Samara

In Samara, there is a huge gothic Catholic church, right where you don't expect it (i.e. in Samara).

There is also the Zhigulovskoye brewery, where you can bring a bottle (from 1-pint to 6-litre, you can buy them round the corner) and get them filled with beer from a hose for 41 roubles (95p) a litre. The beer was delicious.

That's about it from Samara, since I didn't see Stalin's bunker. But the beach along the Volga, and the sunset, were spectacular. Along the river life has a slower pace than anywhere in Moscow, and I felt in the countryside.