I’m skipping ahead on my blog posts to cover my two days in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. It was a short but impactful visit, and I hope to someday spend more time in the rest of the country.
Why Belarus? I had a vague idea to travel there in 2015/16, but upon further investigation I figured out that the visa process would have been impossible since I was already abroad, and I nixed my plan. When Scott and I booked our flights to the Baltics, and since Belarus is so close to Lithuania, I figured I would bop over there for a couple of days to see Minsk, and then fly home. My endless fascination with post-Soviet countries fed into this desire, as well.
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| A mix of the old and new in Minsk |
We booked our initial flights in January, and eventually I started trying to figure out how to get this visa. Turns out, in February Belarus changed their tourist visa options, and if you visit for less than five days you can enter free! Score.
I had also planned on taking the train to Minsk from Vilnius, but found out the free visa was only offered if you came in through the international airport, so I booked a 35 minute, $40 flight from Vilnius-cheaper than the visa if I came in by train. And then in June, after further research I realized I couldn’t come in by plane and leave by train (I was planning on stopping in Brest via train on my way to Warsaw), so I also booked a flight out of Minsk to Warsaw, about $70. This was still cheaper than buying the visa and paying for the trains in and out of Minsk.
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| Interior of the main Post Office |
I was a little worried about getting through passport control. Belarus states that in order to get the free visa, you need a valid passport, financial means to be in Belarus, equivalent to 25 Euros per day, and health insurance that covers Belarus. I was worried because I didn’t have any cash on me- I didn’t think to take some out our last full day in Vilnius, and there were no ATMs at the Vilnius Departures hall.
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| Public Shopping Mall, Tsum |
My fellow passengers and I arrived to the passport control area. I saw a few stride over to a desk that said HEALTH INSURANCE REQUIREMENT, so I decided to follow them. I paid for 3 days of health insurance for a total of $5.00. I didn’t see any ATMs around, so I walked up to the passport officer and hoped for the best. She looked at my little visa application and took the first half. She examined my passport and my health insurance documents, but didn’t even ask about money, so I was stamped and set free.
As I’ve learned to do each time I arrive in a new country, the first things I do are 1) hit up an ATM to take out the currency, in this case Belarusian Rubles, and 2) find a SIM card so I immediately have internet access and am not floundering around lost, as used to happen a fair amount without access to Wi-Fi to figure out where the hell I was going. Most notable of these was when my friend Marissa and I were trying to find our hostel in Reims, France late in the evening and ended up on some scary highway sidewalk thing in the rain. Never again. I’m sticking to data.
My SIM card cost me $7.25 for thirty days and 2GB of data, but there wasn’t a shorter option so I just rolled with it. I hopped on the minibus to Minsk (6 rubles/$3.11), which was about an hour’s ride away. Good thing my Dramamine had not worn off yet.
The shuttle let everyone off at the main bus/train station, and there I met up with my CS host Katia, who graciously offered to let me stay with her for the two nights I was in Minsk. We took the tram back to her apartment, just outside the city center. She bought her flat last year and spent months renovating it- it looks nothing like many of the block apartments I’ve stayed in before; instead it was very modern. After some local tea and dark chocolate, we set off on a tour through some of the main areas in Minsk.
She showed me where Brazilian graffiti artists come every year to paint massive murals in a hip post-industrial area, and then took me into the city center.
Since I’ve been on my trip, I’ve learned a lot more about the impact WWII and Soviet Occupation had on the Baltic states. I was also learning a lot more about Belarus and Minsk. Almost 2.3 million Belarusians were killed during World War II-a quarter of the population.This is the highest percentage out of any country; the second highest being Poland with 10-11%. The majority of these deaths were civilians exterminated by the Nazis in death or work camps, who died of starvation, or died during military attacks.
Minsk was one of the centers for the Soviet resistance movement to the Nazis, and became a battleground for German and Soviet forces. Over 80% of Minsk was destroyed during World War II. Under the control of the Soviet Union, Minsk was rebuilt in the years following the war, but efforts to reconstruct historical areas were eschewed in favor of building a city that embodied Josef Stalin’s architectural tastes. I had heard before I traveled there that Minsk is considered one of the best examples of a so-called “Soviet city”, as there was no structural historical past to contend with, as in many other large cities under the Soviet Union.
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| Concert hall, actually completed in the mid-2000s, but definitely fits in |
So, as the bus drove me into the center of Minsk, and as Katia showed me around, I was very much aware of the wide boulevards, expansive public squares, and buildings that either reminded me of the ornate buildings in Bucharest or something Le Corbusier designed. And, honestly, I loved it. I don’t know what it is about Soviet architecture or design, but I am a fan.
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| Public cafeteria |
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| Window in a public shopping mall |
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| You can't see it very well, but the figures at the top of the column are holding hammers and sickles that cross when they raise their arms |
Katia showed me one of the remaining public shopping malls still adorned with stars and hammers and sickles. She took me through one of the public cafeterias, with counters set up in a fancy hall where people lined up to buy pastries and pasties. We also went to the “Old Town”, completed in the early 2000s, which is meant to be reminiscent of how it was before the war. We also took the elevator to the top of the Hotel Belarus for a great view.
The next morning, I set off on my own for the entire day- Katia works from home, but she had an engagement that would keep her out until after 9pm, so I was planning for a marathon day out. I was excited to be traveling solo once again, even though the initial absence of Scott was strong. My first stop was to be a local design shop to pick up a gift, but it was closed, so I stopped by a coffee shop to chill before the National Art Museum opened (it was Monday, so I’m glad it was open at all!). I sat down to write some emails, and had deja vu to all those times I was tired of wandering around and looking at stuff so I would just sit in a cafe with a coffee and a pastry. But it was too early to do that today, so I zipped out as soon as the museum had opened.
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| A typical view in my former life as a solo traveler |
The National Art Museum was great, minus the ticket-checking woman babbling at me in Belarusian even though she knew I couldn’t understand a word. Finally figured out that she wanted me to put my backpack downstairs, so I politely complied.
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| Beautiful new wing of the art museum |
The art museum was great to wander through- they just opened a new wing, which was a nice surprise to see after wandering through the main, older building. They have a great socialist realism collection so I snapped a few pictures.
After the museum, I mainly just...wandered around. Minsk is a very walkable city! I stopped in a couple of shops in the city center before I started getting hungry. The cafe that was recommended to me was over an hour’s walk away, so I decided to try out the metro. I bought “tickets” from the window, which turned out to be plastic little tokens, and fortunately was on the right line to get close enough to the cafe. Minsk’s metro system, finished in the 1980s is pretty cool, so obviously I had to take some pictures.
I went to a Beetlejuice Cafe, which Katia recommended to me for its vegetarian options. After wolfing down a very good veggie burger, I went for another long walk, and ended up in a big park with lots of food stands and amusement rides. A lot of people were out, even though it was a little gloomy outside.
Later I met up with a new friend I met from Couchsurfing, Diana, and we walked and chatted for about an hour. She was really sweet- it was nice to talk to someone after spending most of the day alone! Unfortunately she had to get some work done so we couldn’t hang out long. After our goodbyes, I was still full from lunch, so I decided to walk around more before finding dinner. I went to another park closer to the old town- at this point my feet were really starting to hurt- and made it to another vegetarian restaurant for dinner.
After a nice solo meal surrounded by couples, I decided I needed something sweet before heading back to Katia’s, so I headed back to a chocolate shop I had stopped by earlier in the day, that has a separate counter for each type of offering (pastries, cake, chocolate bars, cookies, etc). I couldn’t read any of the names so I blindly picked one that looked like a chocolate eclair. I sat down and bit into it- it was filled with soft caramel. Not my favorite, but it still hit the spot!
I made it back to Katia’s (walking..haha) and immediately crashed. My flight was in the early afternoon the next day, so I took it pretty chill that morning before heading to the bus station to take the shuttle back to the airport. Of course, my solo travel couldn’t start out perfectly, so I got on the wrong tram with my backpack and ended up getting off and walking twenty five minutes instead of five. I got to the bus station early, so bought a ticket for the time I wanted to leave, and set off for the grocery store to spend the rest of my rubles. I wandered around with my backpack a little, grabbed a coffee, and made it back to the bus station in time for the bus. I realized as the bus pulled up that I did not have my receipt/ticket that I picked up earlier that morning- I must have thought it was trash and thrown it away somewhere but could not remember. My heart rate immediately skyrocketed- my travel anxiety lingers! Fortunately I still had 5 rubles left so I ran back inside to buy a new ticket and still had some change to pay for transporting my bag. Unfortunately this meant I didn’t get to keep all my cool Belarusian coins, but at least I didn’t miss my bus.
At passport control, I gave the other half of my little visa to the officer, and passed through without problem. Except, I didn’t bring enough food with me (despite having been to the grocery store- I just bought a peach and some oatmeal for the mornings ahead) and there were no water fountains to fill up my collection of plastic bottles. After wandering the terminal, my only options were Burger King (lol) and a cafeteria that sold sandwiches and snacks. I opted for a giant, too-sweet sesame cookie, but it was enough to power me through my 1.5 hour flight and on to Warsaw!
I really enjoyed my short day in Minsk, and hope to be back in Belarus again to explore more of the city, and especially more of the country!
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