Belarus -

New Year’s eve in Minsk – unexpected fireworks!

Gosia — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 07:56:55 +0000

Originally, New Year’s Eve 2018/2019 was supposed to be nothing special. I’ve never actually put pressure on New Year’s Eve celebration, but this time I decided that I’d look for a nice trip option for a change. Unfortunately, I showed a chess player’s reflex, being under an illusion that at the end of November, I would find some accommodation in Poland at a reasonable price. Looking for possible options, I took a map. I glanced at the eastern part, I thought that after all, Brest is not that far from Warsaw… I checked the offers of accommodation: a lot of nice apartments at very affordable prices. Waiting time for visa 10 days, green card available immediately, so it was clear I would spend that New Year’s Eve in Belarus! I announced this wonderful message to my friends and in a moment there were a few people willing to go there. Not to mention my best friend who decided to join us taking the Freedom Highway straight form Berlin! We all felt that trip would be memorable. That’s what really happened, in many ways it was very emotional… and to top it off it almost ended with deportation, but I’ll write about it in another post ? Planning a tour, I thought to myself: “if we were going to have a party, why not make it a big party?” Minsk seemed to be a perfect place to welcome New Year! I admit that I was curious about this city and its inhabitants, but I didn’t expect fireworks regarding New Year’s Eve party 😀 We were supposed to go to a concert in the city centre, so nothing interesting. Meanwhile, it turned out to be the weirdest party I’ve ever been to. As part of a short introduction, New Year is a very important holiday for Belarusians. This is because the socialist system of this country has denied the role of religion in society for many years. Celebrating all religious festivals was strictly forbidden. Although many people are getting back to Christmas tradition these days, still many Christmas customs are celebrated here on New Year. For example, contrary to the Western Europe, Belarusians decorate Christmas tree before New Year, because as followers of the Orthodox church, they celebrate Christmas only after New Year’s Eve. Generally, December 31 in Belarus looks like our Christmas. Families gather at tables full of traditional dishes. The mandatory positions on the Belarusian table are: herring, Olivier salad, caviar, mandarins and various cakes. Just before midnight, the President’s message is broadcasted on TV. When the clock strikes 12, just like in other parts of the world, Belarusians wish themselves all the best and drink champagne. Then they open gifts, just like we do on Christmas. During this time, Minsk is illuminated with colourful lights and looks very atmospheric. The raw architecture of the capital of Belarus is becoming more homely. The streets are decorated with garlands and various colourful lights. Places in the city centre are decorated with numerous Christmas trees. The New Year’s Eve party itself resembles parties organized in many European cities. Except the fact that music is more folksy and the concept of copyright does not exist here. However, I must admit that New Year’s Eve in Minsk surprised me very much for the other reasons. First of all, during the whole New Year’s Eve night I didn’t see not a single person who would be aggressive or totally drunk. In my opinion, people having fun at the concert acted pretty conservative. I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but there are only two explanations, this is thanks to a great organization of public order or Belarusians just have a better head do drink than we ? Minsk also surprised me for another reason. As I wrote earlier, I didn’t expect fireworks from that party. Meanwhile, as it turned out, fireworks were there but at the most unexpected moment. According to tradition, New Year’s eve is a holiday, mostly spent in the family circle, at midnight people stay at their homes toasting, expressing wishes and exchanging gifts. Only around 1 am they go outside, then a fireworks show is organized. However, apart from the open air event, Minsk has many other attractions to offer for New Year’s Eve. For example, you can take advantage of many interesting parties organized in restaurants. New Year’s Eve night at a good restaurant costs around € 30-50. Steam bath parties are also an interesting option. Generally, it is worth visiting Minsk on New Year’s Eve. Very affordable prices, delicious food, outgoing people and the opportunity to experience and see something new, can you imagine better beginning of the New Year? Personally, I’d love to go there again.

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Belarusian cuisine – homely food!

Gosia — Sat, 09 Mar 2019 14:55:28 +0000

Belarusian cuisine is based mainly on products available in Belarus like: potatoes, cereals, pork, mushrooms and forest fruit. Dishes are prepared with simple ingredients and easy to cook. Due to the long and harsh winters and the nature of the work of the majority of the population, the traditional cuisine in Belarus consists of nutritious meals. However, the most characteristic is the preparation process. Dishes are mainly roasted, cooked and stewed and very rarely fried. Belarusian cuisine uses a small amount of spices while the mandatory element of almost every dish is cream. Restaurants in Belarus have a distinctive, homey look and offer numerous traditional dishes. There is no problem to find places where you can try local specialties, which often happens in Western European countries. On Belarusian Embassy site you can read: The implementation of the dishes of the Belarusian national cuisine is one of the requirements for catering facilities (except facilities, specializing in the preparation of national cuisine of other countries). That’s why Belarusian cuisine is on the menu of all restaurants and cafes. Breakfast For breakfast you can eat scrambled eggs or omelette served with bread and vegetables . The meat option includes bacon and homemade sausage with fried potatoes. In a sweet option, there are most often pancakes with cheese, cream and jam. You cannot miss fluffy cheese pancakes called syrniki served usually with cream, homemade jam, honey or apple mousse. Syrniki are very delicate inside, while from outside they are very crispy. While being in Belarus, don’t forget to try them! However, if anyone wants to bring back memories from childhood, he can always order ordinary porridge 😉 Dinner The perfect proposal for winter is aromatic soup, usually served with cream. In restaurants you can try slightly sour soup called soljanka? It is a traditional soup with addition of water from sour cucumbers, sausages, spices and cream 😉 Modern version can contain olives or capers. The perfect proposal for summer is chlodnik- soup with beetroots and cream served with cucumber, egg and dill. Among the meat dominates pork, although in Belarus you can eat also: veal, beef or poultry. Dishes are served with mushrooms or vegetables: mostly carrots, cabbage and beets. The staple are potatoes, which are also called “second bread”. Due to the large potato consumption Belarusians are called “potato people”. Personally I’m not a fan of potatoes due to their popularity in Poland. However, in Belarus, potatoes are rarely consumed simply boiled as it takes place in Poland. Potatoes are subjected to various processes like: grating, mashing, roasting or frying. It seems that the basic potato dish is draniki, known to us as potato pies, served with cream. Draniki is an universal dish, you can serve them with pork fat, mushrooms or meat. The popular potato dishes are also: potato casserole with bacon and onions, bliny – potato pancakes, potato sausage and kliocki (noodles) – potato cake served pork fat or bacon and fried onions. Flour dishes are also very popular. In Belarus, you can try kolduny – small dumplings served alone or as an addition to soup and pelmeni – dumplings stuffed with raw meat. Dumplings can be served from water or oven. You can also try sweet pierogi stuffed with various forest fruit. Belarus is also famous for excellent drinks and not necessarily just alcoholic. Popular are homemade compote, kvas, or tea with honey and spices. My number one was tea with orange, cranberries, sea buckthorn and rosemary. In Belarus there’s a wide selection of alcoholic beverages. In addition to vodka, very popular is also Krupnik and Zubrowka. I can recommend also : cranberry, horseradish and horseradish with honey vodka. Especially the last one is worth a try. However, in the middle of winter, after all-day sightseeing, I was most fond of mulled wine. Desserts Belarus also produces excellent chocolate and marshmallows called zefir. They resemble big meringues. In cafes you can try a variety of desserts and cakes. Try dates with mascarpone cheese served in restaurant La Kave in Brest Restaurants and prices: Recommended places to eat:– Vasilki and Kukhmistr in Minsk,– Karchma in Grodno,– La Kave in Brest,– coffee and cakes in Centralny Univiersam Snack Bar in Minsk. Food in Belarus is relatively cheap even in very good restaurants .For soup you have to pay around 2-3€ The cost of dishes – dumplings, pancakes or cheese cakes is also about 5-7 rubles. The cost of the second dish is about 6€. Coke costs about less than 1€. In elegant restaurants in the centre of Minsk prices are higher. For the second dish in the restaurant I paid 10€, while for dessert 6€.

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Belarus – 10 reasons why you should visit this country!

Gosia — Wed, 16 Jan 2019 20:06:32 +0000

I’d been planning to visit Belarus for a very long time. Even though this country is located very close to Warsaw, it always seemed to me very distant. Before visiting it I heard many warnings about corruption, negative attitude to Poles or problems with crossing the border. How did it really look like? Check out 10 reasons why it’s worth visiting Belarus! 1. The Stalin Line Just 35 km from Minsk, there’s s a place where time has stopped. Bunkers, underground tunnels, trenches, weapons warehouses, command stations and large exhibition of military equipment, literally takes one back to the WWII times. This is the largest military museum in Belarus. It’s the part of fortifications, built in the 20’s in the 20th century. The line was built to defend against the attack from the west, however, during the WWII, it played exclusively an auxiliary role. As a consequence of the signing of the Ribbentrop – Molotov Pact, a new Molotov line was built along the “new” Western border of the USSR. Most of the equipment form the Stalin Line was moved there. It turned out to be a grave mistake because when the Germans attacked the USSR, the Molotov line was not yet completed, and Stalin’s line was not able to perform defense. In the vast area of the museum, you can go along the long trenches or exploring bunkers and underground tunnels and see helicopters, combat planes, tanks and radar systems. An interesting place is also a graveyard of old cars and a replica of the house destroyed during the war. However, the true attraction in the winter is the visit Father Frost. His cottage is located right next to… a range 😉 2. Inverted house – the world has stood on its head! About 40 km from Minsk in Dukora town, you can visit an interesting place where you can challenge your sense of balance. In the area of the open-air museum you can find the Inverted House. The architect recreated in detail every element of overturned building, well except curtains… 😉 There’s a real test waiting for you inside. Like the outside, also and inside everything is reversed, and in addition, the building is a little tilted which makes it difficult to walk. 3. Belarusian Village – let’s make the world colorful! Belarusian villages are one of a kind and when travelling by car, it’s worth to turn a little from the main route to see at least one. Villages in Belarus are poor, it seems that the further from big cities, this financial situation of people is worse. In a typical village, usually there’s no store and you can’t see cars, the water is taken from the wells, and the houses are mainly wooden. However, what surprised me the most was the amount of colours. Every house had a different shade, every gate had another painted pattern. The gardens were very well groomed and in the windows you could see various decorations. 4. Castles, smaller castles… There’re a lot of interesting castles in Belarus. According to the legend in the tunnels of the famous castle Mir, were hidden the treasures of the Radziwill family. In the Lida Castle you can see how life looked like in the times of the raids of Teutonic Order. There’s also a beautifully located castle in Kosava. 5. Where is the bison? While travelling in Belarus I felt like the national symbol of this country were bisons and storks. Despite winter, storks in Belarus were present everywhere, on my way or on the market stalls 😉 However, you don’t need to go Bialowieski National Park to see bisons, as you can see one close to the highway from Minsk to Brest! 6. Like home! I couldn’t believe that I found a lot examples of Polish relationships with Belarus. Before leaving, I didn’t actually know what to expect. I was wondering how the Poles were perceived by Belarusians. I had a number of stereotypes in my head. I must admit that I treated this trip as a verification of the universal impressions of this country. Once again I checked that reality differs a lot from the way as its presented or we think about it. I am surprised by the culture and openness of Belarusians, the state of roads and safety. During the stay I wasn’t felt bad because of my nationality, on the contrary a lot of people were very helpful I didn’t see any militia, on the roads (I covered around 1200 km in Belarus), I didn’t encounter bribery and was impressed by the way the Belarusians drive. 7. Urban exploration – urbex There are also some interesting abandoned buildings in Belarus. One of the most interesting places is certainly the Belarusian exclusion zone – Belarusian part of the contaminated zone, after the Chernobyl power plant explosion. Unfortunately, due to a small amount of time, I wasn’t able to visit this place. As a consolation, I chose to visit an abandoned palace in Ruzhana. What is true this complex has years of greatness behind it, while its skeleton and location on the high hill is still impressive. 8. Brest Fortress The Fortress in Brest was the last place in my journey to Belarus, and at the same time the icing on the cake. But first, a little bit of history, the fortress was built in the first half of the 19th century and to the outbreak of World War II was within Poland borders. Then, it was included into the USSR. The Fortress In Brest is also called the fortress of heroes and it’s a symbol of the heroic fight of its defenders. 9. Potatoes and cream! The staple in Belarus are potatoes and cream. The choice is wide, for example from many potato dishes you can taste: Draniki (potato pies), potato casserole and mashed potato in a shape of sausage. Belarusian cuisine also consists of aromatic soups like: borscht, soljanka or mushroom soup. Very popular are also dishes like: dumplings, pies, pancakes, pelmeni or kolduny. Belarusians don’t use a lot of spices while thick cream is mandatory to every dish. More about Belarusian cuisine soon 😉 10. Journey to the past… Surprising that after just a few hours of driving you can land in a completely different reality. A reality remembered perfectly by our parents or grandparents. The monuments of Lenin or Stalin, and the symbols of hammer and sickle are the most visible element of political system. However, the real fun starts when you need to do some formalities. Bureaucracy, countless quantity of documents and signatures, constant backlogs in procedures make the journey to the past, even more authentic! 😉 More details soon 😉

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