This is the most common question I heard when people found out I was venturing to the (ex?) Soviet Country. It bears striking similarities to its neighbor Russia, including a very complicated and time-consuming (for most countries) visa process, a common language (though Belarusian is the official language, most locals use Russian on a daily basis), and, via certain travel types, border-less travel between the two countries. It is, however, definitely on fewer tourists radars, as tourism is not yet a priority for the country it seems.
However. Should you succeed in being invited into the country (literally. Like Russia, you need a letter of invitation from someone or an organization in the country…), you will experience beautiful landscapes, authentic historical buildings and forts, modern cities, and friendly people.
I was fortunate enough to travel to Brest, Grodno, and Minsk. You can read more about my adventures in each of those sections, as well as a detailed blog about the stunning and unique churches found in each of the cities here.
In general: English isn’t widely spoken, at all. While some signage is appearing in train stations, the metro and some tourist maps, a few key phrases in Russian is quite good to have, unless you desire a week of miming your needs. (You will still find yourself doing this with some Russian, but at least you won’t feel so completely lost!)
It’s incredibly cheap. I spent 200 USD for 5 days, which included all meals, transportation within and between cities, all activities and accommodation. (I chose centrally located, modern hotels and didn’t try to stretch my budget there. It could be done for less.) The only thing it didn’t include was my train tickets into and out of the country, which, unfortunately, are surprisingly expensive. A wonderful quality 3-course restaurant dinner with wine, in the main square of Minsk will cost you no more than 7 USD. The capital is definitely the most expensive city, and prices are considerably lower outside of Minsk. A ride on public transport is less than .20 cents. An ice cream cone is less than .25 cents. Accommodations in reasonably priced tourist hotels costs between 15-40$ a night. Travel on local buses between cities costs less than 1$. Taxis within the smaller centres, or the centre area of Minsk are less than 2$ for most trips, and are metered, to give you peace of mind.
The people can be very open and friendly, but the language barrier creates obstacles. While in theory, everyone born after the collapse of the Soviet Union has taken English lessons in school, they have few people to practice with, and not using it in their day to day lives means they are rarely comfortable using the language. And they don’t usually smile; however once you get them talking, it’s easier to see that, in general, they really are friendly and happy people.
Currently, the country is operating with two different currencies, that are used interchangeably. It is incredibly confusing and most of the time, I ended up handing over whatever money I pulled from my wallet, and pretending I knew what the person who was picking over the bills was saying. In bo situation did I ever feel like I was missing money, had been mis-charged, or taken advantage of. On more than one occasion, when I confidently handed over what I though was a proper amount, I was given several bills back. The honest locals usually gave me a smile (!!), or in one instance, patted my hand pityingly (oh the poor clueless tourist). The locals appear to be so honest, that I tried to give a taxi driver a tip for spending the better part of an afternoon giving me a fantastic tour (with the best English I’d found in the city). He shook his head, saying ‘too much. Too many coffee and teas’ (the literal English translation to ‘keep the change’ is ‘the rest is for tea’), and proceeded to show me what the fare cost, and give himself a ‘generous’ 5% tip, and say ‘one tea for me, one for my wife is all I need’. What other city on earth does this happen in!?! (Please tell me – does this actually happen anywhere else?)
The switch to the currency started on July 1, 2016, and the old currency will be discontinued in January, 2017, so at least my confusion was to be more or less expected.
While it was a strange experience to be the only tourist in a hotel, or seemingly the only person staying on my floor in the hotel…), and less than comfortable to be momentarily pursued by Belarusian police yelling into a loudspeaker, Belarus was definitely an experience that every traveler should take in.
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