Belarus - Castles and mixing it with the locals

25th - 27th June 2017

Day 1 - Nesvizh Castle

They say an Englishman's home is his Castle, well Nesvizh Castle was to be my home for a couple of nights. Got to say over the years I've stayed in worse places.

Nesvizh Castle, hotel for a couple of nights

We were nearing the end of our trip to Belarus, and these two days were supposed to be our relax and recuperate days, staying in the UNESCO heritage site. It was really nice and relaxing, but even in near empty bars we met locals and ended up partying with them.

Looks even better without me in the way

After days of mixed weather the sun came out, allowing us to make the most of the great views we had in the castle grounds. Inside the castle they were putting the finishing touches to a huge stage where the opera was to be held that evening. We watched 10 minutes of the rehearsal which was probably enough for us boys.

Budding photographer in action

More our scene outside the castle walls in the park was a stage where local performers sang and danced. It was kind of Belarus got talent. Importantly there was a beer tent attached.

Selfie with 'Belarus Got Talent' in Traditional Fatigues

It was a Sunday afternoon, and the place was busy with local weekend daytrippers.

On the 'Bobpob' from the beer tent

The castle has a lovely dining room which is the hotel restaurant. It is up a couple of flights of stairs which meant we had a great view of the opera from the window. Sadly though so did the plentiful staff, 30 minutes later and 3 or 4 requests for a menu we gave up. We went outside the castle grounds to a cafe/restaurant.

Opera in full swing from the Castle Restaurant

The girl working there (Yulia) could speak perfect English, in fact she was the local English teacher by day.

Only a couple of the outside tables were populated but between them groups of about 8 they made more than enough atmosphere.  It was a birthday party and they had bottles of whiskey, vodka, brandy and wine in addition to the banquet of food on the table. They had clearly been supping for a while. One of them had a guitar and keep singing songs and handing out free shots to us.

Party well ad truly started

Once again a potential quiet night was sabotaged by Belarusian hospitality. It was quite late (or early) when we got back to the castle. Having to negotiate a portcullis after a night on the pop was a new one on me.

Day 2 - Mir Castle

Another day another castle. This time it was Mir Castle. A chap in our castle who could speak reasonable English had arranged for his girlfriend to take us on a day trip to Mir. Although she couldn't speak English, she looked the part and she knew how to handle the Subaru Impretza.

Day trip to Mir Castle

Mir Castle was set in lovely grounds with a lake in front which gave off great reflections of the Castle. As I often find, I prefer castles from the outside, rather than the castle rooms.

Impressive interior rooms

There was a rabbit warren like run of corridors within the castle walls each leading to good views outside the castle or views of the courtyard.

Decent views from within the Castle Walls

Mir Castle Courtyard

We met at the agreed meeting point (a restaurant over the road). Our drivers boyfriend had turned up! We were introduced to the owner of the restaurant and the castle, and were presented with complimentary fruits and beer.

Love a reflection from Mir Castle

Back in Nesvizh we utilised the free ticket (from our hotel booking) to have a look around our castle rooms, we were both a bit 'castled out' and powerticked our way through some lovely rooms.

Castle #2 of the day Nesvizh

Nesvizh Castle games room

So it was a Monday night, we had had some heavy nights in Belarus, surely this would be a quiet night, especially as we had the "Minsk alcohol rush" lined up with our mates the next evening.

We went back to the place we ended up the night before, this time we were the only customers so Yulia joined us. She phoned her mate Dianka up who came down and also sat with us. We had hours chatting about our trip, life in Belarus and travel in general. The only work Yulia did that night was to get more beer out of the fridge every 30 mins or so.

Same Bar - different beer (easy to pronounce this one

At closing time Yulia phoned her boyfriend to come and get us and take us somewhere else which was busy. A couple of minutes later we all squeezed into a 1980s Mercedes of a bloke we hadn't even met.

Not such a quiet night - but a good one

He did indeed know somewhere busy for more late night drinks. I felt a bit sorry for the bloke as he was working again in 4 hours.


Day 3 Castle in the morning

Getting up early offered us the Castle virtually to ourselves, a quick wander around, taking a few repeat photos and it was time to move on back to Minsk for our last night.  Our mate who had organised our day trip had booked us on the minibus to back to the capital city.

Saying goodbye to our castle hotel

Not many tourists early in the morning

So we just had time to get back to our favourite bar where we were now regulars for a coffee and get some advice on what vodka we should take home.

Horseradish, Raspberry and many more vodkas to choose from

The last Belarus blog we contain the "Minsk Alco Rush" which we set up with a couple of local lads earlier on the trip