Around 20km from Kazan, along the Volga Sviajsk (Sviyazhsk) is a small island town. Two monasteries and seven churches are located on the island. Sviajsk became an island with the rising of the water in 1957. but now it’s connected by a road with the construction of a barrage.
You can take a boat from Kazan to reach the island. The boat starts at the Kazanskiy Rechnoy Port (речной порт казань, Kazan River Port) and it takes 2 hours to reach Sviajsk. There is 2 trips per day, one from Kazan around 8h and the other from Sviajsk to come to Kazan around 16h. It’s perfect to stay all the day on the island.
![Sunset on the Volga river](https://russphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Volga-River-Kazan-1024x683.jpg)
![Monastery Sviyazhsk](https://russphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Sviyazhsk-Monastery-1024x685.jpg)
The trip to come back to Kazan is very enjoyable with a such blue sky and nice sun.
![View of Sviyazhsk from the boat and on the Volga](https://russphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Sviyazhsk-from-boat-1024x683.jpg)