Minsk

During the summer of 2018, my focus grew increasingly on visiting countries in Eastern Europe. I usually tend to prefer countries with fewer tourists. There’s a certain uniqueness about these countries that you don’t find elsewhere. I also have a particular interest in Cold War history. This places all former Eastern Bloc countries on the to-do list for my travels. Add all these things together, and a trip to Minsk, Belarus became a perfect birthday present for myself. Given that it’s often referred to as Europe’s last dictatorship, it was only a matter of time before I’d find myself in Belarus anyway.

TUESDAY, August 14th

Flew with Austrian Airlines first to Vienna, with a tight 40-minute connection out of the Schengen Area.

The flight landed 10 minutes early and taxied to a jet bridge. This gave me plenty of time to head for the passport check. In Vienna, the passport control was automated for European Union citizens and there were no lines, fortunately. Despite such a short connecting time, I made it to the gate for my flight to Minsk before boarding had even started.

We departed Vienna on time. As we descended towards Minsk ahead of schedule, the pilot announced that the airport was “clear skies”, with thunderstorms in the area. These got worse as we approached Minsk, and it seemed as if we were not flying directly towards the airport. The plane was maintaining a low altitude but kept turning left and right, to avoid the worst of the weather. I knew what was going on, but probably 95% of the passengers were Belarussian. It was obvious that not everyone spoke English. Given that announcements weren’t made in the last 15-20 minutes, there were definitely some nervous reactions as the plane was rattled and shaken by the fierce winds. Once we landed, still a few minutes ahead of schedule, it was raining a lot. A serious torrential downpour. Anything but clear skies.

Fellow passengers sprinting out of the bus that brought us to the airport terminal.

Belarus has in recent years introduced visa-free travel for citizens of generally Western countries and countries that were on good terms with the former Soviet Union. You are however required to show a proof of medical insurance upon entering through immigration control. I knew this, but most of my insurance papers are written in German. The immigration officer was a little confused by this. In some countries, the immigration control will accept any text with your name and a company logo on it, without checking what’s actually written. The officers in Minsk had a strict attention to detail.

Technically, you’re also supposed to show that you possess enough money for the duration of your stay (Officially ~20 USD/day). I wasn’t asked about this. As a Western European citizen, it was probably assumed that I had more than enough funds to support myself. 

The airport is roughly 35-40 km (~25 miles) away from the city of Minsk. There were no public transport connections late at night. Getting a taxi was an interesting ordeal. I walked over to some of the taxis parked at the official queue. They refused to take me, saying they were “busy”, even though they still had no customers. Maybe they were pre-booked, I honestly don’t know.

Someone with a taxi badge walked up and asked if I needed a taxi. If a taxi driver approaches you, instead of you taking the initiative, it is usually a huge red flag. As he was the only willing taxi driver around and it was late at night, I accepted. If only I had thought of checking if Uber was available. I later found out that Uber was in fact available throughout Minsk.

Eventually the taxi driver drove up in a Mercedes with logos and everything. Inside was his government-issued taxi licenses. Alright, at least he was an official taxi driver. His methods were anything but official though. He quoted the price that was also listed inside the car, 2 Belarussian Rubles (BYN) per km (1 USD per kilometer, ~0.6 USD per mile). However, he somehow managed to start the taximeter at 45 BYN, and left it as such. Then at a random point along the freeway, he started the counter. Obviously, the whole trip became very overpriced, and I confronted him about this when it was time to pay. I even made him plug the routing into a GPS app on his phone. He admitted to taking a longer route. I didn’t pay full price, but what I paid was still much more than the trip really should have cost. 

Then came the next challenge, getting inside the airbnb apartment. Because I arrived past 1 AM, I agreed with the owner that the keys would be in an unlocked mailbox inside. She gave me the code for the outside door to the building. I found the right entrance, punched in the code, and a dialing tone started.

The door was still locked. I tried again, and again. No luck. Essentially the code I was given was the apartment number, followed by the letter “K” (see picture), then a 4-digit pin. I tried removing the room number, that didn’t work. Then just the pin-code by itself, nope. Obviously there’s a guide on the keypad. Although I can read the Cyrillic alphabet, I speak neither Belarussian nor Russian, so it didn’t help me much.

I looked around to see if there were anyone who might be able to help, but that wasn’t the case. I decided to call the owner, who was renting me the entire apartment and didn’t live there herself. It was clear I woke her up. She answered “I don’t speak English. Write. Write”, meaning I should text her through the airbnb app. I accepted that without really considering that I have no data roaming on my cell phone plan in Belarus. Each megabyte would cost me over 15 USD! Out of the blue, public WiFi was available at the apartment building. Not simply a neighbor with an unsecured hotspot, a true public WiFi hotspot. At an apartment complex? Yes indeed! People think Eastern Europe is backwards and underdeveloped compared to the rest of Europe. That is definitely not always the case.

I texted the owner, whom I’m assuming was using an online translator to overcome the language barrier. It turned out that you needed to press the K button at the beginning of the code sequence mentioned above as well. So first a K, then the apartment number, then K again, and the four-digit PIN code. The owner hadn’t written that you needed to press the K twice. I’m sure it’s described on the keypad in Russian and she usually didn’t have to point this out. Finally, I got inside the building, and found the apartment keys in the correct mailbox.

The building was definitely from the USSR days, but the apartment itself was nice and modern. I unpacked what was necessary and went to bed, as it was now 1:30 AM. 

WEDNESDAY, August 15th

Started my exploration of Minsk along the main avenue, Praspekt Nezalezhnastsi, beginning at the October Square, the main square in central Minsk. There’s a few prominent buildings surrounding the square, the most eye-catching one being the Palace of Republic concert hall.

Continuing north, the next stop was the Belarussian State Circus for some pictures.

Across the Svislach River, further north along the avenue was the Victory Square. It is dedicated to the victory over Nazi Germany in WWII, and the sacrifices of Belarussian soldiers.

On the street level of Victory Square there’s an obelisk, with a small flame burning in front of it. It’s burning from the brown plaque in front of the obelisk, but it’s not possible to see it on the photo above. This is a memorial to Soviet soldiers who lost their lives in the war. Just below the square, in an underground passageway, is an orange-glowing circle that also represents a flame. On the walls around it are heroic murals in memory of the war effort.

 

Another of several squares along Independence Avenue (Pr. Nezalezhnastsi) was the Jakuba Kulasa Square. It has a large statue of the Belarussian writer in a seated, pondering pose.

Across from the statue, behind the camera, is Minsk’s Philharmonic. The next stop for photos became the buildings belonging to БНТУ, the Belarussian National Technical University. Not only does their faculty offices look different than the apartments beside it, the mint-green color ensures you won’t miss them as you walk past.

Another Soviet architectural gem, just past the university, is the Oktober movie theatre.

After this, there aren’t many noteworthy sights along the Independence Avenue within walking distance.

I had met up with a local to tour the city earlier in the morning. She suggested that we took the metro out to the National Library.

Entering the platforms at the Акадэмія навук metro station.

The National Library of Belarus is one of the must-see landmarks in Minsk, thanks in large-part to its unusual shape. It is a massive project, built in the post-Soviet era and supported in large part by Belarussian President Lukashenko.

It is possible to enter the actual library too, but we went on top to its observation deck. From the 23rd floor, there are great views over the surrounding area. In the surrounding neighborhood is a very interesting contrast of old, Soviet-designed apartment buildings, and modern skyscrapers and shopping malls.

We took the metro back downtown to a spot near the Svislach River, which was close to the Galleria Minsk shopping center. We stopped for lunch in there at a restaurant serving Belarussian food.

After lunch we crossed the river, and walked past Hotel Belarus and the Don Maskvy Culture Center, another two pieces of Minsk’s varied architecture.

My friend needed to quickly stop by her university, to pick up some documents. It was around that time the US White House’s social media started the “Yanny vs. Laurel” debate. If you’ve never heard of it, you’re not missing much. It all centered around how listeners perceived a very specific audio clip. Some claimed to hear “Yanny”, others believing that it sounded like “Laurel”. The phenomenon had made it all the way to the school paper of a university in Belarus, posted on a board near its entrance. 

We continued with a quick photo stop at Lee Harvey Oswald’s former apartment. It’s nowhere near as spectacular as it sounds. Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who was arrested for the murder of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, had defected to the Soviet Union in 1959. He was originally only issued a tourist visa for a week. Oswald insisted on remaining in the Soviet Union because of his communist beliefs. He wounded himself intentionally on the day his visa expired, to be hospitalized in Moscow. After several interviews, he was allowed to stay. However, he was sent to work in a radio factory in Minsk, instead of living in Moscow and studying, as he desired.

By the time he had become almost fed up with his life in the Soviet Union, Lee Harvey Oswald met a Belarussian woman. They got married, and had a daughter together. The family decided to return to America over the summer of 1962, after Oswald’s wife and daughter received the necessary documents to be able to accompany him. During his time in Minsk, Oswald was given a subsidized apartment at Vul. Kamyunistychnaya 4, in the bottom-left corner of the building.

It still serves as an apartment, and it’s a very unremarkable, common apartment. There are no signs or anything indicating that this apartment would be anything special. The address was mentioned in my Lonely Planet guide.

We took the bus over to the Great Patriotic War Museum, dedicated to World War II. It features a large, varied collection of items from the war. This is by far the best museum in Minsk. Definitely worth a visit, even if you are usually not interested in military history.

The museum’s name might sound a bit strange for westerners. World War II was known as the “Great Patriotic War” in the Soviet realm. The collection at the museum features several pieces of artillery, tanks and war planes.

Also to be found here are numerous medals, weapons and candid photos from the war. There’s of course plenty of pro-Soviet propaganda, as the museum was built by the Soviets during the Cold War.

Belarus still maintains good relations with Russia, so the Soviet symbols everywhere are definitely not being removed any time soon. Particularly not the ones on the top floor of the museum.

On the museum’s top floor is a memorial for the tens of thousands of Belarussian soldiers who died fighting in the Soviet Red Army during World War II. The names of each and everyone of them, sorted by their division, are written on the walls here.

After the museum visit, it had become late in the afternoon. We split up, and I continued exploring Minsk on my own. Not far from the Great Patriotic War Museum was a monument also related to the war. The Nazis, while in control of Belarus, murdered 2000 Jews from Minsk on March 2nd, 1942. The monument is a memorial for those victims.

I continued south and passed a line of buildings adjacent to the Galleria Minsk shopping center. These included the Moscow (Москвa) movie theatre, another Socialist-era building.

The Galleria Minsk, a new, shiny example of Western capitalism and materialism, surrounded by mostly communist-era buildings.

My idea was to cross the Svislach River. As I walked around to the nearest bridge, I passed an Orthodox church, the Holy Spirit Cathedral. It was open, so I decided to have a look inside, before continuing.

Across the river was a tiny “old town”, known as Trinity Hill. Honestly, there was nothing really old about the design of any of the buildings here. It’s a remake of some of Minsk’s buildings from the time before World War II and its destruction. None of them looked really traditional in my opinion. Going to Trinity Hill was quite useful nevertheless, because it has a bridge to the tiny island known locally as the “Island of Tears”.

The Island of Courage & Sorrow, as it is officially known, is a monument dedicated to the Soviet War in Afghanistan. Specifically, the monuments here have been erected on this tiny island to commemorate the Belarussian soldiers who fought and died for the Red Army in Afghanistan in the 1980s. There is actually one enjoyable part of visiting the otherwise somber island. The view across the river of some of the more modern buildings in Minsk is quite beautiful from this location.

Afterwards I continued towards my apartment for a quick pitstop. On the way back, I spotted one really interesting juxtaposition. There’s not many places in the world that you’d find a patriotic Soviet mural with soldiers carved out of stone, on top of a Kentucky Fried Chicken. But Minsk is one of them.

Before getting something to eat, I wanted to explore the parts of Independence Avenue that were south of my apartment. The area I was aiming for was Independence Square, formerly known as Lenin Square. It is surrounded with all kinds of architectural wonders and government buildings, from the period of the Cold War. One of the most imposing buildings that first catches your eye, is simply the Central Post Office.

The Executive Committee of the City of Minsk also has its offices here. They all pale in comparison with the vastly oversized parliament buildings on the other side of the square.

There’s a very good reason why this was formerly known as Lenin Square. Nothing is more evident of the fact that Belarus would rather find itself back in the Soviet Union, than the statue of Vladimir Lenin in front of the Belarussian Parliament. The state emblem of Belarus, on the parliament building, is also very much inspired by the Soviet days. It is a new version created in 1995 though.

If all that wasn’t enough of an indication that Belarussian politics aren’t changing from their past, don’t forget the reason why Belarus is known as the “last dictatorship in Europe”. Although there have been several elections since Belarus adopted its own, independent constitution in 1994, they’ve had only one president since then, Alexander Lukashenko. Previous elections have been considered flawed or rigged by international observers. Opposition politicians have usually been arrested around the time of elections. Rallies organized by the opposition have sometimes resulted in violent crackdowns.

Having soaked in the magnitude of the political offices at the Lenin Square, I walked up north along the main avenue. Further north on the Praspekt Nezalezhnastsi, as the Independence Avenue is known in Belarussian, there were a few buildings I had passed in the morning. I hadn’t realized their significance earlier.

One of these was the former headquarters of the KGB’s Belarussian division, pictured above.

I walked through a small park opposite the October Square. Then I proceeded via one of the side streets to the Minsk City Hall.

Just behind the city hall, I had dinner at a restaurant that had a mostly British pub theme. I went there because it featured several Belarussian dishes on the menu. 

THURSDAY, August 16th

My birthday began in a quite relaxed fashion. I slept in, then had brunch, or rather late breakfast, in a café just across the street from my apartment.

By the time I had finished eating, it was already noon. I almost never start my days that late. But hey, who wants to stress on their birthdays?

I went to the National History Museum next. It features a decent-sized archaeological collection, which covers pre-history through to the Middle Ages.

Another part of the exhibit deals with the period where Belarus belonged to the Great Duchy of Lithuania, and later the Kingdom of Poland & Lithuania, from the late 14th century until 1795. Some weapons from that era are pictured above.

After a few sections with mainly religious art, the museum ends with what I thought was quite a highlight. Before you exit the museum, you pass by a room with a large collection of various currencies used historically in the territory of Belarus.

These included several periods of USSR coins and some bills.

Also on display were coupons issued during the German occupation of Belarus during World War II.

There were also several large stashes of coins from the Great Duchy of Lithuania. In addition to this were Roman coins, found in southwestern Belarus. These were likely acquired through trade in the ancient days, as the Roman Empire never stretched so far north.

I decided to go for lunch in a traditional Belarussian restaurant near the city centre. On the way, I walked by the Dinamo Minsk Stadium.

My lunch consisted of stuffed potato dumplings, a traditional Belarussian dish.

After I had lunch, I stopped by the Orthodox Church of St. Aleksandr Nevsky, a bit northeast of the centre of Minsk. It was constructed in 1898. The church had been closed by the Soviets, reopened by the Nazis, then closed again by the Soviets. Now, it’s finally open again, but it was relatively quiet once I got there. That meant ample opportunity for photographing its colorful interior without disturbing anyone.

After visiting the church, I walked back to my apartment to talk on Facetime with my parents.

In the early evening, before the sunset, I went to see the Independence Palace. It’s a 15 minute bus ride away from the city centre. Although not officially named as such, it is the de-facto presidential palace, and a truly monstrous building.

It has over 50,000 square meters (~538,000 square feet) of floor space. The Independence Palace is not open to the public, but you can walk up to the perimeter fence and stick your camera through for pictures of the building. Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko hosts international world leaders here.

Right across from the Independence Palace was the Belexpo building. It’s quite conveniently placed, given that Lukashenko hosts world leaders in the Palace behind it, then why not place the national exibition centre next-door? The building’s peculiar design almost looks like a flying saucer.

Behind the BelExpo was the Flag Square. As the name suggests, its centrepiece is a large Belarussian flag at the top of a  very tall flagpole, visible from relatively far away.

Surrounding it were several monuments to various Belarussian historical landmarks or cultural icons. The national anthem was written on a wall at the square. There was a map of country, as well as the modern-day state emblem on other sides.

I tried to find a decent restaurant for dinner inside the large shopping mall across the street. All I could find was dirt cheap (read: not good) fast food. Instead, I got back on the bus which anyway passed by the Galeria Minsk shopping center. I figured I’d find something at its food court. It was however quite late at night, and some of the restaurants there had already began closing.

One of the still-open spots was a pizza place, so I settled for that. Not very Belarussian, but I didn’t have much of a choice. It was affordable, and surprisingly good nonetheless. By now it was well past 10 PM, and more than overdue that I went back to the apartment to sleep. I needed to get up shortly before 4 AM (!!) to catch my flight home. 

FRIDAY, August 17th

Much too early in the morning, I woke up. At first I was in disbelief that the alarm had rung while it was still pitch black outside. Well, there was a reason for that. To sleep even longer, I didn’t shower (I did this when I got back home later in the day, don’t worry), nor did I have breakfast in the apartment.

I ordered an Uber to the airport. It was a much more pleasant experience than the taxi ride into town when I first arrived in Minsk. This is exactly why I like Uber. You know what you are getting. Not only was the service significantly better than the evening I arrived, it was also just 1/3 of the price.

The Minsk National Airport was built by the Soviets, so service wasn’t exactly the first thing in mind. My options for breakfast were either Burger King, or cake and muffins at a small cafe near my gate. I chose the latter.

Just after 6 AM, my Lufthansa flight departed to Frankfurt. I spotted the plane from the taxi as we drove in earlier. The aircraft was parked quite far away from the terminal itself.

In Frankfurt, I had just enough time to stop by the Lufthansa Business Lounge for something which resembled breakfast, much more so than what was on offer in Minsk. My onward connection with SWISS to Zurich was punctual.

Arriving on time allowed me to go home, shower, and take a good, long nap.