Eastern Belarus - Vitebsk and Polotsk

Feeling a little jaded from our boozy stay in Minsk we caught a Marshrutka (privately owned minibus) to the East of Belarus to a place called Vitebsk by the Russian border.  The Uber driver that took us all the way out to the bus park for less than a couple of quid was sound, he even came running after us when he found he had dropped us by the wrong set of minibuses.

We were to stay in Vitebsk for two nights, giving us almost three full days to explore the area as we were leaving on the late overnight train. The plan was day one to have a little wonder around the town. Day two a day trip to Polotsk and finally the third day to explore the city of Vitebsk in more detail.

Vitebsk

We were stopping quite close to the train station, but not that close to the town centre in a hotel called Zolotoy Telenok, which was an old style tower block with a few rooms above a bowling alley.  It looked as though they had hardly had any tourists let alone people from the UK staying there ever. Check in with our Visa and associated documents took quite a while.  Each place you visit you must get your departure card stamped and registered with the police.

It was immediately obvious that the town of Vitebsk was not as affluent as Minsk.  The weather was quite moody with some menacing looking black clouds hanging over us as we took in the city.  We were literally just having a wonder around rather then proper sight-seeing which we were to do on the third day in the area.

One of the Churches as the weather started to turn

The weather was still hit and miss after lunch so we decided to have a few pints. The first place we went into was the Belarusian equivalent to Wetherspoons.  It was ultra cheap and had a mix of strange characters.  A few lads who had been out all day sat with us at the table and spoke to us in Russian for a good 20 minutes.  They were getting frustrated that we had no idea what they were saying.

One of the harder beers to order

We decided on taking an early evening meal and went to the number one place on Trip Adviser, Vitebsky Traktir.  It really was top quality food and didn't disappoint. Whilst we were eating the heavens well and truly opened up and the downpour that followed was quite brutal.

I had mixed meat and veg

My mate had something else!

Once the rain had eased, we found another bar, this seemed to be the same chain as the 'Wetherspoons' bar we were in earlier but was posher with better clientele, we called this one Lloyds Bar.

A group of girls came in and sat on the next table to us, they were celebrating a birthday.  When I went to the bar I thought I'd get them a bottle of Belarusian Champagne.  That went down a treat, they were well happy with that, and so was I, as it only cost £2.




Belarussian Champagne

One bottle of champagne later

Day trip to Polotsk

My mate had managed to book trains on-line before we left for Belarus, so that was one language problem we didn't have to negotiate. Local trains are ultra cheap in Belarus and a good way of seeing the country.

Polotsk, just like Vitebsk was not as affluent as Minsk, but it had lots of old buildings, churches and statues to fill in the day time. As we wandered the city a young student came over to us and in perfect English tried to be our guide for the day.  We weren't really in the mood for a full-on day so we had a chat with the guy and did our own thing.

One of the many statues in the city

We had a walk along the river taking in some nice old buildings until we came across Saint Sofia Cathedral, perched on a hill.  We tried to get in and have a look around, but for some reason we weren't allowed in for 30 mins.  When we got back there was quite a queue waiting to look around, once inside it was neither worth the entrance fee or the wait but was quite nice (I'd say 3 stars). 

Saint Sofia Cathedral

We continued the Bradt Guide walking tour meticulously however as we were doing so there were some menacing clouds developing again.

A quick lunch stop by the football ground, encountered very little English written or spoken, but eventually we got fed, very pleasant it was too.

The main square in Polotsk

Here like everywhere we had visited in Belarus had beautifully, kept flower beds all around the city.  I'm not one to notice such things so they must have been nice.

Flower beds by the main square

Our train back was quite late in the evening so we had a couple of beers in the town.  We had one guy come and sit with us, hardly speaking any English and drawing of maps he 'chatted' to us for ages.  At one point he tried to give me his ring, necklace and watch.  Not sure what was going on there, but I managed to escape the pub without any of his jewelry.

We got a couple of beers for the train back, however just as I was posing for the obligatory beer train shot, the guard came in and gave us the hard word.  It seems alcohol is banned from trains in Belarus, a fact we confirmed when we got back to Vitetbsk.

This drinking shot almost got us in trouble

A quick nightcap in the bowling alley below our hotel and it was an early night.

Vitebsk before the night train.

Day three of our Eastern Belarus adventure was our sightseeing day.  We had planned the overnight train to Brest.  There were two to choose from one around 6pm the other around 10pm.  We had booked the early one with the idea of having a few pints on-board to help us sleep on the train.  That plan was scuppered by the alcohol ban, and trust me, Belarus isn't somewhere you want to brake the rules.

Whilst the receptionist in our hotel couldn't speak any English, we did have a few conversations using google translate, with varying degrees of success.  When leaving the hotel on the morning we asking if they could store our bags until 5pm.  She spoke into our google translate app, and what came written on the screen was "You want to leave your bags here for 5 years!". Once she understood it wasn't a problem.

Victory Square is the largest (of some very large) squares in Belarus.  It was nice to send time with Statue's, flowers and heavy war artillery (lots of it).  I particularly like the "Three Bayonets" memorial which rose high above one end of the square.  The statue was a tribute to the inhabitants of Vitebsk in the fight against Nazi invaders.

Three Bayonets

Artistically done

One of the many helicopters in and around the square

Tanks, tanks and more tanks

Statues flanking Victory Square

Continuing our walk we passed by many more churches, monuments and we even spent time in the art gallery found at Marc Chagall's former home. It really is a good city. The weather was starting to turn (again)

Dark clouds form over Vitebsk Catherdral

As we had predicted the bad weather did kick in, so we dived into the Theater/Opera Bar which was a restaurant by day and a nightclub by night.  Bit strange having a meal on the dance floor surrounded by pole dancing poles and a DJ booth.

When we got in I went straight to the toilet on returning my mate said "don't worry I've got it sorted they are coming over with menus".  10 minutes later, we still had no menu, and just as we were about to leave, trays and trays of food came to our table.  My mates Russian wasn't the best, but it seemed he had ordered a 3 course special for both of us.  Cracking value at about £2 each.

The weather got out again and we stopped by a few final churches, the wooden church of St. Prince Alexander Nevsky was particularly pleasant.

St. Prince Alexander Nevsky Church

With time marching on, we fancied a couple of beers before boarding the alcohol free train. Beer in Belarus is good, but all of them are hard to pronounce, the letters on the bottles had no relevance to the name of them.

On the Bobpob as I called it (the real name was significantly different)

The sun just popped out long enough for one last picture of a church before we got to the train station for the over-nighter to Brest.