If your first visit to Nizhny Novgorod starts from the train station, do not let the appearance of this part of the city fool you. Although it is also quite old, the historical center of Nizhny Novgorod is completely different.

When you are crossing the Oka River (most likely over the Kanavinsky Bridge) in the direction of the "Nizhnevolzhskaya Embankment" (Lower Volga), you will be fascinated by a hill with many churches. And if you get off at the first stop after the bridge, you will see a staircase going up quite steeply. Trust me, it's worth a walk. After all, each new level offers a more complete and amazing view of the confluence of two rivers, the Oka and the Volga, the Metro Bridge, the island of "Grebnevsky Sands", and, lastly, the whole city! By the way, the place of the confluence is called Strelka, as well as the site on the other riverbank, opposite the embankment. It also offers beautiful views, especially of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and the stadium built for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

After walking along pleasant paths and stairs buried in greenery, you find yourself on the "Fedorovsky Embankment". Along the way, you most likely come across a balloon, which is a monument to Jules Verne, and a monument to the young Maxim Gorky after a small bridge over a ravine. The statue of the seated writer gazes intently at the city panorama: it seems that the writer is aware that Nizhny Novgorod bore his name for 58 years. That's right! The city was called Gorky until 1990.

Walking along the pretty sidewalks, you can admire not only the rivers but also the views below: there are "Rozhdestvenskaya Street" (where the red and white Church of the Nativity is located) and "Nizhnevolzhskaya Embankment". You can walk along them, or you can admire their architecture from above. The city is especially impressive in the evening when it is lit up with romantic lights. By the way, if you want to take a closer look at some of the objects, you can use binoculars, installed in some parts of the city. For example, one of them is located next to the Love Bench.

And if you go further to the center, across the pedestrian bridge over the "Pochtovy Sezd Street", you come to "Ilyinskaya Street", which houses Elijah the Prophet Church and, a little higher, the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. Besides, there is a picturesque view of the Kremlin, to which you can climb along one of the many paths.