Traveling in a Post Communist Country
Mar 15 '01 (Updated Mar 16 '01)
The Bottom Line Belarus is an adventure. It is not for the weak at heart, but if you have seen it all, see if you can handle the strange beauty of Belarus.
Why on earth was I There?
I spent eighteen months in Belarus as a humanitarian aid worker. Most of the time I spent in Minsk teaching kindergarten, but I also spent a lot of time traveling around the country on various assignments. While there is was able to spend some time in Lithuania and in Estonia, but Belarus is a completely different place than either of those two. While both Lithuania and Estonia have embraced "western" ideas and foreign aid, Belarus refuses to turn away from the old ideas that were prevalent the Soviet Union, and they refuse most foreign aid, saying that they do not want to participate in American Imperialism. Very few outsiders have gone to Belarus, and I doubt that any have left without feeling that they have seen something unique.
A dream vacation to Belarus
Many people have asked me whether or not they should visit Belarus as they tour around Eastern Europe. The most important consideration should be what you want to see. If you are looking for beautiful castles, historic old towns, and fine dining, then Belarus should be close to the bottom of your list. I am not saying that these things cannot be found in Belarus, only that they are harder to find. If you are looking to see what it was like under Communism, then it is the place to go. Many say that conditions in Belarus today are very similar to conditions in the Soviet Union in the early 80's.
Your travel itinerary
Getting There
You can fly into Minsk II, the international airport which is only about 30 miles outside of the city of Minsk and then either pay about five cents for a bus ride, or twenty bucks for a taxi. My preferred way to enter the country was through Lithuania. Get a visa in Vilnius, they are only about one hundred dollars and then take a bus to Minsk. It is probably also easy to get into Belarus from Russia, since they have some kind of alliance going on.
In Minsk
Now that you are in the promised land you will probably head to the Orbita, or the Belarus two of the better hotels in the city. You should make reservations at these hotels or you might end up staying in a really run down dump. Once you've settled in and you need a bite to eat you can take the subway to center, the central subway stations are called a number of things one being Oktyabrskaya, but if you look on the map inside the subway car just find where the two lines cross. In center you can eat at Patio pizza, its good except the pizzas a paper thin, McDonalds, there are five of them in the city, or Uzbekistan, a nice place that serves the some of the greasiest food in the world.
There are a few things that need to be seen in Minsk. First, since I am a history nut, I would say go to the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, aka the World War II museum. At the museum you will find tanks, planes, a recreated Nazi death camp, and many more horrifying but interesting things. One of the most interesting is a bust of Lenin at the end of the museum that probably weighs about forty tons, it is huge. Next on your list is the rinok, aka the market. There are a few around the city, one is at the stadium, but the best one is just outside the city on the north eastern side. There you can buy anything you could possibly want. I got a San Fransico 59ers hat, a New York Raiders sweater, some Reebook shoes for ten cents, Communist memorabilia, and old Nazi stuff that was found in Belarus after World War II.
There are also a large number of churches, museums of the communist era, statues of Lenin, sickle and hammer symbols, and gray concrete buildings.
Vitebsk
When you are done in Minsk I suggest that you take a night train to Vitebsk, the ride is about six hours of which you will sleep maybe fifteen minutes. Unless of course you can sleep through people doing things they probably shouldn't be doing in public, on the bunk right above yours. You should also note that in the summer there is no air conditioning, and it gets hotter than Arizona on one of those trains packed full of sweaty people. In the winter the heating sometimes works, but don't count on it. They will, however, give you a thin, foul smelling blanket if you ask for it. If you don't absolutely have to use the bathroom try to hold it until you get off the train. If you do have to go in there deaden all of your senses before entering.
Once you get to Vitebsk you will find that conditions have gotten considerably worse here than they have in Minsk. The hotels are run down, but running. There is one exception to this, a mafia run hotel that costs about two hundred dollars a night, its on Sovietskaya street.
While your in Vitebsk make sure you check out their World War II museum, where you find out that Jews used to be the majority in almost every large city in Belarus, in Vitebsk about seventy percent, while today they only constitute one percent of the total population. The only other thing to see is the zoo. It is more scary than the war muesums, the animals are underfed, and seem to be dying a slow death.
Mogilov
Take the train south to Mogilov, get out look around and get back on the train. I traveled here once a week for almost the entire time I was in Belarus and never found anything interesting.
Gomel
Continue south to Gomel. This city is famous because the nuclear waste from Chernobyl hit here the hardest. You can find potatoes the size of pumpkins here. It is also the second largest city in Belarus. It is a nice place to visit but because of the radiation I would'nt stay long.
Brest
Take your train on the ten hour ride west to Brest. You will feel that you are in a different county. Brest is one of the most interesting cities in Belarus. They allow some private enterprise here and so there are a few restaurants that have really developed. While you are there make sure that you visit the India. My favorite restaurant in Belarus.
The Brest fortress is my favorite sight in all of Belarus. It is a large red fortress that attempted to protect the Soviet Union from Nazi invasion. It was taken but not without a fight. There are still bullet holes everywhere in the walls and some of the buildings inside the fortress are still burned down. While there I could almost hear the gunshots and people dying. It is one of the few places in the world that I could actually feel history. No History doesn't feel warm and fuzzy.
Grodna
Take your train north to Grodna and you have circled the entire country. There are a few interesting churches here and one of the biggest "old towns" in Belarus. The city used to be a Polish Stronghold, and there are still many Catholics Churches to be seen.
Get Out While you Still can
From Grodna it is a short four hour train ride back to Vilnius, or you can take an eight to ten hour ride back to Minsk.
Remember
Don't break the laws, the KGB is still used in Belarus and will follow foreigners. You can always buy some cheap local clothes to keep your visibility at a minimum. There are also tons of police and soldiers. If your lucky, or if you stay there for a few days you will probably see a military parade. Don't forget to wave at the President as he drives by with an escort of twenty police cars, all driving at breakneck speed.
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Member: Dan Beck
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