Victory Day in Minsk


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Europe » Belarus » Minsk Voblast » Minsk
May 9th 2009
Published: June 21st 2009
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May 8, 2009
Flight: Kaliningrad (KGD) to Riga (RIX), Air Baltic, F50, economy
Flight: Riga (RIX) to Minsk (MSQ), Air Baltic, F50, economy
Hotel: Hotel Yubileiny, Minsk, $67

I boarded the airBaltic Fokker 50 flight to Riga, the flight was about an hour and otherwise uneventful. By the time the flight arrived in Riga, I was starving and hoped I could find a restaurant. However the next flight to Minsk left from the gate right next to where we arrived.. it was a sterile area but no restaurants, just a vending machine that luckily took a 2E coin for a candybar. I had a 2hr wait before the flight to Minsk.. with nothing else to do there but sit I was able to recharge my phone and laptop.

Soon it was time to board the flight to Minsk. This flight was also on a Fokker 50. Boarding was via bus, then boarding the plane via its stairs. I was seated next to an older woman and we started talking. She was coming back from visiting her daughter in Denmark. Also chatted with a Russian Orthodox priest sitting next to me.. his English was excellent. They seemed surprised I would be
Victory day paradeVictory day paradeVictory day parade

Traditional Belarus dress
coming to Belarus as a tourist. I said I was there to see the Victory Day celebrations. Belarus is definitely off the usual tourist trail... although it became independent country when the Soviet Union dissolved, it is still very much in that communist mindset. On the surface everything is clean and neat and organized, but it is still very much a paranoid police state with half of the population reporting on the other half. There were student protests that were put down several years ago that didn't get much mention in the Western news. That being said I did enjoy my visit to Belarus, and it was a highlight of my trip.

The flight arrived on time at the space-age looking Minsk-2 airport. The visa-on-arrival desk was upstairs just before the immigration desks. There were a few people in front of me so it still took about a half hour to process; by the time I came down to the immigration counter I was the last one through. The foreign exchange counters had conveniently closed 5 minutes after our flight had arrived; all I had was Euros and Russian rubles. There was a bus waiting to leave into town but he wouldn't take either currency. I ended up having to take a taxi (30E) into town.. the airport is built way out in the middle of nowhere nearly 40 minutes from the city.

It was just getting dark, but from what I could see it was a very clean, green country, rolling hills and fields along the brand new multi-lane expressway. The 8-lane wide praspekt Nezalezhnatsi leads from outside of town right to the center, past the oddly angular-shaped National Library. Along this road were lots of new looking apartments and shops, looks very prosperous. Minsk was heavily damaged during WWII as well, most of the city has been rebuilt since then. Stalin wanted it to be a showplace city. Very little traffic but it was 9:30PM on a Friday evening. Coming further into town, there were colored lights strung out across the road, I guessed they had been put up for the Victory day celebrations. We passed by the Oktyabraskaya plaza, there were lots of young people sitting here and walking around. There were huge banners covered in stars proclaiming victory 1945-2009. The taxi continued a little further to the Yubileiny hotel where I was staying. This hotel was on the riverbank near the sports complex. The taxi driver wanted paid in local currency so went inside the hotel where there was an exchange bureau right next to the casino (all hotels in Minsk have a casino apparently). The hotel was nice and clean, older Soviet style hotel. The room while small was comfortable and I had a good view out from the 11th floor.

It was about 10PM now but still had energy and decided to head out and explore a bit. Along the river banks were hundreds of young people, just sitting around chatting with friends and drinking lots of booze. It was quite a nice walk along the river, the sidewalks on both sides and people everywhere! The nearby sports complex had an ice rink setup. The air was cool and I liked the atmosphere of the place. I walked all the way along the river back to the main square. Coming back to the hotel I stopped in the grocery store nearby to buy some cookies and a soda.. it was 11PM and filled with people, most of them buying liter bottles of beer. Two young guys snuck past me in the
Island of TearsIsland of TearsIsland of Tears

Afghan war widows memorial
checkout line.. I saw them shoplifting a couple bottles!

May 9, 2009
Hotel: Hotel Yubileiny, Minsk, $67

Today was Victory Day, celebrated in Russia and some former Soviet countries commemorating the end of WWII. Minsk and Belarus had suffered greatly so they have more reason to celebrate it seems. I had an early breakfast at the hotel and headed out. The weather was cool and sunny today, perfect for walking around. There were more colored banners and May 9 posters everywhere, hung from buildings, around monuments, etc. I will say Belarus is big into monuments. I went by one in Hero City, then across the river to the Island of Tears chapel, dedicated to the widows and orphans of the Russian Afghanistan war. Several people were here laying wreaths and flowers.

The Lonely Planet mentioned that Lee Harvey Oswald had once lived in Minsk when he had defected to the USSR in the early 60s.. his apartment was labeled on the map. I started walking towards it when I noticed lots of people headed in that same direction. A cadre of policemen went by in full uniform, another group of soldiers, and a group of kids holding red and green balloons. I saw a bunch of street sweepers lined up here and I guessed that they were headed towards the parade route. I headed that way then until I ran into a wall of security people who said I couldn't go any further. There were several busloads of people already waiting here, old men with rows of medals, policemen, and security people everywhere. I walked up to the next block where they had a metal detector setup and they let me pass through after a thorough search of my bag.

I crossed over the Victory Square where there was a grandstand setup, I assumed all the VIPs would be sitting here. I tried to get a good spot and had to walk down the road a bit and got on the bridge. There were security people EVERYWHERE, literally every 2-3 feet along the parade route; not letting anyone cross the street or get too close. I've never seen so many people wearing shiny suits, sunglasses and earpieces anywhere. The sun was at the wrong angle here, and still had another hour and half before the parade started, but the streets were filling up and I wanted to get a good view. I had to go back to the square, go down into the metro station then back out the other side, then walk back down the other side of the street where I was able to find a good vantage point on the bridge. There were a bunch of schoolkids here, so I was able to see over their heads. 😊 Everyone was carrying banners or blue ribbons or balloons it seemed; such a splash of color everywhere.

Finally the parade started at noon. What followed was something straight out of the old Soviet Union, marching band, soldiers carrying the national flag, old men in Soviet jeeps, with CCCP still written on the side. I half expected to see tanks rolling by with missiles! But its not that kind of parade. I saw an older guy with a moustache coming down the street; I assumed it must be El Presidente, Lukashenko and that was confirmed when the security guys made everyone put down their cameras until he had passed! So one day in Belarus and I get to see the president. After he passed by came more war veterans, then girls in different traditional costumes. The parade lasted just over an hour.. then I headed back to the hotel for a nap.

That evening I heard that there were fireworks scheduled all over the city. Turns out one of the places they were being set off was right in Hero City just down from the hotel. I walked down from the hotel over to the riverbank, again which was lined with hundreds of young people. I ended up with the best location at a bend in a river, I was able to get some great fireworks pictures reflected in the water. The fireworks show lasted 10-20 minutes with lots of red/green/white starbursts. Amazing show! I came back to the hotel, then waited a bit too long; by the time I went out to get a bite to eat all the shops and restaurants were already closed. I went down to the bar and was sitting there eating Pringles and water when one of the 'working' women approached me.. of course I knew what the deal was and declined! I'd also gotten a call offering 'massage' earlier that evening, heh.

My flight back home left the next morning at 5:30.. so was able to pack and at least get a few hrs sleep in before catching a cab to the airport at 3:30AM!

May 10, 2009
Flight: Minsk (MSQ) to Vienna (VIE), Austrian, Canadair, economy
Flight: Vienna (VIE) to Frankfurt (FRA), Austrian, A319, economy
Flight: Frankfurt (FRA) to Dallas (DFW), 777, economy
Flight: Dallas (DFW) to Waco (ACT), Canadair, economy

The taxi arrived on time.. I think it wasn't a real taxi though just some guy working for the hotel. I'd kept 100k local currency for the fare ($35) but the driver wanted $40.. at 3AM I didn't have much other choice than to pay the extra $5, hrm. I got to keep some local currency as a souvenir though. The ride to the airport was quick; already there were several people there waiting for the checkin desks to open. I had arrived just in time as the desks were opening though and checking in and immigration were actually quite quick. There are a couple duty free shops and only a few gates. There was a Turkish airlines flight leaving shortly after my Austrian flight.. I wandered over to the gate but couldn't stand the smoky smell and retreated back to my gate area. It was just getting light now and I could see several Belavia planes on the tarmac. I was supposed to fly Belavia from Kaliningrad until they cancelled my flight.. either due to low booking numbers or I'll bet they needed the plane to fly in some VIPs for the Victory Day celebrations.

The CR7 flight to Vienna was quick and we landed 15 minutes early.. a relief as my scheduled connection time had only been 35 minutes! My next connecting flight was to Frankfurt; I had to go through the Schengen immigration in Vienna and used my UK passport here. Rushed to the gate then boarded the next flight to Frankfurt. I slept most of that flight, we arrived at FRA and proceeded to taxi forever.. on disembarking we boarded a bus then drove what seemed like miles. I've heard that connecting in FRA can be a pain; I've only flown in and out of here, never connecting. Turns out we came out in the terminal right next to the AA desks; though I made the mistake of going out through the arrivals doors then had to come back in the terminal when I couldn't get back upstairs again!

Checkin for AA went fine.. I even had a few minutes left to visit the Admirals club. The gate was quite a distance though from checkin desks. The plane wasn't full either, which was nice. I had booked a seat in the front economy cabin on the 777.. sat down only to find out that my AVOD wasn't working. The FA at first brought me one of the video players from biz class, but I wasn't able to use it as my seatmate was using the only power outlet under our seats. I then moved to the middle row which had 3 seats open, where I accidentally dropped the video player :eek: and it stopped working! Well at least in the center seat the AVOD did work...


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21st June 2009

A fascinating account of a relatively unknown country. You mention visa on arrival at the airport - was this as painless as you make it out to be. I'm a UK national, and from what I've heard, getting a visa for Belarus is a mighty battle, involving forms and letters of invitation. Did you have any of this hassle?
21st June 2009

Yes.. it was very easy to get the visa. I booked my hotel via www.select-a-room.com; they offer visa support (invitation/etc) for an extra $16. It looks like they used a local company (http://bel.vokrugsveta.by/en/) you maybe able to book hotel/visa a little cheaper. You send them your passport details, home address, and work address. A few days later got an email with scans of the tourist voucher, you will need these to checkin with the airline. Also pre-fill out a Belarus visa application (should be able to download one off an embassy page) to save some time. Then on arrival just pay the $60/50EUR and have the completed visa application + 1 passport photo .
23rd June 2009

Cheers for that. Looking forward to visiting Belarus at some time soon.
15th December 2009

I am an American student working in London. I get done two days before May 9 and plan on traveling. I'm a very experienced traveler (Europe, South America, Africa) and prefer the out of the way exotic places. I've really wanted to go to Belarus for a while now but the only thing holding me back is I don't really speak much Russian (I hear Belarusian is pretty much the same language), only a couple of words here and there and some phrases. I'm pretty good at picking a language up quick but how difficult would it be to get by not really knowing the language? Thanks!
12th January 2010

I didn't have any problems communicating in Belarus; the hotel/airport staff and taxi driver all spoke (enough) English. I didn't speak with any locals when I was there though. Though I know a little Russian, you could get by with the basic 'hello', 'thank you', 'how much', and 'where is'.
6th October 2010

In Belarus all speak in Russian language, absolutely. In the center you can always find a person with average English. Generally in Belarus is better to look not capital, and ancient monuments. This is a very interesting. Ex: http://globus.tut.by/grodno/index7.htm#kolozha it's my town.

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