Kazan

Popularly referred to as Russia’s third capital, Kazan is the city (as accords their official slogan) ‘Where Europe meets Asia’. As the capital of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, Kazan mixes a rich Muslim Tatar culture - with its own language and government - with Western Slavic influences and is famous for being a particularly religiously tolerant and friendly city. The pride of Kazan is its impressive Kremlin which boasts both a mosque and an Orthodox cathedral and in recent years the whole city has been beautified and restored in preparation for the Olympiad – the international student Olympics - which will be held here in 2013. For those looking to see where European and Asian Russia meet and enjoy a glimpse into one of the country’s most vibrant non-Slavic republics, there’s probably no better starting point than Kazan.