every time I woke up after a restless sleep I was sure we were about to arrive.  Sadly not.  1am, 2.30am, 4am.  Ugh.

One of the issues with the top bunks in third class is that you don't have room to sit upright on the bunk.  At some point during the night someone had arrived and claimed the bunk below me so I didn't have anywhere to sit so I just had to lay in the bunk and try to get some rest.  Very frustrating.  I definitely would need to get a bottom bunk if I was doing any length of time in third class.  While it would be annoying to have people sitting on my bunk all the time I just don't think I'd be able to deal with having no control on when I can sit up.

In terms of sleeping though it looks like the beds on the other side would be fine because you can stick your feet over the end.  Not great for people walking down the aisle but whatever.

Anyway.  I arrived in Kazan at 5.30am and while I thought it was going to be too early it was actually a really pleasant time to get there.  I could wander around the station uninterrupted and didn't have to deal with traffic while walking around.  It also wasn't very cold so it was quite nice walking around with my backpack on.

What a beautiful old station!  What a contrast to arriving in Yekaterinburg!  The station started me off on the right foot here and got me in a good mood after my shitty night's sleep.

I slowly wandered down towards my hostel so I could dump my bag for the day.  It was about a 15 minute walk to the hostel but I took the Ingress route and it took me about an hour.  It was a really nice walk!

As is consistent with Russia the hostel was not the easiest place to find but after walking in the wrong building the lady there gave me some direction and I eventually found the place.  Dumped my bag then started set out.

Apparently Kazan used to be a bit of a shithole but about 12 years ago they did a heap of re-planning and construction and turned the place into a really tourist friendly city.  All the main city attractions are in walking distance of each other.

My biggest challenge was finding somewhere for breakfast.  I couldn't find anywhere open at 7am to eat!  So I started by wandering down the Main Street (Baumann Street) to get a bit of an idea of what might be open soon and I really didn't see much.  So I opened Google Maps, typed in Breakfast and headed towards some place near the university district that was open.  Took me a long time to get there but I ended up at Mama's Deli and had some really good coffee and blinis.  The blinis were a thin black pancake with cream cheese or something inside.  Really delicious.  And the coffee was great!

Now that I'm fed it's time to start touristing!  I've only got 2 days here so time to make the most of it.

I swung past the tourist office (which was a window with nobody there) and grabbed a map of all the major sights then headed off.  I basically did the rounds of all the major churches and whatnot in town.  The major sport in town seems to be basketball and there's a big stadium not far from the main drag.  Unfortunately the game this week was an away game so I couldn't go check it out.

There are heaps of big cathedrals, mosques and public art in town and some them are really spectacular.  While the outside of the cathedrals all look different enough and spectacular enough to keep my interested for the moment the inside of them are all starting to become very same-same.  The Russians seem to love to cover every inside surface of their churches with religious paintings.  It's like an offence to god if some remains plain and undecorated.  I guess they've done a good job because it doesn't feel gaudy or overbearing.

The main attraction in town is the Kremlin.  This is a huge complex with a ton of temples and museums in it.  The Jewel of the Kremlin is the mosque which is really a spectacular building.  I went to the Islam museum in the basement but that was a total waste of time.  Was basically some pages of various qurans and a bunch of shitty artwork.  I was expecting to actually learn something but I did not.  I did have some hope when I saw QR codes everywhere next to the exhibits but all the links were broken and I couldn't find them manually on the website.  The inside did not manage to avoid "gaudy" in my opinion.

After the Kremlin I went down the hill and saw a really spectacular building.  The Ministry of Agriculture and Food building in Kazan is amazing!  Whoever designed this did a really good job!  It's got pillars, and gargoyles, and fancy trim and a giant tree on the front of it.  It's completely over the top but it completely works.  It's a great building.  The tree on the front is particularly awesome.

I've been wandering around for maybe 8 hours now and my feet are starting to hurt so I decide to head back to the hostel and have a break.

But wait! What's that?!  A craft beer bar suddenly jumps out in front of me and drags me kicking and screaming inside.  The tragedy!  It's a really cool bar with a great tap list that has both Russian and a variety of European beers on it as well as a few fridges of bottled beer.

They have a few sour / lambic taps so of course I have to start there.  They have the Rodenbach Grand Cru on tap (!!!) which is always awesome plus the Duchess de Bourgeonne and a couple of others.  I finish up with a nice Russian imperial stout by a local brewery.  One of the bartenders speaks some pretty good English so we have a chat about beer and travel.  There's also a craft beer class going on at the front.  They are opening a new venue in a different city and the staff are being trained on craft beer styles.  It's a pity it was all in Russian because I would have been really interested in what they were saying.

Eventually I'd decided that I was rested enough, tipsy enough and had spent enough money and it was time to go back to the hostel.  On the way back I stopped at a place called Dom Chaya for dinner.  This place is recommended in all the tourist guides I looked at for Kazan as a place to get some good traditional tartar food in a Russian canteen style restaurant.

It's basically like an old cafeteria.  You go in, grab a tray, grab / ask for what you want from the cabinet and pay for it at the end Then go find a table somewhere.  Heaps of locals were eating there and I know why.  It's really cheap and there was some pretty bloody tasty food.  I got a chicken noodle soup, dressed herring, a blini, a piroshki, a piece of cheesecake and a cup of tea for less than $10.  Way too much food but I wanted to try everything!  The blini and the dressed herring were my favourite.

Back to the hostel to check in and I've decided to treat myself to a private room tonight.  It was pretty cheap and I just wanted a bit of privacy and a double bed.  Turned out to be a good decision after my train ride.

DISASTER!  I had to go shopping.  I did some laundry and my jeans were torn!  There's a big rip in the back of one of the legs so they are done for.  I suppose I could have removed one of the pockets and repaired them but I'm not that kind of person.

So I got some direction from the girl at reception (hottie) as to where a fat guy should go to buy some cheap jeans and she directed me to a department store not far from the hostel.  I found some jeans that actually fit really well though it took ages to sort through the racks and find them.  I also took the opportunity to buy a hoodie.  My coat has been too hot and I really hate the jumper I bought in Vladivostok (remember the guy who gave me free socks because I'd been ripped so badly?!) so I ended up with a bright red hoodie.

Well it's the right colour for Russia I guess!  It also adds a bit of colour to my almost uniformly black wardrobe.

After my tedious shopping expedition I luxuriated in my single room for a while then went to sleep.