Minsk In A Pinch

I was not originally planning to go to Belarus because they have a difficult visa to get, and the previous time I had looked into it, which was about three years ago, I decided not to apply for the visa. Which turned out to be a good decision at the time, because I might not have been able to use it, since I got called back to the States on my last journey earlier than I thought I was going to return.  But a couple of months ago, I looked at Belarus again and found out that in the meantime, after the last time I had looked into it, they had created a visa-free way to visit, which was rather shocking to me for this country that is still very much modeled on the former Soviet Union. But I guess they had seen the tourist bonanza that the neighboring Baltic states had reaped, and decided to try to get a piece of the action. There are a few strings attached, or rather, there are some strange conditions to visiting visa-free, if you come from one of the countries that they will allow to do this. You can only go in for a maximum of five days, and you can only fly in and out, and only to and from Minsk Airport. And you can't come in from or depart to Russia. So what I did is I booked a return flight to and from Vilneus, Lithuania, which is probably the closest place to fly in from. I stayed for four days, just short of the five that I was allowed to stay. It was really only three days, but every portion of a day that you spend somewhere counts as a day, so it counted as four days.


I arrived in Minsk fairly late. I prefer to travel earlier in the day so I can have plenty of time to figure it how to get where I'm going, and to get settled. But I didn't have a lot of choices on cheap flights. So my flight got there about nine at night, and by the time that I got through immigration and got my baggage picked up, it was nearly ten. Getting through immigration was a lot easier than I thought it worked be. They just checked my passport, checked my health insurance on my phone (another requirement for the visa-free visit), and that was about it; I was through quickly. And there was no customs check at all. I was pretty amazed by how quickly and smoothly it went.


So now I had to get into the city. The airport is quite a distance from the city; about fifty kilometers. There is a bus that goes there, and since I got in so late, there were only two buses left to run for the day. A taxi driver offered to take me for twenty bucks, but I declined, saying I'd take the bus. I'm always leery about taxis in foreign countries, especially if I haven't been to that country before, because some of them can possibly be scammy or dangerous. I was in time for the penultimate bus, but it filled up before I got to the door, and the driver motioned that I couldn't get on. Come on, I motioned, I'll stand. But he was steadfast, and didn't let me on, too my disappointment. The taxi driver came up to me again, and I told him I would take the next bus. But I wasn't so confident about that. There was only one bus left for the day, and it wasn't for forty-five minutes. So I thought about it for a few minutes, and I found the taxi driver, and asked him, "Twenty dollars?" He nodded his head, and we were off to his cab.


But as we were walking there, a couple of Mongolian women came up to me and said they needed a ride into town, could we split the cab? I was OK with that, but the cab driver was negative about it. Why not, I asked him. I was thinking I would save some money, and I felt a little safer with a couple of other passengers, too. He grudgingly accepted, and the Mongolians said they would split the fare fifty-fifty; that was fine with me. I'd pay half and they would pay half.  Only one of them spoke halting English so I mostly talked with her, in a mix of her bad English and my bad Russian. She asked me if I had a hostel and I said yes, you can come to the hostel and see if they have spaces available. I gave the cab driver the hostel's phone number, and he called the hostel to see where it was; I had told him to ask the hostel if they had a couple of spaces too, but he didn't understand me, and didn't ask.


We arrived at the hostel about an hour after leaving the airport. Minsk was a lot bigger than I thought it was and the cab driver pointed out some sights on the way.  I paid for the cab and told the women we could settle up later, but they paid me shortly thereafter with a mix of US dollars and Belarusian rubles, which was fine with me. It turned out there were spaces at the hostel for the two women, so that all worked out.


Minsk was a lot colder than most of the places I had been recently (with the exception of a couple of days in Berlin), and it was raining a lot. I had been used to mostly t-shirt weather, but I had to break out the long sleeves and a raincoat. It was very late when I arrived at the hostel and all the places to eat nearby were closed, so I didn't get dinner, but I had some trail mix to munch on. I usually keep a constant baggie of nuts and dried fruits in my pocket; when it runs low, I'll go to a local store and find some more nuts, seeds, and dried fruits to add to the mix, rotating the mix for variety.


The next day I just wandered around and checked out the city. There are signs in many places telling people not to walk on the grass, and people seem to take this pretty seriously as I didn't see a single person walking on the grass; I kept in mind that Belarus still has a very active KGB. So, I figured, when in Minsk, do as the Minchyani do, and I stayed off the grass. I also didn't see any graffiti at all. Minsk has some beautiful parks, including Victory Park, its crown jewel, which follows the path of the Svislach River, and borders the monumental Palace of Independence, which contains a World War Two museum, or, as they call it there, The Museum of the Great Patriotic War. Also, there is Gorky Park, which contains many amusement park rides (including an enormous ferris wheel which is supposed to have some of the best views of the city, but the amusement park was closed when I went there, so I didn't have a chance to ride it), and a large sports complex.



Outside the Palace of Independence, and around the city in various locations, crews were preparing for Belarus' Independence Day, which falls on July 3.  But this was no ordinary Independence Day, it was an Independence Day dedicated to Belarus' one hundredth anniversary of independence from the Russian Empire (notwithstanding their later inclusion into the USSR), so they were celebrating their centenary. In fact, all of the Baltic states are celebrating their centenaries as well this year. Unfortunately, I was already scheduled to leave Minsk on July 2, so I missed the main event capped by a huge concerts, theatrical events, and a parade, though I did catch many of the street concerts leading up to the big celebration, including a jazz concert in the area near Minsk City Hall.


Another attraction in Minsk is the Island of Tears on the Svislach River. This small island has a bridge that leads to it and had a small memorial to the mothers of lost soldiers.



The next day I hung out with Howie from NYC and BethAnn from Melbourne and we trudged around the city in pouring rain and considerably colder temperatures. The day before, it had rained sporadically, but on this day (July 1), it poured down for most of the day. I had a raincoat, and so did Howie, so I let BethAnn use my umbrella. We checked out the interior of the Great Patriotic War Museum, which I gazed walked by the day before but hadn't entered, and we found a little nook for some authentic Belarusian food. One interesting thing that the three of us saw was a trolleybus driver who reconnected a pole that had gotten disconnected from the wires above, cutting off the electricity, and bringing the trolleybus to a halt. The driver jumped out and repositioned the pole back on the wire using a long pole tool that was specifically designed for that task. I always wondered how the trolleybus drivers kept their vehicles close enough to the wires to stay connected, since they drive on the street and not on tracks like many trams do. Apparently they can stray a bit and get disconnected. We also wandered around the central city area and then Howie went off to meet some friends to watch one of the World Cup matches while BethAnn and I sauntered through the big underground shopping mall.


The next day, on July 2, I had to fly back to Vilneus. I was going to take the metro to the bus station, and then take a bus to the airport, but it was pouring rain again, so I decided not to walk with my backpack to the metro station, and I took a cab to the bus station instead. Taking a cab to the bus station was much cheaper than taking it all the way to the airport, about four dollars, though the metro to the bus station would have cost about sixty cents. And the bus to the airport, which was the bulk of the trip, was only about three dollars.


I stayed at: Trinity Hostel, Starovilenskaya Street 12, Tsentralny District, 220116 Minsk, Belarus. You need to take your shoes off at the entrance, which is common in countries in the Russian sphere. It was delightfully social and international, and had staff members who spoke very good English, and one who even spoke fluent Spanish; I conversed with her in Spanish for quite a while. The rooms were nice but mine was a bit cramped, but there were outlets for every bed and nice, decent wi-fi in the common area the first day but it barely extended into my room (but cut off frequently in the room); wi-fi didn't work after the first day but a staff member set me up with an alternative method that only worked near the front desk. Bathroom time was sometimes difficult but not as bad as some places I've stayed. It was in a really great central location, right on Trinity Hill near the Island of Tears and right next to the Svislach River. Transportation to the bus station and train station is easy to arrange via metro and about a five-minute walk to the metro station. Getting to the airport is a little more involved (see above for my descriptions of how I got in and out), but still fairly easy. No free breakfast, but many restaurants nearby. Nice kitchen, but crowded, you might not be able to get in to cook when it's busy. They advertised tours of the surrounding areas, but the tours are contingent in getting people together and happen sporadically; none materialized while I was there, which was a slight disappointment, but there was plenty to do in the city. It's not a huge party hostel, which is a plus for me, and drinking is in fact not allowed on the premises. I'd recommend it just for the social atmosphere as it is a good place to meet a wide range of people.