Stuffy office, boring boss, boring home life... That's it, it's time to relax! After looking through a lot of offers, you settle on the capital of one of the most beautiful, clean and hospitable countries in Europe - Belarus. Great choice! But how can you ensure that your vacation is filled with exclusively positive moments? How not to spoil your impressions of a long-awaited trip to Belarus?
Attention! Every foreigner who is planning to come to Minsk must know certain rules of conduct in the city. This will help save valuable time and money.
It’s not for nothing that Minsk is considered one of the cleanest capitals in Europe. Its residents and public utilities carefully protect their city from dirt and garbage. The same is required from guests. Agree, it is much more pleasant to walk along clean, well-groomed streets planted with colorful flowers.
Smoking is prohibited in recreation parks, educational, sports, healthcare institutions, shops, train stations and other public places in Minsk. Those who cannot give up this bad habit should look for separate smoking rooms.
Drinking alcoholic beverages outside special places (cafes, restaurants, clubs, bars) is prohibited by law in our country. Now you can get a hefty fine for walking with a beer in your hand or sitting on a bench in the park with a bottle of champagne.
If you are going to Belarus with children, you should know that in our country minors cannot be on the street without adults after 23:00. In this case, their parents are held accountable. Do not also forget that Minsk is full of establishments where children under 18 years of age are prohibited from entering.
It should be noted that in Belarus it is prohibited to photograph and videotape government buildings and military installations. If you liked any architectural structure, don’t be lazy to ask the guide if you can take pictures of him. This way you will avoid many problems.
Belarusian “bunnies” are most important
Unlike other European countries, in Belarus payments for goods and services are carried out exclusively in the national currency. And if in the center of the capital you can find a bank branch or an ATM on almost every street that will issue the necessary currency, then when planning a trip out of town you should take care in advance about exchanging currency for Belarusian rubles.
Transport links in Minsk are well developed. When moving around the city, you can use the metro, bus, trolleybus and tram. Payment for travel is also carried out in Belarusian “bunnies”. It should be noted that the fines for traveling without a ticket are exactly the same for both residents of the republic and guests from abroad.
Taxi is considered one of the most popular types of transport in Minsk. Foreigners traveling in neighboring Russia are getting used to hitchhiking. To their deep disappointment, such practice is practically absent in Minsk. You can call a car to the desired address by phone or find the nearest taxi rank. As a rule, fares are paid by meter and in national currency.
Each state has its own special rules of behavior. Do you want your holiday to be filled with only positive moments? Before your trip, study the basic laws of the country you like and try to adhere to them during your trip. And then your vacation will become the most pleasant and unforgettable adventure of your life!
Mikhail Sender, director of Kufar, meets foreign guests in Minsk almost every week. Over the course of several years, he formed a clear opinion on what and how (not) to do with a foreigner so that he falls in love with our city.
As a person who has lived half of his life outside of Belarus, visited several dozen countries and hundreds of cities, and also received many foreign guests in Minsk, I will immediately say that this essay concerns primarily foreigners from developed countries.
Residents of third world countries can be safely allowed to roam freely through the streets of Minsk, and they will be delighted by almost everything. But receiving guests from Minsk Western Europe And North America, it is important to keep in mind that Minsk, for all its charm, is still very difficult for cosmopolitans accustomed to convenience and comfort.
Any foreigner in any country is a walking prejudice
If you want your guests to have a good impression of Minsk, there is one important thing to understand. Foreigners always go to a new country with a whole baggage of previously formed prejudices, stereotypes and expectations. These expectations are based on the country’s reputation in the world and on the information that manages to leak through various channels into their heads. These expectations are not always fair and objective, but they are often the basis for visiting the country.
It is important to understand that foreigners will first of all look for confirmation of these stereotypes and prejudices. Thus, when arriving in New York, tourists try to count the number of fat people and fast food joints, in Amsterdam they sniff the smell of marijuana and look for LGBT couples, and in Bangkok they look for fried insects and transvestite prostitutes. One or two stereotypes seen on the street are enough to reinforce preconceptions about a country and a city. And only if a person has not seen a single confirmation of the stereotype during the entire trip, his prejudices can be destroyed.
This is where you, as the host, have to make a choice: either you give your guests what they came for and help them confirm their preconceptions, or you aim to surprise them by challenging stereotypes. In the case of Minsk, I prefer the second option - at least because all the stereotypes and prejudices of foreigners about Belarus, as a rule, are exclusively negative. They can be divided into two categories: general Eastern European stereotypes and mental associations specifically with Belarus.
What prejudices do foreigners have about Belarus?
Common stereotypes about Eastern Europe include the gray concrete boxes code-named “buildings” typical of post-communist cities, poverty, dirt, crime, prostitution, dyed blonde women in stiletto heels willing to do anything for money, short-haired, sullen men in tracksuits and classic babushkas wearing headscarves, known as babúshka.
But specifically from Belarus, in addition to the above, they expect even more. Regularly communicating with foreigners who have never been to Belarus, I can roughly imagine how they see it. Arriving in the “last dictatorship of Europe” and the only European country, which is not a member of the Council of Europe and still applies death penalty, a foreigner expects to see oppressed and frightened people in fur hats, plagued by corruption and bureaucracy, soldiers marching everywhere in giant caps and portraits and statues of Lukashenko everywhere. In addition, Belarus is often expected to conform to numerous stereotypes about Russia, which are also very unpleasant.
As you already understand, Minsk has good potential for destroying many of the listed prejudices.
Minsk is quite clean and safe, which is already a break from the pattern, and people don’t look that depressed. At the same time, we must admit that Minsk is really full of signs of militarism and communist heritage, which you will not be able to hide.
But that's not a bad thing! In IT terms, this is not a bug, but a feature. After all, to tell the truth, without this Soviet heritage there would be nothing special in Minsk. The trick of Minsk is precisely that it is an ideal monument to the “soviet” in its best form. There is nothing like this anywhere else in Europe, and this is really interesting for those who know about the USSR only from historical books and films.
Our task is to ensure that during a foreigner’s stay in Minsk, this “scoop” remains at the level of a monument and does not crawl into reality before the eyes of guests, confirming some of the prejudices listed above. To do this, I recommend you the following precautions...
What to remember when meeting a guest at the airport
Fortunately, despite the completely anti-market symbiosis of Belavia and Minsk-2 airport, the former maintains a quite decent level of service, and the latter last years brought into a more or less divine form. However, the first stage of visiting Belarus has its own pitfalls.
Before departure, warn your friends that they will be given a migration card on the plane, which must be filled out on the plane. This is important for two reasons. Firstly, although Belavia flight attendants distribute them to everyone right on board, they do it quite discreetly, hastily moving along the aisle, without looking at the passengers and accompanying the distribution with indistinct muttering in Russian, typical of many young Belarusians.
It can be assumed that a migration card is most often needed by passengers who do not know Russian. But, apparently, such assumptions are not spelled out in the job description of flight attendants. Over the past four years, I have flown Belavia to Minsk forty times, and every time everything went according to the same algorithm.
Secondly, your guests will not have to run around the airport and look for a pen (according to eyewitnesses, there may actually be no pens in the arrivals hall), and then end up at the back of the queue at passport control.
Remember: The migration card will immediately reinforce one of the prejudices of foreigners about Belarus as some kind of autonomous region of Russia. For at the top left it says “ Russian Federation" This is one of the very few physical manifestations of the so-called “Union State”, which, I assure you, no one outside of itself has ever heard of.
No one has ever heard of the CIS, the CSTO, the Eurasian Economic Union and the “post-Soviet space,” so you don’t have to bother yourself with trying to translate these abbreviations and expressions into English. Nobody will understand anyway. Just say that we have an open border with Russia and therefore the same migration card is valid when entering both countries. They will leave you alone for a while, but get ready for the fact that you will have to launder the image of Belarus as an independent country more than once.
By the way, for those of you who are offended by the constant attribution of some Russian stamps to Belarus by foreigners, I advise you not to overdo it with patriotism, because this can play in the opposite direction.
It’s hard not to confuse a country with Russia where everyone speaks Russian, the currency is called “ruble” and 9 out of 10 people pronounce the English adjective “Belarusian” as “Belaráshan”. For those who are not sure how to pronounce it correctly, listen here:
I very often see how Belarusians, out of patriotic motives, constantly try to tell foreigners about the differences between Russia and Belarus, Russians and Belarusians, presenting their people in a positive light. Should not be doing that. Firstly, this smacks of xenophobia. Secondly, paradoxically, by doing this you only strengthen the logical connection between these peoples in the minds of foreigners.
The more often you remember Russia during a foreigner’s visit to Minsk, the more he will associate this city with Russia. If you don’t want this, it’s better to compare with other countries.
You are picking up a guest from the airport
Also, do not forget to warn your friends that they definitely need to buy insurance at the airport, which is sold by Belgosstrakh (just say that there is a green booth with the inscription Insurance) right at the entrance to passport control.
It doesn't matter what they have, just like everyone else normal people, you already have insurance that covers expenses abroad, and it doesn’t matter that formally this is enough. With this insurance, there is a 90% chance that they will be turned into a green booth at passport control, because their insurance does not have the “Belgosstrakh” (free competition in Belarusian) stamp on it. Fortunately, thanks to the unpronounceability of this brand, your friends will never understand the absurdity of this objection and will decide that it is their fault. You still have a chance to save face for your homeland.
If you cannot meet your guests at the airport yourself, send a taxi from some decent company (say, “Friday”) to pick them up. Don't even think about recommending the bus. They will immediately stumble upon a ticket machine where there is no English interface, and you cannot avoid shame and grief. An express train will be able to solve the problem of transferring to the city in five years, when the rails will be laid to the terminal itself and you won’t have to take a bus to the train.
If a foreigner decides to take a taxi himself, he will be in trouble. As happened at many Eastern European airports in the 1990s, at the exit short-haired men in sweatpants will start accosting him, offering him a taxi. An experienced traveler will immediately sense a scam and, ignoring the athletes, will head to the taxi parking lot according to the signs. Taxi drivers will not understand him and will direct him back to the boys in tracksuits, thereby reinforcing the prejudice about Eastern European crime and racketeering.
Your next task is to take your guests to Minsk without exposing them to the horrors of the Belarusian village. You should prepare topics for conversation in order to divert the attention of passengers from the landscapes of the Queens of Stan in time. For example, you might notice the flat landscape on the right side of the road, noting that Belarus is the flattest country in Europe. The Netherlands also claims this title, but who will check them...
Approaching Uruch, draw your friends’ attention to the cornflowers decorating the facades of some panels. I’m not talking about flowers, but about the cross-shaped element of the Belarusian traditional ornament, which we use as decoration everywhere you go. This is a very unusual feature when a symbol that is not an official coat of arms is widely used in architecture and design of everything - from interiors to clothing.
By drawing the attention of your guests to this, you can encourage the most adventurous of them to start looking for cornflowers everywhere. With luck, this may distract them from seeking confirmation of their vulgar prejudices.
Just imagine how difficult it is for a foreigner to understand the names
Few people in Belarus have thought about this, but by world standards we have a completely anomalous situation with the names of cities and streets.
There are many countries in the world with two or more official languages. But not many countries have different street names depending on the language. As a rule, names, like other brands, are not translated. And we even translate proper names.
For a foreigner accustomed to everything having one name, this can be very confusing. For example, you invite him to go to Victory Square. He writes in Ploschad Pobedy's notebook. Then he looks at the map and can’t find it because it says Victory Square. Then he takes the metro, and there they announce Plošča Pieramohi. This is impossible to understand with the mind.
Therefore, I personally try to adhere to the UN international toponymic standards, according to which all names are transliterated from the Belarusian language using the official Belarusian Latin alphabet, and to be consistent in this. Our city authorities are also trying. In the subway and on the signs, that’s what everyone says. But on the maps it happens that this is not so...
Which restaurants and cafes to take a foreigner to?
Many Minsk residents do not realize this themselves, but compared to many European capitals, Minsk is very high level quality of restaurants and cafes. In the center today it is difficult to find a place where you can feel ashamed of the interior and where the food is disgusting. But there are things to be wary of.
One thing - we allow smoking in public places. Therefore, if your friends do not smoke, then you should not take them to places like Malt & Hops, where their fashionable outfits stink and they will hate Minsk (and you) for it.
The second problematic point is the complete unpreparedness of most establishments to serve foreigners. Most of the waiters either don't speak English or speak very little English. Many restaurants do not have menus in English. Some have it, but it’s outdated, with prices in old rubles with twenty zeros. Therefore, when booking a table, it is better to clarify these points in advance and ask for a table that will be served by a knowledgeable English waiter. Reliable places in this regard are Pinky Bandinsky, ID Bar, The View, Don Coffe’on, Grünwald, News Café, Mai Thai, but there are others.
When you arrive at a restaurant, ask for English menus for everyone, including yourself. For what? I have repeatedly discovered that the English menu differs from the Russian/Belarusian one in content and page numbering, not to mention translation flaws. This circumstance can significantly complicate the discussion of dishes and create misunderstandings and disappointments.
There is also this point: many waiters, although they speak English, try to avoid this if possible. If they see that there is a local in the company, then they begin to conduct all communication regarding all guests only with you, in Russian. Personally, this tires me terribly, because I have to free time work as a translator and do part of the waiter’s work, taking responsibility for possible translation errors and forgetfulness. But I also came to rest.
To avoid such cases, when I am in the company of foreigners, I try not to show that I know Russian, which I advise you to do. Let them train!
What to see in Minsk?
Be sure that your guests in Minsk will be much more interested in everything scary and ugly than what you would like to show them.
No one is interested in the Trinity and Rakovskoe suburbs, the Upper Town with its microscopic town hall and the modest churches of the Holy Trinity, Symon and Alena, etc. Their overall architectural value does not greatly exceed the level of many provincial Western European cities.
We don't have huge Gothic castles, cathedrals and palaces. Even National Library few people are interested. Ugliness and backwardness are what foreigners expect to see and can then tell their friends about. Your delicate task is to take them to places where there is the least ugliness, but to do this under the pretext of visiting something interesting.
For example, everyone is interested in seeing the largest monument to Lenin in the country, standing in front of the Government House. (Remember, this is a feature, not a bug!) Heading there, you can take guests along Karl Marx Street, showing the presidential administration and the tank monument (this is also a feature).
And after a photo session with Lenin, take them along Independence Avenue to the Upper Town to visit the bars on Zybitskaya and at the same time show them the KGB building (the fact that the KGB still exists is a super mega-trick!) and GUM (just don’t let them inside). This way, your guests will always be within a decent-looking part of the city, and this will form their overall impression of the architecture of Minsk, contrary to the stereotype of gray concrete boxes. They will be surprised that Minsk is quite beautiful and tidy, although there are no outstanding works of architecture here.
How exactly can you impress foreigners?
Evening illumination. I really have never seen anywhere else in the world (and I have visited more than 150 cities in 45 countries) where all the facades in the city center are illuminated every evening for several hours. Walk along the avenue with your guests before dinner. Beautiful, original and really memorable.
Keep in mind that the most pleasant impressions of Minsk will not be the buildings and statues, but a good time. After dinner, wander around the bars on Zybitskaya, have a blast in the Attic or hang out in the Hooligan, chat with interesting and pleasant people, and your friends will have the warmest memories of Minsk.
Well, remind them before leaving so that they don’t forget their migration card, otherwise other memories may be added at passport control.
World Tourism Organization, Belarus ranks one of last places in Europe by number of visits by foreigners. Film crews from popular travel shows also rarely visit us, although you can find many episodes filmed in all neighboring countries on the Internet. TUT.BY looked at what foreigners talk about Belarus in video blogs and travel shows.
In 2009, the host of the cult program Top Gear, Richard Hammond, said the word “Minsk” several times on camera. This was connected with his ride on a pink motorcycle manufactured by MMVZ on the roads of Vietnam. And a year later, as part of the popular American TV show “Who Do You Think You Are?” "Friends" star Lisa Kudrow found her roots in Belarus. Recently, the National Geographic channel aired a film about the Wargaming company, and Animal Planet showed the program “”. Most other mentions of Belarus in ratings television programs in the US and Europe were related to politics, Chernobyl and Lee Harvey Oswald.
“Bad Notes” with Dmitry Krylov
The creators of Russian and Ukrainian shows About travel only recently discovered Belarus. In 2012, filming of the program “Unlucky Notes” by journalist Dmitry Krylov took place in Brest and Kamenets. Two years later, the presenter again visited the Brest Fortress and released another program on June 22.
"15 republics"
In 2014, as part of the “15 Republics” project, a film crew from the Ukrainian TV channel “1+1” came to Belarus. On YouTube video received 109 thousand views. Journalists visited Zhlobin, Mogilev, Soligorsk, Minsk, Zaslavl and Belarusian villages to study how Belarus changed after the collapse of the USSR.
The presenter was amazed that at the Mogilev railway station they were asked to hide their camera, since it was a military facility, and they were surprised by the toll roads. However, the driver of the group bought a BelToll sensor late and on the way back the transport inspectorate issued them a fine of 200 euros. In the same issue, they went to Vilnius and compared the countries.
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If popular Russian YouTube bloggers have been coming to Minsk to shoot new videos for several years, then for editors of entertainment television programs, 2016 became the year of discovery of Belarus. In the spring, the programs “Heads and Tails” were held in Minsk. Shopping”, the British presenter of the NTV channel John Warren also returned to Belarus. After filming a show about the country “Let’s Go Let’s Eat,” he and TUT.BY are of the opinion that Belarus needs to change its image.
In October, the 17th episode of the second season of the Russian show “Russo Touristo”, dedicated to Belarus, was released on the STS TV channel. In it, presenters Leonid and Ekaterina Morgunov got used to the new Belarusian money, prepared vereshchaka and toured many museums. “Minsk is a gorgeous city. You can still taste processed cheese made from cheese, potato chips and birch sap from birch trees. Minsk is one of those cities that are addictive. I want to come here again and again,” the authors concluded.
"I Travel the World" and "Mirror"
Last year, two film crews from popular Turkish TV shows came to Belarus. In the summer, the program “I Travel the World” was filmed for Kanal 7 with the well-known TV presenter Ozlem Tunca in her homeland. The show appeared in 2010 and has won several television awards in Turkey. A month later, the popular Turkish presenter Saim Orhan filmed a report about Belarus for his project “Mirror”.
“I Travel the World” was released in two episodes, one of which received more than 150 thousand views on YouTube. Ozlem Tunca came to Belarus with a small child, who often appeared in the frame in her arms and tasted Belarusian honey in Dudutki and red currants at the Komarovsky market. In two forty-minute episodes, the film crew showed the Mir and Nesvizh castles, a wedding in folk style, the construction of the Cathedral Mosque, the Mayak Minska residential complex and listened to classics at the capital's Town Hall. At the end of the episode, the presenter met with the Ambassador of Belarus to Turkey Andrei Savinykh and thanked him for organizing the filming.
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Saim Orhan was interested in slightly different Belarusian sights. In the issue of "Mirrors" he went to the "Stalin Line", where he shot from different types weapons, visited the museum of Belarusian costumes and talked with children who are studying Turkish in Minsk. The video has been viewed a little over 22 thousand times.
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“Belarus - how is it really there?”
The video, shot by Pole Michal Sikorski in September 2015, has received more than 473 thousand views. The blogger decided to get to know Belarus better, got into the car and drove through several cities. He began his journey in Grodno. Throughout the entire route, Michal praises Belarusian roads, and the first point of the journey impressed him as a clean, even sterile place, which in architecture is very similar to Polish cities.
In Novogrudok, he visited the House-Museum of Adam Mickiewicz and tried to resolve the age-old dispute about what nationality the poet belongs to. The director of the museum convinced him that Mitskevich always considered himself a Novogrudok resident.
Near Bobruisk, Michal visited the village of Velichkovo, where the estate of his ancestors, who were Polish aristocrats, was once located. After talking with local residents, he came to the conclusion that many Belarusians descended from Poles, but many Poles also descended from Belarusians. And he invited his subscribers to look for roots in Belarus.
Minsk gave the blogger the impression of a metropolis where people dress normally, there are a lot of good cars and foreign products in stores. And prices are the same or slightly higher than in Poland. In general, Belarus seemed to him a country in which he could live. Here, he said, he felt free and safe, since there are a lot of police in the city. In conclusion, he came to the conclusion that Belarusians are accustomed to living in a world of orders and prohibitions, and cited the example of prohibitory stickers on the doors of restaurants and cafes.
Michal’s visit coincided with the 2015 election campaign, therefore, reflecting on the differences election campaigns, he concluded that, based on the cultural and historical past, Belarus and Poland should be allies, and advocated the abolition of visas between the countries.
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Geography Now! Belarus"
On the YouTube channel Geography Now! the host named Paul introduces viewers to the countries of the world. Within 10 minutes, he provides basic information about states using statistics, foreign media and local assistants.
The video about Belarus begins with the phrase: “This is a country where people in Russian say: “Don’t call me Russian.” The video was released on May 15, 2015 and was viewed more than 402 thousand times.
Talking about the country, Paul pronounces the word “rushnik” and plays on the name of the city of Brest (breast - breast in English - Note TUT.BY). He dwells in more detail on tourism issues: “Border guards have the right to refuse entry to anyone they consider unworthy. If your nationality is not from of Eastern Europe, it will be a little more difficult for you to get into the country. And this is one of the reasons why Belarus is one of the least visited countries in Europe. If you don't speak Russian or Belarusian, or if you don't have a Belarusian friend who can vouch for you, the trip can be quite problematic and costly, not including the visa. However, Belarusians love guests, they are just suspicious of you.”
Next, the presenter talks about the urbanization of the late 1980s associated with the Chernobyl accident, the most widespread natural resource- peat, hockey and praises Belovezhskaya Pushcha, where you can meet bison.
“The average temperature in summer is about 18 degrees, so you won’t see bikinis here. The Belarusian people are what really makes this country stand out mysterious country“, says Paul and is surprised that with 80% of people who consider themselves Belarusians, only 20% speak Belarusian.
The video was heatedly discussed by foreigners, and the most popular comment was: “Bison, hockey, a lot of forests, having a powerful ally, at the same time trying to create cultural differences so that the world doesn’t think that you are of the same culture... Belarus is a European Canada ?
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"Minsk: amazing sights"
Norwegian Harald Balder visited Belarus last fall. The video about the country became the most popular on his channel and received more than 88 thousand views.
Harald arrived in Minsk by train from Gomel with a friend. Judging by the video, during the trip in a compartment with fellow travelers, they fully experienced Belarusian hospitality. The capital seemed clean and picturesque to him. After sightseeing, the Norwegian went to the Dozari club, where, according to his observations, there are more “hot girls” than in Bucharest. The next day he decided to attend an event that took place near the Sports Palace. After passing the inspection, he described his feelings: “In totalitarian Belarus, you will always be under surveillance and videotaped.”
While walking around the capital, the Norwegian concluded that the most beautifully dressed young mothers live in Minsk, and cited as an example several shots of them walking with their husbands and children around the city.
The next evening, Harald again went to the Minsk clubs, where he Once again admired the friendliness of Belarusian women: “Not a single Minsk girl grinned when I approached her.” Then he and a friend ended up in the police station for drinking alcoholic beverages in the wrong place. The video was filmed without commentary; he later described his impressions of Belarus in a blog:
“We were enjoying a cold beer on a mall bench with a few girls. Everything was fine until two uniformed thugs showed up and arrested us. Turns out it's illegal to drink in public. When at the police station my friend admitted our ignorance and stated the obvious: we didn’t know it was illegal, one of the officers replied: “Everything here is illegal!”
Apparently this incident was one of the last days imposed a negative impact on the entire duration of the Norwegian’s stay in the country. In his blog, he writes that it is impossible to maintain anonymity in Belarus: you are searched everywhere, filmed and interrogated about your intentions.
He called the Belarusian service “hellish” and cited as an example the purchase of train tickets and service in one of the Minsk cafes, after which he decided to go to dine in establishments with a self-service system: “All the Belarusians that I have met, without exception, are more or less amazing, overwhelming most waiters, shop assistants and government bureaucrats are complete idiots. They're clearly trying to piss you off, even if all you did was try to buy a train ticket. My travel companion, who speaks Russian well, encountered one such woman on railway station. After asking for three tickets and ending the sentence with the word “please,” she rolled her eyes, sighed, and looked away.”
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The most positive impressions on tourists were caused by the Museum of the Great Patriotic War and Belarusian women: “They all look like they are well off. How they can afford it is a great mystery. At average salary At $300-$400 a month, girls have to spend a huge chunk of their income on this to look as good as they do. I expected Belarusian women to be cold and uncommunicative. This turned out to be 110% false. All the girls I spoke to were always smiling and wanted to chat, even the married ones.”
"Visa-free regime - great idea", "trouble with English", "expensive hotels" - foreigners share their impressions of Belarus
The last month of spring traditionally becomes a tourist month for our country. Residents of neighboring countries, mostly Russians, come to Minsk for the May holidays, and they can tell almost more about excursion Belarus than the locals. The recently adopted visa-free regime has added color to the capital's streets and expanded the picture of nationalities: from outsiders who are prohibited from entering, residents of 80 countries have turned into welcome guests (even if only for five days). Onliner.by took to the decorated streets of Minsk to ask tourists about their impressions of the country and its capital.
What do foreigners notice first? What will they tell their friends about and will Belarus be able to captivate foreign guests so much that they want to come back here again (or even more than once)? We asked tourists to tell not only about the good, but also about what could be changed in our way of life to make the life of an “overseas” guest more comfortable and familiar.
A young man named Hock, although born in Taiwan, lives permanently in Australia. A year ago, a travel lover, thanks to the Internet, met a beautiful Belarusian woman. And I decided to find out more about her home country.
What's cool
- I immediately planned to stay longer than five days, so I had to apply for a visa,- explains Hawk. - I have been in Belarus for a week now. I spent most of this time in Minsk. Just yesterday I drove through the whole city on a special red tourist bus - I climbed onto the second floor and looked around the city. I like it. I heard that there is also a green bus, which also introduces you to the sights, I’m going to take a ride on it.
Minsk is a cool city. I was impressed by the buildings in the center (beautiful architecture) and Independence Square. I also liked Belarusian food, especially vegetable pancakes (I don’t remember what they are called). True, there are not many establishments where you can try national cuisine - I go to Vasilki.
I live in a hotel - I stayed at BonHotel, the hotel is good, and the room prices are comparable to Australian ones - on average $60-70 per night. Nightlife I haven’t studied Minsk yet. And here public transport I liked it - so far I have only used buses and the metro, the travel seemed very cheap to me.
What can be changed
- Simplify the procedure for obtaining a visa. When you are used to flying around the world without any visas at all, all these extra hassles and worries are difficult to perceive. It was very difficult for me. Well, there’s a problem with English - not all passers-by understand what you’re talking about.
Dominic is also difficult geographical history: a man originally from Germany, lives in Ukraine, and came to Belarus to visit his wife’s relatives. This is not the first time he has visited our country and notes the changes.
What's cool
- A visa-free regime has appeared - it is very convenient. Five days, in principle, are enough to resolve basic issues and even explore the country a little (we arrived for four days in general). The only inconvenience is the connection to the airport.
The city is constantly changing: new buildings are being built, things are being restored, new bars and restaurants are opening. I can note that there is a lot more going on in the Old Town: before the streets were empty, but now there are exhibitions, festivals - in a word, activity.
What can be changed
- Sometimes there are not enough inscriptions on English language. In the center everything is fine, but if you move a little further, problems begin. Of course, you can ask passers-by with a question, but not everyone will be able to give advice - young people, in principle, speak English, but older people no longer do. And this is very important. I don’t have any problems, since I speak Russian fluently, but if my father were traveling alone in Minsk, it would be difficult for him even in the metro - the inscriptions there are non-standard. My advice is to promote English at all levels.
Olya and Nastya are representatives of the largest tourist class for us; the girls came from Moscow. In just a few hours, we packed our things, jumped into the car and rushed to Minsk.
What's cool
- The trip was very spontaneous, but it’s always like that with us,- the girls laugh. - Why Belarus? Because vacationing here is inexpensive and not very far from home. Initially we wanted to see the Mir and Nesvizh castles, so we went there on the first day. We were not disappointed - we really liked the castles. On the way back we'll stop by Vitebsk.
Minsk is cool, and your people are very kind - everyone is smiling and happy to give advice. It's captivating. We live in the Tourist Hotel - an excellent option for little money. As for food, we try to try only national cuisine. All good. We will definitely tell our friends about Belarus and advise them to come here.
What can be changed
- I would like there to be more activities in the city: something that would attract young people, otherwise in the evenings the streets are empty and quiet. A problem arose with the independent excursion: we tried to download a guide to Minsk, but there were very few options. And when they finally downloaded one of them and listened to it, they almost fell asleep - “it was built in such and such a year, by such and such a person, who was a relative of such and such a person.” Bored, terribly uninteresting. Although it could leave a lot more impressions if everything was thought out and designed for young people.
It would be great if there were original excursions in Minsk, like, for example, in St. Petersburg on the roofs. Or so that you can complete a quest around city attractions. It would also be nice if the metro worked longer and the train intervals were shorter (in the evening you can stand for a very long time). There are not enough good grocery stores - most of them are small with little choice, and prices for goods are the same as in Moscow.
Alexey and Yulia with their two sons, Stepan and Kirill, came to Minsk for the May holidays from the Volga region. For the first time, the head of the family found himself in our latitudes on work matters, and after getting to know the city, he was so inspired that he decided to show the neighboring country to his household.
What's cool
- We decided to spend the May holidays usefully - both to relax and to see how they live in the neighboring state,- Alexey explains. - We arrived by car, so I can safely say that the roads in Belarus are different: there are better ones, and there are worse ones. If we talk about entry into the country, it requires improvement - after all, this is the face of the state. And everything is not bad in Minsk.
We've been here for about a week now. Taking into account the fact that we have two children, we rented an apartment in the center, not a hotel. There are plenty of housing offers in Minsk. But after studying the options on Booking and Airbnb, we decided to look at local housing rental services. It turned out to be more profitable. We contacted the landlords directly, talked, and people agreed to work on their word of honor, without prepayment, which was very nice. The most important thing is that there is no discrepancy at all between what is shown in the photo and the real condition of the apartment. I would like to note that Belarusians are honest and decent people. They are very similar to us in mentality.
I liked the city center - there is no dominance of signs, everything is very organic and laconic. We have already visited the Mir and Nesvizh castles - the impressions are the best. They often say that Belarus is the USSR, but I disagree. We found echoes only in GUM, but again this was not said as a reproach, but in a good sense: a large store with its own goods.
What can be changed
- We need to develop the tourism sector. Even we Russians don’t always know about Belarus and its attractions. Should be normal marketing strategy, it needs to be implemented. You have excellent products and services, but this information needs to be conveyed. It is also worth emphasizing national cuisine- there are not enough establishments with Belarusian flavor and original food. For some reason little attention is paid to this.
Carolina and Marcello are originally from Italy, but study in Moscow, and decided to spend the weekend in Minsk. Young people just arrived in the country yesterday, taking advantage of the visa-free regime, and are now enjoying walking around the city.
What's cool
- Before coming, we knew almost nothing about Minsk and Belarus. And they would hardly have dared to take such a trip if not for the visa-free regime. But since we have many friends in Moscow and they often visit Minsk, we decided to try it. Before that, we only looked at their vacation photos. You know, expectations and reality coincide so far, there is no feeling of disappointment.
We spent the first night at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel - it was nice, but very expensive. Today we moved to a hostel: 10 euros per night is already a normal price. But finding a place was not easy; almost all hostels in the center were booked for the May holidays.
In Minsk, new establishments open every week for lovers of gastronomic delights and healthy lifestyle. You can read about them and choose where to go on the rest of your day off by following the link.
Are you planning to visit the Mir and Nesvizh castles, but are afraid that your car will let you down? the best specialists for auto repair, look in the section
In anticipation of such a wonderful opportunity as a visa-free visit to Belarus for foreigners, we have collected several reviews from foreign tourists who have already visited our country and have interesting comments about it.
« They don’t like their own milk, there are no normal hotels, there is no Belarusian self-awareness“- such comments could be read on numerous traveler forums. But there is also positive side— someone praises the roads, cleanliness, order and Belarusian hospitality. But rather than talk about it, you can see for yourself:
Russia
« It is noteworthy that there is a line behind them - to find fault with oneself.
And they complain about their products (about the quality) - they prefer Polish in the border areas, at the same time the Poles are exporting milk - the Poles like Belarusian milk. “Kommunarka” and “Spartak” are tired, they prefer the Ukrainian “Roshen”. In hypermarkets, Ukrainians load their carts full, while in Ukraine Belarusians stock up.”
“The biggest problem in Belarus is the almost complete absence of normal hotels in the European sense of the word. I can put up with everything else, but breakfasts with semolina porridge and gray toilet paper...”
Estonia
“What’s amazing is that all the fields along the roads are planted with something. Even in Lithuania they have never seen anything like this, let alone Estonia. Or oats, or corn, or potatoes, or something else that we city dwellers could not identify. In some places, some seedlings were planted using the square-cluster method. In general, the fields in Belarus are amazing - you drive, and on the right or left, as far as the eye can see, some kind of tops are swaying :)
All forests in Belarus are carefully marked - which belongs to which forestry. The names of forest districts appear on roadside billboards.
But what amazes you most is the Belarusian countryside! Some village in the outback, but in the center all the houses are neatly painted, there are markings all around, the sidewalks are tiled, there are monuments everywhere, both to war heroes and to all sorts of locals historical characters. And there are no destroyed or abandoned houses or hangars with piles of broken bricks and scrap metal around!
Even in Belarus, it is striking that the country has managed to preserve local industry. Whatever products you look at in stores, you see Belarusian production everywhere. And this applies to both products and light industry. I'm not even talking about the heavy one. Yes, the salaries of the people working there are low, but if all production was destroyed and replaced with Chinese imports, would they be higher? And so, we have the same “socialism with human face”, which Gorbachev probably had in mind when starting Perestroika.
Well, Belarusian roads have already been written about many times. Indeed, the roads in Belarus are good, even in rural areas. They also have toll highways here. We managed to save more than 1000 euros on them. Now I’ll tell you how :)
While already walking around the Brest Fortress, we heard a question from our relatives that left us confused - did we buy a device to pay for Belarusian roads? - Device? No, what? “Do you know,” they say, “that if you don’t pay, the fine will be 1000 euros or even more?” They immediately began to tell stories about Europeans who came to Belarus and, unknowingly, traveled the entire country from end to end. And how they were later caught and fined exactly this amount. Do such fines really exist?
Then I began to remember. Indeed, when we entered from Lithuania, there was some kind of inscription on the roadside sign about toll roads. But no one collected the money, and we safely drove further along this road. And now we have doubts, maybe we really have already run into a tidy sum?
In general, after the fortress we rushed to the Belarusneft gas station, where there was a BelToll branch, where autobahn payments are made. There we saw a diagram of toll roads. Phew, my heart is relieved - only roads M1, M2, etc. are toll roads in Belarus. which we have not traveled. And payment occurs as follows. You buy a device for 25 euros, mold it under glass, and add about the same amount to your account. And then you drive on toll roads, and when you pass under special frames, you are remotely charged a certain amount. The device beeps, so you can be sure that everything is OK. Now, if it doesn’t beep, or beeps more than once, then you need to urgently find out what’s wrong so that you don’t get a fine later. We were told that for each frame that you pass without paying, there will be a fine of 100 euros, and they cost quite often, hence the fine amounts. And when leaving the country, this device is returned to BellToll, the money for it, as well as the remaining amount in the account, is transferred back to the card. Thus, having traveled from Brest to Minsk and from Minsk to Kamenny Log, we paid approximately 12 euros. Yes, and that’s typical. As they explained to us, only citizens of countries that are not members of the Customs Union pay for cars. So it turns out that Russians drive on Belarusian roads for free? Did not know.
In general, the system for taking away money in Belarus is well established. All over the country, even in rural areas, there are cameras and they catch people speeding. I once missed a sign for a settlement in some village and noticed the camera only when it moved its red lens and then flashed so deliciously in our direction. Well, I thought, now they’ll fine you at the border. But we didn’t have time. Now, apparently, they will send a fine to Estonia?
What else struck me? Refills. In rural Estonia, the chances of finding a normal gas station are minimal. Here Belarusneft has very decent gas stations everywhere. But there is, however, one point. Belarusians, apparently, refuel exclusively with 92-octane gasoline. 95 gasoline is not available at all gas stations, and if it is, it can only be at one of the available pumps. And there is no 98 at all. And this despite the fact that there are practically no Zhiguli cars in Belarus.
What else didn't I like? Belarusian language. Yes I know that Belarusian language in Belarus it serves more of a decorative function, and almost no one speaks it, with the exception of rare nationalists. But. Absolutely all signs, signs, street names, bus routes are made in Belarusian! When you drive on Belarusian roads, you constantly have to read all these DZYARZHYNSK, BREST, CHIGUNACHNY VAKZAL, PERAMOZZAU PRSPECT, etc. Moreover, if in about half of the cases it is easy to guess what the corresponding city will be called in Russian, then the other half is quite difficult to guess due to the abundance of all these E and Y. Often you drive into a city and don’t even know how to pronounce it correctly. Yes, and the road atlas is in Russian.
And everyone here learns the Belarusian language at school, as well as Belarusian literature. And all in order to then speak and conduct office work exclusively in Russian. Yes, I certainly understand that there is a certain politics involved here. Lukashenko, apparently, does not want the topic of the Belarusian language to be saddled by the opposition, and therefore he headed this topic himself. Well, again, this shows that Belarus is not Russia, but another state.
About the sights. Belovezhskaya Pushcha was not impressive. The forest is like a forest. It may be surprising for those who have lived in Moscow all their lives to ride a bicycle on forest roads, but here in Ust-Narva the forest is absolutely the same. Yes, there are bison walking along it somewhere, but to find them, you either have to look for them for a long time, or you have to be very lucky. And so we saw bison only in enclosures that are not far from central entrance. Bicycle rental costs 20 thousand rubles per hour. Another 10 thousand is charged for a map of the route you are traveling on.
But the most famous “tourist brand” of Belarus is, of course, Brest Fortress. The place is absolutely legendary for everyone who studied at Soviet school, finally managed to visit here. There are two museums on the territory, not particularly interesting.
Still in every Belarusian city There must be a pedestrian street, paved with tiles, with lanterns and benches. We walked along these in Grodno, Brest and Kobrin.
Palace in Nesvizh and castle in Mir. Well, it’s hard to surprise me here; I’ve seen a lot of such castles.
But Minsk pleasantly surprised me. I would call it “an exemplary socialist city” :) Huge wide sidewalks, majestic buildings with columns in the Stalinist style, bright modern high-rise buildings, and bicycle paths along the banks of the Svisloch. And in the center there was even a small restored old town. And everything is clean all around, just like everywhere else in Belarus. In general, nothing special, but I really liked Minsk.”
Sofia, Bulgaria
“Okay, let me summarize my complaints about Belarus. Belarus is a country without national identity. The current dictatorial government, apart from street signs in Belarusian, does not in any way support the “national spirit”. People who speak Belarusian are considered freaks. The president himself speaks Trans and does not know the Belarusian language. There is no Belarusian national identity. That is, there are people who meet this definition, of course, but they are in a clear minority. The opposition, which supports the rise of Belarusian self-awareness, was crushed in the bud. The flag remained Soviet. Mentality too.
Some individual attractions are maintained, but most of them are far from in the best condition.
The Belarusian identity is not being raised, the Jewish identity has been lost (compare, for example, with Lithuania or Poland. What is the state of the Jewish monuments there and in what state are they in Belarus (the Bykhov synagogue has been turned into ruins)
I was at the Chagall Museum. This is a tiny part of what could be saved."
Canada
“Getting to Belarus is not so easy. And although getting there is quite easy, most nationalities find it difficult to obtain a Belarusian visa. This year I tried to get it in order to get to Minsk on May 1st. I will share all the details, where after a series of 37 emails (YES! 37) and several expensive Skype calls, I had to receive an invitation from an authorized agency, which was subsequently used to gain the right to get into the embassy and apply for a visa. I gave up and spent May 1st in Lithuania, where May Day celebrations were banned, and the only thing I saw was a small march that no one around was paying attention to.
At the same time, I applied for a transit visa, which is much easier to obtain, although it only allows you to stay in the country for 2 calendar days. It only cost 20 euros, but I had to leave my passport at the embassy in Ottawa for 9 days. When I returned (the issuance date was also delayed), the clerk gave me a passport, and it turned out that he was the only one there for a Belarusian visa. Belarus is simply not interested in developing tourism, at least Western tourism. Probably important to them Russian tourism, since many Russians come for wellness treatments, because... they are cheaper here. Be that as it may, statistics are very difficult to find because there is no control at the border between them.”