Sometimes it helps to take a trip back in time and travel to places that make you realize how lucky you are to live in the modern world, or in the West. And no place within Europe makes that distinction with more clarity than the county of Belarus.
Very few people consider coming here, and it’s probably because the country is still ruled by an iron fist that spreads anti-Western propaganda as it valiantly tries to cling to the old ideals of Mother Russia and the grand communist movement under Stalin. The KGB still taps phones here, and politics are kept to whispered conversations in the dark corners of rooms, leaving a visitor wondering … did the Cold War really ever end?
The thing of it is, there’s actually plenty of uniqueness to this little country. The Pripyatsky National Park is a rich landscape of wildlife and majestic views that are in direct contrast to the block-buildings and street layouts of the cities which hearken back to old Soviet ideology. And while the cities vary from the extremely un-Western Hrodna to the modern city of Brest on the border of Poland, your best choice is to fly in and start with the capital city of Minsk.
You will need to get a visa to come here. You can apply directly at the embassy of Belarus’ website (http://www.belembassy.org/uk/home.html) for a traveller’s visa.
If you do decide to come here you will be greeted with a warm welcome by the locals, despite the government’s decidedly anti-Western propaganda and encouraged xenophobia. To them, you are proof that the West is not the hell that their superiors tell them it is, and for that alone you will be treated with respect by most of the people, and get to experience a way of life that most people probably forget still exists in remote places of the world.