Once we were done with the "fun" of completing Belarussian paperwork, we belted it to Minsk. Arriving at 3:30am, we crashed. The next morning it was time to walk around and explore, before heading to Tula in Russia.
The view of the train station and city centre from our hotel.
We drove from the hotel to the city centre, and as we were parking, we noticed a motorcyclist come around the corner with a bunch of country stickers on the saddle bags. We waved him down and began talking.
Meet Peter from Sweden, who is doing a European bike tour and visiting friends along the way. We traded stories about our trip so far, took some photos, and were each on our way. As an American growing up, I was taught that Belarus "is the last dictatorship in Europe" and is sort-of stuck in Soviet times. I found it very clean and quite modern. The roads were excellent, Minsk was spotlessly clean, and there was good public transport. There were some things that gave you pause, however.
Peter, center, with Alex, left, and Mike, right.
For example, we were walking through the main train station looking for postcards, and an announcement came over the PA: "It is forbidden to smoke here, if you see someone smoking, report them to the nearest police officer." It brings back the Soviet mentality of everyone informing on their neighbours.
Empty shelves in a store underneath the train station.
A monument outside a Belarussian Army Office
A main street in Minsk next to the train station
Olivier salat. This is a traditional Russian salad which is compulsory at New Year's and on Birthdays.
People buy train tickets beneath an old school departure board.
Buying 3kg of blueberries from a fruit seller on the side of the motorway on the way to the border.
It poured and we discovered our car leaks. Our solution: gaffer tape fixes anything!
After lunch and mailing post cards, we left for the Tula and the Russian border.