After a long drive from Moscow on our way to Poland, We stopped off in the country of Belarus. Formally Russia, Belarus has a population of over 9 million. Staying in the city of Minsk which happens to be the capital we saw a lot of interesting sites. Minsk is located right dead and center of Belarus. Although this region use to be owned by Russia. It technically still is due to their economic problems. Russia pretty much pays for everything for this little country. If the word Communism was brought up you could say the country of Belarus was sort of like that. Due to the fact that another country is paying for everything their doing. Putting all that behind Minsk was another city that needed to be explored. Being their for only one night that didn't give me much time but I was destined to get the most out of it as I could. Starting with the casino. Our hotel hosted a strip club and casino. It's funny cause with rackets like that that's how the country generally makes their money. I lost about 25 American dollars playing blackjack but it was still a cool experience. The lady still even asked for my passport when I was trying to cash out. We called it a one way casino. They only want the money going one way and that's to them.
After a great Russian 3 course meal it was time to take the city walking tour. This place was so small I couldn't believe it's considered a country's capital. Making our way up a few blocks and up this hill we reached yet another historic church. The Cathedral of the Holy Spirit is located right in the middle of Independence Square. As we made our way up a little further we found another church and a bunch of nice restaurants. This place didn't seem to have much night life but in return a lot of good pubs and restaurants. After walking around for a while I knew that I had to go check out a pub in the area.
Our tour than got down to a river/lake. Formally known as the Svislach the length of this thing goes all thru the city of Minsk. While crossing a bridge I noticed a bunch of locks scattered on the gate. I sat their and thought about it for few seconds and realized that couples would stencil their name into the lock and lock it around the gate. They would then throw the key to the lock over the bridge into the water. Representing that they will stay together forever. Since its nearly impossible to find the right key under the water. It seemed like a very special thing. I never heard of a symbol like that. As we walked over the bridge we got to this other monument. The monument is called the Island of Tears. It's in memorial for all the soldiers that never returned home. It's design shows a bunch of black figured angels with facial features lined up around this white light house looking structure. Looking at it especially with the sun going down was a very symbolic feeling. Looking out on the lake and seeing couples paddling on little paddle boats added to what was going on around us. We walked a bit further and a statue caught our attention. It was of an Angel boy with his eyes over his face. His wings are spread out. This whole island seemed to be dedicated to lost ones in war. Many couples come here and stroll thru the different monuments.
As our walking tour came to an end we chose to stay in the center in town and find a pub to drink at. With so many selections around us we couldn't help notice the boat restaurants laid out on the lake. From the view we could see the whole skyline of the city standing right behind it. We found one pub right next to the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit. Let me just add that a bar next to a church is just a great location. After Wednesday ashes you can grab yourself a cup of whiskey and coke. My friends Jeroen, Ramon, and I sat down and began to look at all the people walking in and out. I had a few whiskey and cokes and we also ordered some dish that tasted like chicken fingers. We liked it so much we got a second round. I guess that Russian dinner earlier wasn't enough after walking around Minsk and drinking some alcohol. We walked back to the hotel from the pub around 1 AM. It was starting to rain and thunder, weather that we were not use to coming from Russia's humidity. It seemed like a long wet walk back to the hotel but on the way we saw traffic lights that had smiley faces on them. I thought that was pretty funny.
The city of Minsk was small and very easy to get around. Before even getting there I heard bad rumors about how dangerous and shitty it was. Those people were wrong. Iv'e never seen such a beautiful place to relax for the day. I don't think anyone could of been as wrong as the things I was hearing about it. Between the beautiful monuments and the locks of couples on the gate to the pubs filled with great locals and cheap liquor, I did not find one thing wrong. Of course besides me losing 25 dollars at the black jack table but you always have to prepare yourself for losing. I thought it was very funny that our hotel had both a casino and a strip club, also a bowling alley. It was like staying in a Las Vegas resort but in the middle of an impoverished nation. Independence park which is located right in the middle is a great place in the summer. I'm sure they have a lot of festivals and events, even concerts that happen daily.
No comments:
Post a Comment