Blogs from Hrodna Voblast, Belarus, Europe

Well, not entirely visa-free, you still need a visa/permit thing, but it takes 2-minutes to get online and costs 5 euros rather than £90 plus a visit to an embassy like a proper visa. One way in is to fly in and out of Minsk and get a 5-day visa on arrival but seeing as Easyjet, Ryanair and the other budget airlines do not fly to Minsk then this option would still be pricey. The online and overland option was introduced in 2017 as an experiment with tourism; and it may well discontinue at the end of the year so you’d better get a move on! The visas last 5-days and allow you to visit certain areas adjacent to the Polish border. One is Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park, the Belarusian portion of the UNESCO recognised primeval ... read more

Este ma napadlo. Vcera som miesto vody dostal k zahaseniu smadu kompot. Mnam. Cez noc som sa nakoniec rozhodol,ze pojdem podla planu a ostanem tu este jednu noc i ked mesto som mal uz komplet kuknute, zavazil super CS. Len skoda, ze musel ist do roboty a dojde az o 17/00. Po otvoreni dveri, vypadol listocok, ktory bol v nich zastrceny. Kratke instrukcie, ranajky cakaju na stole, mama spravi caj, ak chces ist na pc, riad sa nasledovnymi instrukciami.....a ak zostavas este jednu noc posli mi spravu. Zrejme byvam v najstarsom dome v mojom zivote. Je z roku 1956, dreveny ale oblozeny tehlami. Taketo rekonstruckie fakt moc nechapem. CS mama je uz na dochodku, doma sije na zakazku rozne veci. Dnes je pod mrakom. Po dopisani denniku, vyrazam do mesta. Idem si este pofotit zel.stanicu a ... read more

No nakoniec sa islo spat az o 23/00. Deti sli spat spolu s tatianou a my sme este chvilu debatili, polsky. Bezproblemov som rozumel a co nie, tak to doplnene anglicky. Pascha nam spravil fajnovy salat, samozrejme doplneny o smotanu. V noci mi bolo trochu zima, rano zistene, ze vonku bolo iba +1 C. tatiana mala strach o svoju palmu co mala na krytom balkone ci jej nezmrzla ale vyzera,ze prezila. Budicek uz o 6/00, trochu prevalovanie v posteli, rozlucka s poliakmi, mozno sa s nimi stretnem v minsku. Na ranajky lievance. Vcera nam najmladsi syn (8 rokov) robil wafle. Sam zamiesil cesto a sam to aj uwafloval vo waflovacke. Fakt sikulak. Nieco po 9/00 vyrazam do mesta. Neviem ci som spominal ale je tu o hodinu viac ako u nas, takze zanedbatelny casovy posun. Do ... read more

Come to Belarus! Part of the axis of evil? The Last Dictatorship in Europe?? The Only Surviving Remnant of the Soviet Union???" "Where?" Indeed, when I first heard that to reach Europe from Russia, I would have to get a transit visa through a country called Belarus, quickly I decided that A; Because I had never heard of the place, it would make more sense to divert north from Moscow to St Petersburg and come out by the Baltic sea, and explore Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania instead, countries which had at least, had something enough to put them on the map, and B: that because I was already paying out hundreds in Visa costs already, I might as well save myself the money and skip this country. As it happened, after Russia, I felt something ... read more