A chain of three lakes running south from the old centre, with boardwalks through the reeds, the Old Tatar Quarter on its bank and fountains that dance to music after dark.
Lake Kaban is really three lakes, the Lower, Middle and Upper Kaban, strung south from Kazan's centre. The lower lake, closest to town, is the one you walk.
After 1552 the Tatars were moved out of the Kremlin city to this side of the Bulak canal, and the Old Tatar Quarter still lines the western shore: the Marjani mosque of 1770, wooden merchants' houses with carved window frames, and the Tatar restaurants.
The embankment has been rebuilt with boardwalks, reed beds, benches and lookouts, and on summer evenings the fountains on the lower lake in front of the Kamal Theatre put on a light-and-music show.
Local legend says the last khan's treasure was sunk in the lake's mud as the city fell, and it's still down there.
An evening loop on the lower lake.
Begin in the Old Tatar Quarter at the 18th-century mosque and its wooden streets.
Walk down to the lake and pick up the boardwalk along the western bank.
Follow the boardwalk through the planted reeds and lookout decks.
Round the end of the lake to the theatre and its square on the water.
Find a spot on the steps for the light-and-music show on the lake.
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A 15-minute walk south from Bauman Street, or a short taxi ride.
The Tatar restaurants of the quarter, and the Chak-chak Museum for tea, are steps from the shore.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons and Pexels under their licences.
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