Old Tatar Quarter

Spread around Lake Kaban in Kazan, this historic district preserves the traditional heart of the city's Tatar community, with rows of restored wooden and stone merchant houses in pastel colours. The neighbourhood developed after the sixteenth century as the quarter where the Tatar population was permitted to live and trade, and it retains mosques, teahouses and craft workshops. Walking routes and information boards guide visitors past cultural centres and cafés serving regional cuisine, an intimate counterpoint to the Kremlin.