Staying in the holiday spirit for one more weekend, here’s a shot of a giant Christmas tree in Minsk, Belarus. Even though I spent all of December in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, I encountered some of the most festive decorations when I got to Belarus for the Orthodox Christmas and New Year in January.
As I mentioned in my post about arriving in Minsk, I was kind of dreading Belarus. It’s not that I wasn’t looking forward to exploring and learning more about a country completely unfamiliar to me. On the contrary, I was excited and intrigued to visit a place that most Westerners don’t even have on their …
When we arrived at Khatyn, just outside of Minsk, I pulled out my Kindle and started to read to Yuliya and Andrei from my Bradt guidebook: Khatyn was once a small but thriving community in a picturesque wooded area, but this hamlet no longer appears on even the most detailed map today, other than as …
I have a confession: I was kind of dreading Belarus. As much as I wanted to go and experience it for myself, I was afraid Belarus would be difficult. Throughout the month of December, I got used to the relative comforts and “Western-ness” of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland and I wasn’t entirely looking forward to …