The town has many fine modern buildings. In the ordinary way, the best view to be had of it and the surrounding country is from the “Otkos” or terrace built by order of the Emperor Nicholas.[11] It is said to be one of the best views in Europe. As far as the eye can reach extends the vast alluvial plain, rich with culture, and occasionally dotted with forests; whilst the Volga, flowing down from Tver, looks like a broad blue ribbon stretched over the country from one extremity of the horizon to the other. Much of the plain below is inundated in spring by the overflowing of the river, leaving a fertile deposit which considerably enhances the value of the land. The stationary population of the town does not exceed 30,000 or 40,000, but during the fair the inhabitants swell up to considerably over 200,000; and this quite irrespective of prodigious numbers of casual visitors. The ancient Kremlin, with its low arched gates, whitewashed towers, and crenellated walls, is one of the sights of the place. The thick green foliage of the gardens and the gay residences of the inhabitants all blend into a very picturesque whole. _Site of the Fair._—We must next take a glance at the site of the fair, which is outside the town, and can hardly be seen from the gates. Turn then from the Volga, or Asiatic direction, and there, across the Oka (here about a quarter of a mile broad), is a low, almost inundated flat, of triangular shape, between the two rivers. This was regarded as the most convenient site. Great difficulties were presented by the swampy nature of the soil. Deep sewers vaulted over were constructed through the morass; these being connected by canals with the rivers. The buildings for the bazaars were raised on piles, and the whole boggy surface of the plain was covered to the depth of some feet with gravel and clean sand. Through this the ordinary surface water and the inundated flow percolates, and leaves clean passages or roads. In the midst of the plain is the great bazaar—an immense rectangular market-place—divided by lanes or passages, intersecting at right angles into sixty-four square groups of warehouses, or blocks of stone-built buildings, two storeys high, with projecting verandahs, so as to shelter goods and passengers from the sun or rain; containing, besides some public offices in the centre, 2,522 large stores for merchandise, to each of which is a small chamber for the merchant.