Friday, 14 August 2026

 

Start: Minsk Hotel (BY) 11:00

Arrival: Minsk Hotel (BY) 17:30

 

Total: ca 10 km on foot

 

 

I had asked my phone company, twice, whether I could get a travel plan for Belarus and Russia. Twice they had assured me that yes, of course, it would work. When I tried to activate the plan yesterday it did, of course, not work. So after a yummy breakfast of kasha, eggs, syrniki, fruit and coffee, we set out to explore Minsk on foot, with no other map than the one in our heads.

 

 

First we strolled around the old town. A coach had attracted a group of women who took turns of having their pictures taken while climbing on the metal horse. After they had left, Sonia chose a rather more elegant pose inside the coach.

 

 

We slowly walked down to the lake. Along a pathway, dozens of pigeons had gathered. A remake of Hitchcock's Birds? "Don't go too near, or they will fly off", Sonia said, grabbing her phone. But the birds had no intention of flying away. When I took a step closer, they immediately zoomed in on me, probably expecting a tasty morsel (bread, not me, I hope). The tourists had thoroughly domesticated them, or more aptly, they had domesticated the tourists!

 

Minsk's Svislach River winds through the centre of the capital, forming a continuous string of small lakes with parks, from the zoo in the South through the city park with the big ferris wheel, the "Island of Tears" and Victory Park all the way to a large reservoir in the North. We'd been to the Southern part of this large green area, but had not seen all of Victory Park yet.

 

 

So that was the plan. "I think we should make a left here", I said. Sonia was sure that we needed to go right. So right we went. Up the steepest footbridge I've ever been on. Halfway up, a group of teenagers on unicycles shot over the bridge. When they realised that Sonia was taking pictures, they proudly waved at her. Immortalised forever on a blog in Luxembourg. Not that they would know.

 

 

Ten more minutes and we reached the park. Or rather a park. "This is not the Island of Tears area", I said. "We went too far south." But since we were here, we decided to follow the river bend for a while and cut to the north later. We walked by a very low bridge, too low for boats to pass under. Or was it? As there was a tourist busboat coming up, we watched to see what would happen. The boat headed straight for the bridge at a steady speed. Maybe it could lower its roof? Right before the bridge, it slowed down and turned around. Yep, just as we thought, too low for boats.

 

 

Further along the way, a bride and groom were posing for a photoshoot at a romantic pavilion. When they vacated the spot, we took a pic too, just as we'd done in 2019. If I find the old photograph, I'll post a "then and now" here.

 

By now, it was getting really warm. We were steadily climbing uphill. We left the park at Kamunistichnaya vuliza and headed north along this street, passing a couple of nice buildings which seemed to house government offices. We even passed the American embassy. Located right on Communist Street, who would have guessed. LOL

 

 

In Minsk, the street names and house numbers are painted in huge letters on the houses. As a driver, I can appreciate that. Easier to find your way around. Another interesting tidbit, which you can see in this pic: a traffic sign displaying glasses. Does this mean: "Be careful, look where you're going?"

 

As we were pondering this question, I spotted a sidewalk cafe with the promising name Gurman. Time for a coffee. Sadly, it was too early for the advertised blini, so we went for just an americano and a refreshing mors, enjoying the sun and looking at the few pedestrians and cars passing by. So quiet and peaceful. So much better than other places. But why, actually? "You're not looking at your phone", Sonia pointed out. That was it! As we were offline, there was no way for me to do a quick Duolingo, check Facebook, read my mails or look up some unnecessary factoid on Google. My blissful state had less to do with Minsk, even though the calm clean surroundings certainly helped, and everything with my temporary phonefreeness. Is that a word? It should be.

 

 

Afterwards, we headed back down to the river, just north of the Island of Tears with its intense war memorial. I shot a 360 of the lake area (so much for phonefreeness), we spotted a memorial to Pushkin, watched young boys fishing in the river, found lovingly arranged border shrubs with a statue of a dove of peace, a flower bed celebrating the foundation of the city of Minsk in 1067 (a hundred years after Siegfried built a fortress over the Alzette for his Melusina) and a pavilion with four arrow-shooting Amors that looked somewhat more like little demons.

 

 

Finally, we made our way back along the other side of the river, past a large sports arena, a big shopping mall and a cinema named "Moskwa", which tempted us to a Jason Statham movie, but unfortunately it would only premiere the next week. Under a wonderful, stately mural from Soviet times a plain KFC was now peddling its grub. At every step, there was something new and unexpected to discover and marvel at.

 

 

Browsing through a bookshop, we discovered a coffeetable book of Belarus in Chinese! (in the pic, the two girls on the lower shelf) I proudly declare that I was able to read the title in Chinese: bai eluosi - White Russia. We had fun deciphering the names of authors on book covers. The Russian writers' names were easy to read, but one needs a second to recognise Dzheyn Ostin as Jane Austen.

 

 

My knee and feet had been protesting for some time, so we headed back to the hotel. On the way, we stopped in our beloved Fressmeile and decided on a Georgian restaurant, right across from yesterday's Baklazhan. Sonia had her very first Khachapuri and I was so happy to order a tarkhun-flavoured Kazbegi lemonade. The beverage stirred some fond memories of an evening in Georgia.

 

Minsk is a really cool city. I could see myself living here for a few months. Maybe some day. Never say never.