Belarus Travel Blogs

Day 2
Sep 16, 2006 (4 photos)

... the "Moscow Express" which for me is when the adventure really starts. It will pass through Germany and Poland today, and then Belarus and Russia tomorrow, arriving in Moscow around 8pm. I got on my train (the Moscow Express) in Berlin not sure which ...

Belarus
Sep 18, 2006 (1 photos)

The train passed through Belarus, where we hardly saw any people all day, just endless fields and forests.

Hang a left at Orsha
Aug 15, 2007 (2 photos)

Just a very short entry to let everyone know that we were orphaned in Orsha!  The Moskva Expres unceremoniously dropped the two St Petersburg cars off and sped away leaving us to our own fate.  After a couple of hours later a train ...

Snow arrives
Nov 3, 2006 (2 photos)

... . We posted post-cards in the monolythic post office whose innards are structured in a manner of smaller kioks, a favourite arrangement of Belarus. We also booked our tickets for the slow trek down to the closest city to the Russian border, and Belarus' ...

We leave the West behind...
Aug 15, 2007 (10 photos)

... crossing into Belarus.  The border guards were "matter of fact" and strictly perfunctory checking our passports and Belarus and Russian visas, and soon (2-hours later) we were off to Brest. The Brest station was vintage Soviet ...

Ah, my old friend bureaucracy
Oct 25, 2006

... . We bought a dictionary and now I at least know the city's name is MИHCK (the И is always I, the C is always S) and Russia is POCCИA. I'm not sure what Belarus is, because the dictionary only offers "Byelorussia", which is outdated.

Liza et al.
May 7, 2008 (6 photos)

We have arrived in Minsk on the overnight train from St. Petersberg. As we pulled into the station we were met by Liza, her grandmother, Nastia - who speaks English and Katia's mother. We were so happy to see some familliar faces. We made our way to ...

Moscow to Minsk
Aug 31, 2008 (5 photos)

... to Minsk. The day was long and the journey unimpressive and tiring. Not much was seen along the way. However, we have been in Belarus, for what that is worth. We stopped at the Hotel Planeta. We had a good dinner there with the Irish contigent on the bus ...

Weekend roundup
Oct 30, 2006 (4 photos)

Saturday and Sunday we had Marie and another of Jeanne's friend's "Alvan" Fu around. On Saturday the three of us went to the large indoor market and then came home to see a Man United game was on TV, live (on the ЛAД channel of Belarussian TV ...

Ex-communist backwater on valium
Aug 26, 2007

... fine 18th and 19th century buildings. Nothing particularly special, but at least something to remind the visitor that Belarus wasn't always moribund collective farms and Stalinist buildings. The biggest "attractions" though would be Hrodna's churches, the ...

Minsk
May 31, 2006 (3 photos)

I spent the day in Minsk: Lukashenko's communist stronghold. Fortunately no anti-government riots today. I felt like about the only tourist around and no one anywhere seemed to speak anything other than Russian (or Belarussian). Nevertheless, one of ...

Flamenco
Nov 11, 2006 (15 photos)

... performance. It was too long but we saw speeches... music (including a patriotic rally to China, odd to see in Belarus - but most of the audience were Chinese too. and (our reason for being there) dance - particularly Mari, who floated ...

Goin' to Gomel
Nov 4, 2006 (1 photos)

4 hour bus journey to Gomel and then we met Jeannine's 16-year old friend Vitalik, our host for the weekend. He lives in a village called Kaorma (Kopma). The church here has the Crypt of St. Nikolai and attracts pilgrims to its little village church. ...

Dumplings
Oct 27, 2006 (4 photos)

... pasta dumplings known as Pelmini with a Japanese class-mate of Jeanne's, Marie. I had thought that the perception that Belarus' president Lukashenko dominates news was overblown, but when he does speak he dominates the news. At least 10 minutes of a ...

My birthday
Nov 6, 2006 (4 photos)

... village could not cope were this to be the case. We also met Vitalik's extended family, some of whom had lived in Belarus before he himself made the journey here in 2004. He lives with his mother, grandmother and cats Freddie (long claws like Freddie ...

Cinema and eating
Nov 8, 2006

Today was our second trip to the Aurora Lazunia (?) cinema, this time to watch an Aardman/DreamWorks cartoon called Flushed Away which is about a rat discovering life in the London sewers after being flushed down the toilet by his flatmate for objecting ...

My birthday (like the Queen - she has two!)
Nov 7, 2006 (3 photos)

... a Customs Union between Belarus and Russia seems to have mixed messages at its heart with Russia hinting at full integration and Belarus' President Lunkashenko insisting that is not what he wants. And there was no mass evidence of anything unusual on that ...

Oi
Oct 26, 2006 (1 photos)

Jeannine brought me some books she had also been given in English to help my Russian learning. A quick update - she's here to learn the language. Vocabulary is beyond me but I'm trying to get the alphabet nailed because at the moment I'm frightened to ...

The quintessential Soviet 'Hero City'
Aug 25, 2007

... are only slight (certainly no ger districts here!). My visa is pretty limited here, so I'm off to see a couple other places in Belarus from tomorrow. First stop is Brest, site of one of the most brutal conflicts in the early part of World War II. It's ...

Cinema and McDonalds
Nov 2, 2006

An American film called Open Season was enjoyed by me, Jeanne and Alvan although the plot was a bit formulaic. We preceded it by a necessary trip to McDonalds, where we were greeted by names such as БИГ МАК (if I tell ...

Ballet
Nov 1, 2006 (2 photos)

... . The venue is a temporary home to the ballet company, whose name is National Academic Bolshoi Theatre Ballet of the Republic of Belarus. I assume but do not know if this is "the" Bolshoi. It took an explanation from Sarah for us to understand the plot. ...

Travel To Minsk Belarus
Dec 24, 2006 (1 photos)

... difference? Most restaurants are privately owned and their survival depends on customer satisfaction. Geography, Climate and Lifestyle Belarus is a relatively flat country. The difference between its highest point and its lowest point is only 264 ...

Minsk - Belarus
Jun 17, 2006 (5 photos)

... : "Hello, wanna have nice massage, sexual pleasure....." I woke up and so I was quite angry, so I shouted into the phone: "Sounds good, but not tonight...."! By the way, they also called in the other rooms. All nine of us enjoyed the trip to Belarus.

Best Indian this side of the former Iron Curtain
Aug 26, 2007

... . Brest lies extremely close to the Polish frontier, so it's basically either the first or last city people see going through Belarus. As such, it's arguably more Westernized than other cities likely are, but it's still a major switch from the capital. ...

I have arrived
Oct 24, 2006 (2 photos)

... a wait. Ich fand es auch lustig dass ich neben einer Deutscher (aus Hamburg, denke ich) sitzen zwischen Polen und Belarus. Er liest Bild und Welt Kompakt (komisch). Sitting on the Brasilian Embraer 170 and devouring the chocolate, pretzels and ...

Meetja and Mari
Nov 9, 2006

Tonight we headed off to the cinema again, this time to the Kinotheatr Oktobr to watch the decidely less chilled out "The Departed", which was originally a Chinese film and then was re-made recently with Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon and Leonardo di Caprio. ...

Library
Nov 10, 2006 (1 photos)

We started today by souvenir hunting, which in the end even needed us to buy a new bag to carry it all home! Anyway, we then went on to the National Library and I paid 5000 roubles and had my passport scanned before being given a Cyrillic name and an ID ...

Belarus: Reflections and Practicalities
Sep 27, 2007

... from the fact that I had to register myself at the hotel so the government could keep track of me. Unlike Vietnam, Belarus lacked any noticeable propaganda glorifying the current regime, which surprised me. My Russian's not that great, but I would have ...

Belarus 101
Sep 22, 2007 (2 photos)

... of the Chernobyl nuclear plant explodes in neighboring Ukraine, polluting 23% of Belarusian territory. August 25, 1991-Belarus declares independence from the USSR. June 23, 1994-Former collective farm boss, Alexander Lukashenko is elected president on a ...

Stalin's Model City
Sep 23, 2007 (13 photos)

... Moldova. Makes me really look forward to visiting those countries... But for all this cheeriness, I never forget that I am in Belarus. I avoid going camera crazy unless others are doing so (opted out of a shot of the block-long KGB headquarters) and I ...