the last stop on this trip to europe was a fascinating two days in minsk, belarus! i had always wanted to visit this last bastion of soviet isolation, but the visa situation had been prohibitive for most westerners until very recently. now visitors from the west can enter belarus basically restriction-free, so this is a great chance to go before all the tourists discover it!
belarus is controlled by an autocratic, iron-fisted former soviet general named alexander lukoshenko, and has been since the dissolution of the former ussr. it is unequivocally the least free country in europe, with basically no free press and omnipresent government surveillance. contrary to what one might expect in eastern europe, it also is home to the overall nicest people i have met anywhere! everyone i ran into wanted to talk and was genuinely friendly and happy i was in their country! belarus is also rapidly changing – overall it has the fastest shrinking population in europe, but the young people flock to minsk, which is thriving. they are starting tech companies and coding apps and creating a very cool, cosmopolitan vibe.
i stayed in the “hotel tourist,” a soviet-era hotel refurbished for a recent international hockey tournament. it was right beside a metro stop, which is a very nice metro, costing only 30 cents per ride. every city with a population of over 1 million in the ussr was given a metro. the hotel was also right beside a grocery store which was great – so i could frequently score some liquid yogurt which is a huge plus in this part of the world. downtown there is lenin square with a large statue of his likeness, and beneath the square is a shopping mall which is actually quite nice. in it there is a self-serve soviet-style cafeteria which is on point. the entire city is amazingly clean. and also very inexpensive. also downtown is a large lake with a commemorative island in it, with a statue built by the mothers of those who lost their lives in the soviet occupation of afghanistan.
i went to a sauna in the suburbs for a few hours, called frystile sauna, where there were multiple saunas and steamrooms of varying heat intensity. very nice place.
a surprisingly informative visit was to the strana mini museum, or the museum of miniatures, near downtown. this one room museum had about 25 miniature displays of belarus’ most famous sites, and a little audioguide to go with it. it was really well done. the place was staffed by college students eager to practice their english, which was fun too.
i also went to the huge patriotic museum of the great war, belarus’ commemoration of the soviet union’s sacrifices in world war two, which is a really big deal in belarus, because a full one third of its population was killed during the war. the museum was especially fascinating as an american – though the soviets and americans were fighting the same enemy, there was nary a mention of the allies in this vast museum. particularly interesting was a final room about all the proxy wars the soviet union and later russia have fought with the west.
gorky park, one of minsk’s largest, has a huge open air ferris wheel that i rode for about ten cents. definitely recommend! i also went to see the the national library, which is a rhombicuboctahedron and lit up at night. nearby i visited the arbat brewery for a taste of minsk’s hip craft brew scene.
overall, this was an extremely enjoyable and fascinating couple of days in belarus! i was blown away with how nice the people of belarus are. belarus has had a tough history and the people are still unfortunately are without many of the freedoms that we take for granted in the west, but this will inevitably change. i would encourage anyone reading this to go to belarus asap – you won’t regret it!
