A bronze merchant watches over the left bank of the Volga: Afanasy Nikitin, who set out from Tver in the 15th century and made it all the way to India, decades before the great Portuguese navigators. His statue greets the river ships that moor nearby, at the confluence with the Tvertsa. Between Moscow and the northern lakes, this former rival of the capital offers a relaxed port of call, where the banks answer one another across the river and the essentials can be explored on foot.

First steps at the confluence

The mooring bank sets the tone for the day. On one side, the Tvertsa joins the great river; on the other, the Afanasy Nikitin promenade lines up its trees and terraces facing the historic centre. Residents stroll here with an ice cream in hand while anglers keep an eye on their lines, and the monument to the traveller, standing on its prow-shaped pedestal, recalls that Russia's maritime adventure also began here, far from any sea. Gulls squabble over crumbs just above the water, a train whistles over by the station: the city lives without hurry, and you quickly match your pace to its own. From this quay, your gaze crosses the water and already settles on the classical façades of the opposite bank.

A bridge from another century

To cross to the other bank, take the Starovolzhsky, a metal bridge completed in 1900 whose open-work arches recall those of Liberty Bridge in Budapest. The crossing offers the finest panorama of the call: the ribbon of the river, the bell towers, the rooftops of the old centre. On the other side begins the Stepan Razin embankment, lined with 18th- and 19th-century residences built in a continuous row, an unbroken alignment decreed in imperial times that gives the promenade the air of a stage set.

The palace of travelling sovereigns

A few minutes away, the City Garden occupies the site of the old kremlin, long since gone. Its shady paths lead to the Imperial Travel Palace, an elegant 18th-century stopover where Catherine II rested on the road between Moscow and St. Petersburg. The carefully restored building now houses the regional art gallery: icons, portraits, river landscapes and period furniture in the state rooms. An hour is enough to see it all and understand why Tver, rebuilt on a classical plan after the great fire of 1763, looks in places like a miniature St. Petersburg.

Tver's Arbat

Trekhsvyatskaya Street is the natural continuation of the stroll. Pedestrian and lined with old-fashioned street lamps, it brings together cafés, bookshops and craft boutiques between two rows of low pastel-coloured houses. Locals have nicknamed it their Arbat, a nod to Moscow's famous street, and it's a pleasant place to sit down for tea with a local gingerbread. Street musicians set up on fine days, students put the world to rights on the terraces, and this good-natured bustle makes a lovely counterpoint to the calm of the riverbanks. At the end of the street, the Ascension Cathedral raises its neoclassical portico at the crossroads of the main avenues, a final landmark before heading back to the water.

Port of call at a glance

Itineraries sailing the upper Volga include Tver depending on the season and the cruise line; the call therefore remains an opportunity to seize rather than a guaranteed stop. Those who take it leave with a simple image: two peaceful banks, century-old arches between them, and the statue of a merchant who set off to see the world long before anyone else. As the ship casts off, you catch yourself giving Nikitin a parting glance, like a travelling companion.