Belarus - a country in great change

It was a great trip in these two weeks and I had the chance to learn so much of a country that is only 1000 km away from Vienna but in the mindset still in the Kaukasus. I feel that the country is starting to opening up - the new law about Visa free entry for 5 days for European citizens was introduced - the daily registration for foreign citizen has been made less strict - now every five day registration is fine - before it was on a daily basis - the number of tourist from Europe increase steadily now 40-50 % of the tourist to Minsk com from Europe the rest ist Russian. The cleanness of this country is amazing I have never seen anything beside Singapore in my live - everything is tidy, traffic rules are followed - nobody is crossing a red light - unbelievable - and the contact with the authorities I had were strict but correct and no bribing was asked anytime. On the downside you still have a hughe beurcracy that hinders development - learned about 6 month application time for a authority approval for an outside sitting area - or that Europcar is still not allowed to place a sign in the Minsk railway station that you can find their counter easier than after 15 minutes search ...also the reintroduction of the death panalty - leaves a strange feeling and a president that is now more than 23 years in power is propbaly not proofing the most democratic structures - people have disappeared that tried to act against the government ... and the news are not free - local people call it "the day of Lukaschenko and the weather" and also my Russian is poor the name of the president was mentioned nearly in every post before the weather ....

People struggle with the low wages and leave to Russi Patro work - I spoke to some people that have be deported from working on the black labour market in Denmark and Germany in struggle to survive. The prices inflation is still over 20 % per annum that lead to a cut of 3 digits in the Belarusian Rubel - so since this year 2000 Rubel are 2 and people are complaining about the high food prices - the economy is greatly depending on Russia and the cheap Russian oil - by the way the petrol prices are fixed - every petrol station n this country has the same price - and making the country easy to be blackmailed if they would turn too much to the west. People also told me that if this happens they do not know what Russia would do and that what happened in the Ukraine is a warming sign about the influence of Russia.  The opening in the tourist area opens opportunities to grow in this part of the economy - agrotourism is under development and this can bring more people jobs and work in the future. However the language barrier still remains - English is not widely spoken and most of the Central Europeans lack knowledge in this language. It will be interesting what changes will come in the next years and in what direction the country will orientate - towards Russia or Europe - future will tell...

 

Chatyn - the Stalin Line and back to Minsk

Today I had a long drive on my list about 400 km back to Minsk - with a stop at the Chatyn memorial complex - which was erected to remember the 5295 villages that where burned down by the Wehrmacht and on this special place all the villagers were burned to death (152 people including 76 children) because Hans Woelke, a German Olympia medal winner was shot in the road near to this village on a military mission - therefore Hitler ordered the destruction of the whole village on the very same day with all the inhabitants - only 3 kids and the 76 old man survived th fire and he is the one one on the sculpture - the obelisk represent the chimney so the houses and every minute a bell rings ....

The Russians have built this site in the 1960s and there is some rumours that the place was chose to cover up the killing of 4400 polish officers in a place that sounded similar like this one ....history is cruel either way....

Anyhow today on Saturday many people made the 40 km out here from Minks to commemorate- this part of the history is still deep in the souls of many people 

The complete opposite I visited after this - the stalin line - the defence line that Atalin build to prevent Hitler from entering Russian territory- it did not help as we know - remains can still be seen here together with amour of all kinds and the families use this as a playground - bit strange when kids climb around tanks ... 

The children's version of a tank - the paining makes it really cosy don't you think

The remaining defence lines of the Stalin line 

Not so cosy inside 

The stalin line cutting Europe in two 

I returned to Minsk and was bumping after my dinner into the local Minsk Jazz festival on the main square - with many live acts - what a great surprise to finish this trip

The night started to set down over Minsk and I decided to go for an evening photo session through the city 

Goodbye Minsk with my favourite shot of the Minsk gate at night 

A day in Polotsk and surrounding

Today a trip to Polotsk 100 km away from Vitebsk was on the plan - but before I left a morning walk through Vitebsk having this weather was first. Sadly I did not find any open cafe for my morning espresso 

Russian fountain meets Russian destroyed and rebuilt church 

The river view of Vitebsk in the morning

Finally at Polotsk I got my espresso right at the main square overlooking the Napolian War Monument that was original was melted down for ammunition use in 1944 now the replacement is in place since 2010.

The nice buildings along the Lenin road 

View to Epiphany Monastery

Walk in the lush green Lenin road

The most curious memiorial I have seen so far - the memorial for the short letter u in the Belarusian language - can probably also function as sun clock - multi purpose use 

Reminds me a bit of Cuba - colour wise the local fire brigade 

The centre of Europe - not clear according to what exact calculation method - but okay I was there - smile 

Children's playground meets church 

The nice river Divna 

The monument with the emblem of the printer Francysk Skaryna - living at the same time as Martin Luther - he was doctor and the first printer of Belarus.

The Cathedral of Sophia 

With a Boris stone in front - which was left from the ice ages and is marked with a cross 

The red bridge - former made of wood now concrete is where Napoleons troops were defeated and the bridge was coloured with blood hence the name

The convent of St. Ephrosina - one of the holiest places in Belarus - was neglected until late 90s when it was given back to the church and now is again a Covent - the famouse cross of Lazar Bogsha was stored here once before it was lost in the second word war - now the Church of the Holy Saviour bears the only 12 th century frescoes in Belarus.

Right the 12th century church beside the new build one 

I got a hint a out the smalles city in Belarus - Dzisna - located at the river with the same name - nothing special but maybe a trip to the past - it was worth the 40 km detour 

The car ferry is currently under repair ...

Well yes your car would need to fly at th moment 

Caribbean feeling in Dzisna - made of old plastic bottles 

Not a castle but the former hospital 

Well and the church also needs a bit of upgrading still

Back to Vitebsk I visited Chagalls home on the way back - a nice and cosy home and the drawings in the museum reflect the reality pretty well 

In the evening I made a dinner stroll to the victory square where starting ralley car drivers can learn for their career

Heat would be the victory square without a monument - wellhere we go 

Magic in the sunset 

And right beside you have the helicopter and tank playground 

It is nice to see how means of warefar can be used to enjoy - maybe this is the right way in the future make tank benches not war....

Good night  Vitebsk