Belarus 2016: A Thousand Kilometers in a Warszawa and a Volvo

Our Warszawa 223 and Volvo 240 covered about a thousand kilometers across Belarus! Nearly half the trip passed in the rain, and the wipers started giving us trouble as early as Białystok. But that's nothing for the "gieroji" (heroes). Belarus is a country so close to us. We share a common history, and we also share bards—chief among them, of course, Adam Mickiewicz. We share heroes too, such as Tadeusz Kościuszko, among many others. Yet in our Polish perception, a different image of this country has taken hold. It is said to be a dangerous place, foreign to our culture. In reality, it is a land full of helpful and friendly people. We warmly recommend the agritourism farms where we happened to stay overnight twice. It is inexpensive there, you can taste traditional Belarusian cuisine and visit a banya. The city center in Brest also greeted us with affordable prices, where we rented an apartment. In Minsk it was a bit different. Lodging and food are more expensive, and the meals no longer carry that true taste of Belarus we managed to savor in the smaller towns. Either way, though, Belarus is worth visiting, because I don't know anyone who has been there and regretted it.