Ufa: the bronze horseman of Bashkiria

The Monument to Salavat Yulaev, Russia and Europe's largest equestrian bronze statue, celebrates the Bashkir national hero who led a rebellion against Catherine the Great.

Just steps away, the National Museum of Bashkortostan displays archaeological finds and traditional costumes of the region's Turkic-Bashkir peoples.

Following the Belaya River you walk along the city's riverfront, with views of the confluence where the Belaya and Ufa rivers circle the city.

In the evening, local restaurants serve beshbarmak, a traditional meat and pasta dish shared by Central Asian Turkic peoples.

Salavat Yulaev, a Bashkir poet and military commander of the eighteenth century, led one of the largest peasant rebellions against the Russian Empire before being captured and exiled to Siberia for the rest of his life.

Bashkortostan, homeland of the Turkish-Bashkir Muslim people, maintains its own official language and traditions distinct from Slavic Russia, reflected in Ufa's local architecture and cuisine, as well as in traditional music played on the stringed instrument kubyz.