The embankment along the Oka River is the main public promenade of Oryol — a pleasant riverside walk flanked by old linden trees, with benches and views across the water to the city's historic left bank. It is where locals come to walk in the evenings, and it gives a relaxed sense of provincial Russian city life at its most unhurried.
The river here is modest in scale but attractive, with weeping willows along stretches of the bank and the domes of the Assumption Cathedral visible upstream. Oryol sits at the confluence of the Oka and the Orlik — you can walk the embankment of either river, and the point where they meet, just below the historic centre, is a pleasant spot in summer. In winter the rivers freeze and local fishermen set up on the ice.