Blogs from Brest Voblast, Belarus, Europe - page 2

Day three: The fallout from the night before was sadly inevitable. I woke up with a pounding head and dry tongue. I staggered to the kitchen to get myself a liquid breakfast. First port of call was paracetamol, chased with a berocca followed by a large cup of black coffee. Everyone else seemed relaxed and unaffected by last night frivolity. It was my own fault for writing 2 days of blog in bed and expecting to feel human after 5 hours of sleep. Walking outside (sunglasses firmly secured) the day was glorious. The heat at 10am was well established and the farm was busy with the daily tasks. The kids ran to collect the eggs and feed the dog. Victor was on his way out to work. Sergei and Natasha came over from their rented house ... read more

Belarus 2018 A few years ago I decided to blog about my trip to, what was then quite a foreign land. Belarus has now become a second home to me and I truly appreciate the hospitality and the friendships that I have made in the past several years of visiting this vibrant and welcoming country. I have decided to write now again for a couple of reasons: to capture the changes that I have experienced since my last visit and to give myself something to do whilst my wife and her native family talk in the local language, of which I am slightly guilty of not having picked up and learnt. So please join me on a very British view of my wife’s native home of Belarus. Day one: The usual pre holiday scramble transpired with ... read more

Rano v pohodicke budicek o 9/00. Pomalicky pobalenie a smer recepcia vyplatit ubytko. Na recepcii chalan, anglicky uplne hovno. Vyplacam ubytko (drbovci cez vikend uctuju vacsiu sumu ako cez tyzden), pytam svoju registraciu. Chalan kuka,ze co chcem, ma presvieca ,ze registracia netreba. Vola majitelke (vcera bola na recepcii cca 28 rocna baba). Mam vraj pockat. Ok pohodicka, mam cas. Prichadza majitelka (ang velmi slaba,horsie nez ja), opat ma presvieca,ze registracia netreba. Niekam vola, zachvilu,ze oni o registracii nevedeli. Tak ma posiela s chalanom na registracny urad. Po prichode chalan uplne strateny, nevi kam ma ist, nechava ma cakat, prichadza majitelka. Po 2 hodinach zistene,ze som sa mal registrovat uz sobotu, bo sobotu povazuju za pracovny den, ked den pred tym je sviatok. Podla mojich vypoctov som mal mat registraciu vcera (pondelok), co mi napisala aj pica ... read more

opat stres pred cestou tak budicke uz o 7/00, miesto 8/00 ako som bol dohodnuty s CS. Nakoniec sme vyrazili 8/45. On siel do prace, cestou mi zas rozpraval rozne historicke veci. Navigoval k bus stanici. Tu sme sa rozlucili a sli kazdy svojou cestou. Nakup v supermarkete, kuknutie mini mestecka. Chvalabohu svietilo slnko. Hrad je famozny, paradan hradna priekopa naplnena vodou. Do muzea som nesiel (vstup 80 000br). Pokracoval som obhliadkou hrandeho parku. Paradny relax, slnko svietilo ,vtaci pospevovali. Bomba Odlovena keska. Obed na lavicke pri jazere. Som si kupil bielorusky syr, nevladzal som to dojest tak som musel par okruzielok vyhodit, bo v tom teple co som to roznasal v batohu uz to malo zaujimavu vonou. Z hradu kuknuta este jedna brana, relax pri fontane na mini namesticku. Kupa bus listku do haradzieja. Asi ... read more

After narrowly escaping a few run-ins with the Belarusian Military and the KGB, I was looking forward to getting out of Minsk. We had an unearthly early start to the morning and found ourselves back on one of those odd sleeper train carriages (which stunk like I don’t know what) but at least this time we had more normal seats for another olympic session of cards for the next 4-5 hours on the way to Brest. It was a gloriously hot day (despite the forecast to snow the same time next week), but with our limited time here we only came to see one thing: The Brest Fortress – a WWII Soviet memorial, and originally the largest 19th century fortress of the Russian Empire. The long walk to the fortress in the heat just about killed ... read more