Travel - Viajes

Vodka in the Sun V: A Kinder, Gentler Kremlin

By Eric D. Goodman

At the heart of Nizhni Novgorod, central Russia’s third largest city, is Minin Square, named after the prince who drove the invading Tartars out of Russia in the 1400s. An impressive monument to Minin stands in the center of the square. Another monument stands to Valeri Chkalov the Nizhni Novgorod native who was the first aviator to fly to the North pole. He glances skyward in the direction of the city, his back to a winding double staircase flowing down toward the Volga River.

But the main attraction of Minin Square is the Kremlin, established in 1221. The fortress surrounds a large area that was once the protected town of Nizhni Novgorod—now home to the city’s government buildings, old Russian Orthodox churches, an eternal flame commemorating fallen soldiers and one of my favorite cafes in the city.

The Kremlin Café is located inside one of the Kremlin’s many towers. A heavy arched door of wood opens to the rustic ground floor, where heavy wooden tables, chairs, benches and log stools are the only decorations aside from the wooden bar. A brick spiral staircase leads up the second and third floors, and at the opposite end of the ground floor another spiral staircase leads to the cellar. Each floor has a bar. The top floor even offers admission to walk the open upper halls of the Kremlin’s wall.

After a good number of hearty vodka toasts, an old friend and I took our beers and went for the walk. I answered only “da” to the ticket lady to conceal my identity and save money, but my friend answered “thank you” in his thick Russian accent just to spite me. Along the way we met a number of staircases going up and down along with the terrain, and we explored a few abandoned turrets, apparently the locations of recent parties judging by the empty beer bottles. We walked more than an hour without reaching the halfway mark. That’s when we decided to turn back, motivated in part by our desire to find a toilet.

Outside the Kremlin Café, inside the walls of the kremlin, the walkway is lined with disabled war machinery: tanks, jeeps, cannons, a plane, even the top of a submarine. Nearby, we found the public restrooms, but they were closed. We had to find a place behind the building.

The sun dipped into the Volga River, the far wall and towers of the kremlin’s lower portion between us and the sunset. All sorts of people were here to enjoy the moment: young couples and old, students, businessmen, blue (or red) collar workers. Some kissed, others picnicked and drank. A group of men stood with a couple bottles of Nizhegorodskaya Vodka between them, laughing as they toasted and drank.

When they discovered that I was an American, they invited us over. They welcomed me heartily as an ambassador of my people and insisted I drink to international peace and friendship. I willingly drank to that. The warm vodka sunk down my insides as the hot sun sunk deeper into the Russian horizon. My friend and I had to leave. But I imagine the other men remained even after their vodka was gone.

The Street with No Crosswalks

Upon exiting the grand arched gateway of the kremlin, we came to the large parking lot of a street where an army of taxis regularly park. Across from this area begins Bolshaya Pokrovka. The pedestrian street is the place to go when you want to meet people. It is always packed with people walking leisurely to and fro’.

The pedestrian street is lined on both sides with countless shops, restaurants and cafes, and the sidewalks are packed with vendors selling everything from Shurma (the Armenian Gyros), nuts and ice cream to underwear, magazines and videos.

While many of the cafes, restaurants, clothing stores, department stores and souvenir shops are very modern inside, the faces of the lining buildings are of an era long gone—beautiful stone, stucco, marble and brick structures elaborately decorated. Just looking at the buildings makes the walk enjoyable. Watching the people interacting on the streets is even more enjoyable.

As we walked, people stopped left and right to talk to friends they happened to meet. It’s a pleasure to watch the friendly interaction—and even better to partake it in. If you walk the street a time or two, you’re likely to have the opportunity. I have seldom walked the length of Bolshaya Pokrovka without running into someone I know—even during my first visit to Russia.

Some of the establishments pride themselves in being modern; others take pride in their rustic timelessness. The latter restaurants, cafes and shops are the ones that get my attention. And that is why, while there are a number of cafes and restaurants worth visiting along Bolshaya Pakrovka, my favorite remains the café in the tower of the kremlin.

Gorky Watching Over Us

At the far end of the pedestrian street, beyond the beers and nuts and meat pies, is Gorky Square.
Overlooking the park in the center of Gorky Square is an impressive monument to the Russian writer Maxim Gorky. During the Soviet era, Nizhni Novgorod was renamed Gorky, named for the popular fiction writer. Now all that remains of his namesake is the monument, the park, and the circular street surrounding. Not to mention a modest museum in the top floor of a nearby building and a collection of fiction not to be sneezed at.

The park itself is a large grassy area with fine small-stoned walkways and benches, colorful flower beds and trees. Across the street, all around, are buildings as old and interesting as those found on the pedestrian street. Even the most modern buildings are made to fit in with the others. The worst western eyesore of the city comes to mind—the new McDonald’s Restaurant, smack dab in the middle of historic Gorky Square. McDonald’s is in a newly faced building that a few years ago housed the House of Books, a quaint bookstore. Now the citizens of Nizhni Novgorod can get fast food there instead of reading about it.