FINNO-UGRIC NATIONS AND TATAR KhaNATES
Mordovia – TatarSTAN – Chuvashia – Mari-El – Udmurtia – Bashkiria
May 01 ⇾ May 16
In addition to our regular group departures to the Volga Basin, we also offer tour services for private travel parties and lone wolves alike. As a traveller-oriented boutique operator, tailored trips and bespoke adventures are our bread and butter. Get in touch for more info on our customised journeys to the Volga Basin!
DAY 1 TO DAY 2 – Mordovia
Meet-and-greet at Saransk International Airport and transfer to our hotel of choice in central Saransk.
Introductory briefing about the Idel-Ural, a historical region of the former USSR now comprising six separate autonomous republics within the Russian Federation, namely Bashkortostan, Chuvashia, Mari El, Mordovia, Tatarstan, and Udmurtia.
The first Idel-Ural nation we are going to visit will be the Finno-Ugric Republic of Mordovia, whose rather unassuming capital Saransk unexpectedly rose to fame thanks to the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
We’ll spend two days in Mordovia touring both the rich Soviet heritage of the capital Saransk and the more traditional Mordovin towns of Ruzayevka and Insar.
Overnights in Saransk.
DAY 3 to DAY 4 – Chuvashia
Leaving Saransk we'll head for the second autonomous ethnic republic of our journey: Chuvashia, a curious geopolitical Soviet creation inhabited by the Chuvash people, the only Christian Turks in the world along with the Gagauz of southern Moldova.
En route to the Chuvash border, we’ll travel through the backcountry hamlets of the Bolsheignatovsky District, in the northeastern far end of the republic: here, like nowhere else in Mordovia, you will be able to witness the slow-paced rural life rhythms of the Mordovins, the original Finno-Ugric inhabitants of the republic.
If time allows, we’ll also take a short detour across the Smolny National Park, a tranquil state reserve of dark woods and misty marshes home to the extremely rare Russian desman (Desmana moschata).
After entering Chuvashia, we’ll then proceed to Tsivilsk, a sleepy provincial town famous for its XVII-century women’s monastery, and then drive further north to Cheboksary, aka Šupaškar in Chuvash language, the unpretentiously attractive regional capital built on the shores of the mighty Volga.
Our second day in the Turkic republic will be entirely devoted to the exploration of Cheboksary and its surroundings: modernist and neo-classicist architectonic wonders, Soviet-era sanatoriums, pastel-coloured churches, Chuvash cultural institutions, melancholic river beaches and the usual fair-share of Lenin statues, Bolshevik monuments, and Great Patriotic War memorials.
During the day we’ll also visit the main local brewery (Chuvashia is renowned for its fine hop production) and the house-museum of Vasily Ivanovich Chapayev, a much celebrated Bolshevik soldier and Red Army commander, who was born in the tiny Chuvash village of Budayka, now part of Cheboksary.
Overnights in Cheboksary.
DAY 5 TO DAY 6 – Mari El
Today we'll leave Chuvashia, cross the Great Volga and enter the Autonomous Republic of Mari-El, yet another Finno-Ugric statelet lost in the vastness of the great Russian backyard.
Mari-El is famous for being the last place in Europe still inhabited by the followers of those ancient pagan religions that were once common in most parts of Central and Eastern Europe: the Mari people practice, indeed, a weirdly fascinating cult that mixes ancestral traditions with Orthodox Christianity, and, with a bit of luck, we will be able to witness their mystic shamanic rituals.
We’ll devote our time in Mari El to an in-depth visit of the republic, its people and traditions, gallivanting around both Yoshkar-Ola, the eclectic capital of the republic, and the old-world Mari settlements of the northern districts.
Overnights in Yoshkar-Ola.
DAY 7 to DAY 9 – Tatarstan
We'll leave Yoshkar-Ola and move further east towards Tatarstan, an autonomous republic mainly inhabited - as the name suggests - by Muslim Tatars, the very descendants of the legendary Golden Horde.
Our first destinations in the republic will be the Soviet shipbuilding town of Zelenodolsk and the splendid Bogoroditskiy Monastery, an active cloister surrounded by majestic churches and untouched nature.
We’ll then proceed to Kazan, the much-eulogised Tatar capital, where we’ll spend two-and-half days touring its countless Soviet-era architectonic gems, pre-Soviet sights and present-day cultural wonders.
On top of that we’ll make a short trip out of Kazan to visit the historical island-town and UNESCO-site of Sviyazhsk.
During our sojourn in Tatarstan we’ll also have the chance to meet with local Tatar families, who will share with us their food, their home and the hidden aspects of their ancient culture.
Overnights in Kazan.
DAY 10 TO DAY 11 – Udmurtia
Today we'll head for Izhevsk, the capital of Udmurtia, one of the most obscure Finno-Ugric autonomous backwaters of the Idel-Ural region.
En route to Udmurtia, before exiting Tatarstan, we’ll stop in Yelabuga, an ancient Russian-Tatar town of beautiful merchants’ houses and fine religious buildings.
After lunch we’ll eventually enter Udmurtia crossing the tiny hamlets and provincial towns of the Malopurginsky District, one of the few areas in the republic where the Udmurt people still represent the absolute majority and hence one of the last places where one can hear the almost-mystical sound of their endangered Finno-Ugric language.
In the afternoon we’ll reach Izhevsk, notorious for being the birthplace of Mikhail Kalashnikov, the inventor of the namesake automatic rifle that caused and still causes more deaths across the globe that all other weapons combined.
We'll spend the following day touring the city and paying a visit to the Kalashnikov Museum, which also features its own backyard polygon, where you'll be to disassemble, reassemble, aim and shoot with the deadliest weapon ever.
Overnights in Izhevsk.
DAY 12 to DAY 13 – Bashkortostan
In the early morning we’ll depart from Izhevsk and tour the nearby traditional Udmurt village of Buranovo, which recently gained celebrity thanks to the Buranovo Babushkas, a nana choir from performing at Eurovision and other international song contests.
We’ll then head for the beautiful XVI-century city of Sarapul, a multiethnic commercial hub inhabited by a once thriving Ashkenazi Jewish community.
After lunch we’ll finally take our leave from Udmurtia and enter the last autonomous republic of our journey: Bashkortostan, aka Bashkiria, the largest autonomous republic in the region, home to the once nomadic Bashkirs, a Muslim Turkic people ethnically, culturally and linguistically related to the neighbouring Tatars.
In the early evening we’ll arrive Ufa, the fancy capital of the republic, to which we’ll entirely devote the following day visiting its rich and diverse cornucopia of eclectic mosques, Soviet mosaics, socialist architectures, WWII memorials, Bolshevik monuments, and thriving food markets.
Overnights in Ufa.
DAY 14 to DAY 15 – ROAD TO ORENBURG
On our last tour day we’ll head south for the Tsarist outpost town of Orenburg close to the frontier with Northern Kazakhstan.
Besides the routine stops for food and photography we’ll break the six-hour-long journey from Ufa to Orenburg in the Bashkir industrial and military towns of Sterlitamak, Salavat and Kumertau, where we you be able to get an ultimate grand overdose on Soviet architecture, monumentalism and military glory.
If time permits, we’ll also allow ourselves a more touristy detour: just a few miles southeast of Sterlitamak lies, in fact, one of the most beautiful natural attractions of the entire region: the lonely mountain of Toratau, one of the four Bashkir shihans, which are basically solitary rocky massifs incongruously towering over a flatland landscape of flowery grasslands and windswept steppes.
Overnights in Salavat (Day 14) in Orenburg (Day 15).
DAY 16 – FAREWELL TO THE STEPPES
After sharing a last meal together, we'll take care of your transfer to either Orenburg International Airport or Orenburg Train Station for your journey back home via Moscow.
For those wishing to prolong their journey: we’ll arrange a three-day-two-night tailored extension across the Orenburg Steppes, a remote state reserve of boundless vastnesses and enchanting beauty.
End of the tour.
3950 €
INCLUSIONS
Double/twin-room accommodation (breakfast included), private transport in Russia (car/minivan), all entrance fees, English-speaking guiding service, 24/7 on-site and remote assistance.
EXCLUSIONS
Single supplement, international flights, main meals (lunches and dinners), extra drinks, visa fees (if required), tips, travel insurance.
