Blogs from Minsk, Minsk Voblast, Belarus, Europe - page 4

Arriving in Minsk from Vitebsk, I hopped straight in a taxi to King Hostel, hoping and praying it would be better than the last one. I'd specifically booked my own room for a whopping £27 per night, so I was keeping everything crossed. The room was amazing! I had a double bed, a widescreen TV, surround sound, a balcony, a sofa and an armchair. Loving the room so much, I spent the whole afternoon in there, Skyping and catching up with friends. In the evening, I took a leisurely stroll around the lake and grabbed a few supplies from the supermarket for my bus ride the next evening. On my way through the Trinity area, I passed by the Isle of Tears, a memorial commemorating the Soviet soldiers from Belarus that died during the war with ... read more

Такси прибыло ровно в 11 как и договаривались. Все же некоторые умудрились остаться после новогодней ночи способными на дальние поездки за рулем. Скажу спасибо таксисту за сдержанное слово и пожелаю удачи в новом году. В аэропорту было совершенно нечем занятся и соответственно скучно. Хорошо что хоть выехали не очень рано а то заплесневели бы в ожидании рейса. Минский аэропорт весьма мал и поэтому прохождение всех формальностей не затянулось. 15 минут и мы оказались в крохотном зале ожидания с пластиковыми стульями. После добрых минут 40 ожидания, наконец-то обьявили посадку. А Белавия все таки молодцы. Новенькие, просторные и уютные самолеты и приветливый экипаж оставил желание возвращаться. Пилот не только отлично справлялся со своими прямыми обязанностями а также подрабатывал гидом-экскурсоводом что приятно удивило. Комментарии вроде: " Слева от нас остался город порт Кали... read more

Imposing buildings, majestic subway stations and various memorials A few years ago I, Ake, and my friend Juha talked about Belarus and realised that we both wanted to go there. It took some time before we finally got there but in July this year we did. It has also taken some time for me to get down to finally updating the blog with photos and stories from this trip. But now, somewhat late, you can read the first of the blog entries from Belarus. For us to get the visa to visit Belarus was not as easy as you might think. We had to in advance book hotel for every night we wanted to stay in the country and we had to include a copy of the booking confirmation in our application. This paperwork made us ... read more

“Rochelle! Rochelle!” a friend of mine told me to say in the streets of Minsk. Unsure as to whether I had found my ‘Rochelle or her daughter’ I thought maybe she had reached Minsk? I arrived at the airport and immediately was forced to pay for medical insurance by the government. The official piece of paper was put in an envelope, which had a map of Belarus. On this map I saw a place called Pinsk. Those that have followed my Milan to Minsk journey will recall that this part of my trip is dedicated to Seinfield and their fictional movie called Rochelle Rochelle, with a twist. ‘A young backpackers strange and ‘hopeful’ erotic journey from Milan to Minsk.’ Now, on the show when that movie gets turned into a Broadway musical, a line for the ... read more

After leaving Clay to explore Latvia, James and I found ourselves off the tourist trail towards Belarus! The train carriage is nothing like I’ve ever seen before – our allocated seats were upper bunk beds, notably higher than normal, but with no ladder to get up! And when you did manage to get up that high, there wasn’t even enough head-room to sit up! For 5 hours! To make matter worse, the train was quite full and EVERYONE only spoken Russian. The ladies that we were sharing the area with made some kind of hand gestures to suggest we could sit on the lower bunks with them, so that was good! Crossing the border was interesting. Firstly we had to leave Lithuania, simple stamp of our passports. Easy enough. Getting into Belarus, however, was a different ... read more