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Published: October 2nd 2013
Night train from Warsaw to Minsk...in a Belarussian train....the fun is starting. The great news is that they have compartment of 3 berths...perfect for us...even including a small sink. I would simply call it comfortable and clean. In the middle of the night, at the border, they change the wheels as we are entering the former USSR rail system. The kids were deeply asleep and I didn't bother waking them up, as I had already lived the experience between Romania and Moldova just a month ago. Border crossing was also pretty smooth...two kids and a Dad...that brings a lot of smiles!
We spent a good 24 hours on our way to the East in Minsk, Belarus. One more country and one more capital for me. Minsk, not much is written about the city when it comes to tourism...and guess what, we didn't see a single tourist while visiting the city.
First, you need a visa to come here. These are not cheap, and can take some time to process. Second, proper hotels are not plenty. We stay in what is supposed to be the best hotel in town...and even with my "platinum" frequent guest card,
this was kind of a joke, but not a cheap joke. The fun joke was when they had to set-up the extra bed. It was an Ikea type of bed, that they had to assemble from close to scratch...never saw this kind of thing in a 4-5 stars hotels...welcome to Belarus!
The country has the reputation of being the last dictatorship in Europe. Put it simply, of all the former Eastern Bloc capitals I have visited, it looks by far the most "Soviet" one. As explained, most tourists won't stop here, if except on their way to or from Moscow on a "long train ride". The only foreigners I saw were single western men...don't ask me if they are here for business, or for the girls...in the evening at the bar of the hotel, it's pretty clear what is the correct answer!
So we spent our day walking around. Per tripadvisor site, there is not much of interest in the city...and not a single English speaking free tour too. The weather got colder, the clouds darker, but still no rain...so we went on walking most of the day. Do not try to compare this
city with Kiev. I could spend two months in a row in Kiev, 24 hours here is more than enough.
We saw many soviet style buildings. A proper first for the kids...and we walked...a lot. Lunch was in one of the top 3 best rated restaurants in town. The crowd was...interesting...but still no foreigners around. The bill was...expensive...well, it's Minsk.
We had a great booking for the evening, Allegria by Cirque du Soleil. I know, that's not really "Minsk", but they were in town for 3 days....yes, just 3 days, same time as us...and the Minsk Arena was packed the night we went in. The idea was to stop for a quick fast food just before reaching the Arena...but we never saw such a queue in a McDo before. Not exactly true, I was in Moscow in 1991, 2 weeks after the opening of the first McDo in Russia....and the queue was 400 meters outside the place, but that's something else.
Allegria was amazing...one of the first show of Cirque du Soleil, but due to the fact that is is moving all the time, it never did fit in my own
calendar. First time I also could take a pic without problems during a show...never saw so many flashes during a show...with a strict interdiction of taking pictures. Oh, we didn't have the best seats....but they were really cheap...so still a great evening.
Next morning, we left early, this time north, on a pretty modern...and packed, train for a 3 hours ride to the north...to Vilnius...
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Cessna152
Jason Smart
Apt blog title
Some great photos, especially of the changing of the guard! Brings back memories of my time in Minsk.