Thread: Travel Blog; CIS/ex-USSR countries (i.e. Russian speaking)

Originally Posted by Marcus

I've always thought postsoviet countries are mostly atheist, but it turns there are even more atheist!

Western Europe is more atheist, I think. People are just so materialistic that there is no time or space in their lives for religion and faith.

I don't know how religious Russians & co are though; maybe they are just ritualistic and simply like the church and what it represents, without having much faith.

But I am seeing a lot more faith and religion here than you'd see in England, Sweden or anywhere else in Northern Europe.
But lots and lots of people have religious items in their cars, cross themselves when they pass a church and buy icons etc.
When I have peeked my head in at services in orthodox churches they seem packed, and that is with people standing.. In most places in Europe the church is 1/2 to 2/3 empty during the services. Another interesting thing is that people seem to have memorised all the responses in the mass - they are not using any books or leaflet that I can see. That tells me that they go regularly. Many priests and nuns seem quite young, that's also a difference with Western Europe where hardly any priests or nuns are young.

I don't know how religious Russians & co are though; maybe they are just ritualistic and simply like the church and what it represents, without having muсh faith.

Well, people are different, but those who regularly go to the church are really religious in general. There is no tradition of going to the church in Russia because religion was heavily oppressed during the soviet period. And it is not easy to stand for hours in the church.
The number of priests grew several times in the last 20 years, that's why there are many young priests. Probably there are fewer churches in Russia than in Western Europe.
Russian Orthodox Church uses Church Slovenian (derived from Old Bulgarian) in services.

Originally Posted by Marcus

Church Slovenian

It's called Church Slavonic in English.

Originally Posted by Hanna

Hi! I am still at the sanatorium! It's very nice here, and this is definitely something I'd consider doing again... Either with some company, or alone again when I can speak Russian better.

I have TONS of photos both of the sanatorium and of Minsk. If anyone has any tips on how to share without spending a day messing around with uploads, then please let me know.... I am not very experienced with photo sharing online.

I would STRONGLY recommend anyone who lives on the European continent and studies Russian to consider a holiday like this. It's a completely unbeatable "immersion" experience and (in Belarus) so cheap that you will feel guilty about it! You can easily travel by train to Minsk and catch a bus anywhere in the country. Or fly or drive your own car. Remember this tip when it is time to pick a holiday, although it is not recommended for people under 30. Anyone from outside the ex USSR area is a bit of a novelty in Belarus, so you could expect lots of interest and attention from people.

Also it would be good for your health and an interesting insight into "normal" life in this part of the world. (This is not a cool, chic or glamorous thing to do, more a really down-to-earth normal holiday, for normal people.) Those staying at this place are regular people from Russia, Belarus and the Baltic States (all Russian speaking, no English speakers). There is practically no boozing and the evening dances end at 11 and the bar closes at 12, so no serious nightlife worth mentioning.

I've been to excursions to some churches and old manor houses in North Western Belarus. It seems a lot of people in that area speak Polish as their first language. Also, many are Catholics and not Orthodox. People in this part of the world are MUCH more religious than I was aware of. The churches have pretty unusual stories, not only the usual architectural and religious history, but also stories about how they were used during the war (resistance activities) and what the church was used for during the Soviet time (cinema, factory etc). Plenty of drama and it is nice to see these buildings used for their real purpose again. It's clear that faith is important for many here; unlike most of Western Europe.

There is a town near the sanatorium, called "Narach". It's a sweet town and it feels a bit like it's in it's own time bubble - ca 1985! Feels really strange!

I am completely convinced that Russians / Belarussians are among the nicest people in Europe. You simply would NEVER get treated as well as I have if you turned up in most other European countries not speaking the language properly. Several groups of people in this sanatorium have taken upon themselves to include me in their activities and generally help me out. Scandinavians would definitely not be this nice towards strangers, and neither in my experience, would Germans or French. (My other favourite people in Europe are the Spanish - they are warm and nice people!)
It must be said that there are one or two staff members who are a bit frosty, but I have noticed that they treat everyone the same and it's got nothing to do with me being a foreigner. Most of the staff members have been super nice and helpful towards me though... I am blown away by the friendliness and sweetness of people in general.

I had an interesting experience speaking Russian with Polish man who was staying at this place. He could not speak English but his Russian was (for me) very slow and clear and he said that he understood the difficulties with learning Russian. I was able to understand almost everything he said and we spoke about lots of different things. As it turned out, he was looking for more than conversation despite being married (against my principles, with married men..) Nevertheless it was really nice hanging out with him.

I also had a flirt with an incredibly good looking tall man Belarussian guy who worked in the communications department at the police in Minsk. As it turned out, he too was married... and I got irritated that he took so long admitting that, so now I am avoiding him. Cute or not, I am NOT that type of woman...

I made good friends with Belarussian woman from Polotsk and a lovely Russian couple from Murmansk and I will definitely visit them there at some point in the future - going to Murmansk is considered a funky and interesting thing to do in Northern Scandinavia, so it would not be hard for me to jump on a tour there once I have settled back in, in Sweden.

I beg to ask you what your age is. =)

Originally Posted by Eric C.

I beg to ask you what your age is. =)

Что это за вопрос?

@Eric: I 'll tell you my age if you tell me your nationality. Deal?

However it should not be that hard to figure out an approximate figure based on what I've written so far in this blog. I give a pretty good clue in the first post of this "blog" too. And, yes "my young Padwean learner" (as Crocodile would say) there is life after 30....

Originally Posted by Eric C.

I beg to ask you what your age is. =)

Never ever ever ask that question a woman in Russian!
(That would sound extremely rude.)

Originally Posted by Crocodile

Never ever ever ask that question a woman in Russian!
(That would sound extremely rude.)

Either that, or specially her weight!

I am in a really nice town called Vitebsk at the moment.
This town is in North Eastern Belarus, not far from Russia.
The town is known for being an ancient city in Belarus.

Right now the whole town is undergoing a very thorough renovation.
Parts of the town have already been redecorated and looks fantastic. The architecture is lovely in the older parts of town. Classic Northern European, Baltic area buildings and several fantastic old cathedrals that have also been recently redecorated. There must a a thousand people working simultaneously on fixing up houses, pavements etc! No wonder there is 100% employment... All pavements have been re-laid and all facades painted.

This town could be a really nice tourist destination for people from Europe. It is very picturesque and has many interesting historical and cultural sites. However, there is very little shopping (most shops are very old fashioned), also there are not a lot of good restaurants. Good items for shopping are fabric, linen clothes and leather goods.

Some restaurants here are fine though; I particularly like an outdoors place which reminds a bit of a German beer garden. The selection of food is limited, but the atmosphere is very nice. I found a cafe called the Chocolate cafe, that does very good coffee and decent chocolate deserts. All and all Belarus in particular does not have a strong European cuisine - only local dishes are really good. Belarussian food is probably not that different from Russian food, which in turn is not that different from other Northern European food. All and all filling and basic food, some dishes are very cool and very tasty.

Two really good painters have their roots in Vitebsk: Mark Chagall and Ilya Repin.
I have not managed to find Chagall's house yet, but I'll go there tomorrow. I went to an exhibition of some of his litographies and Bible illustrations (they are very cool) in central Vitebsk.

The outskirts of town have not been renovated as well as Minsk and Gomel where I have also been. Some houses really look worse for wear...

People here are quite unused to seeing foreigners, I think. Today some repairmen were in the hotel and asked me where I came from. I told them and they asked whether I liked "their republic". I said I liked it very much. They lit up like you wouldn't believe. They said 'thank you' several times and were really pleased. Such a nice and unusual reaction! And at a cafe, the waiter spoke English, with a very strong American accent (although he'd never been to the US). He was delighted for a rare opportunity to speak English and seemed to take it as a personal compliment that I liked Belarus, and proceeded to say that he loved Swedish rock "it's sweeeeet" and Swedish socialism "it's freakin' awesome" (lol, sounded very funny when delivered in his Russian-American accent. I didn't want to ruin his enthusiasm by telling him that imho, the music is for the most part rather trashy and the socialism has definitely seen better days).

I have heard that there is a really large water park with an olympic size wimming pool somewhere in the city. I am trying to figure out where it is because I'd love to spend a couple of hours swimming. If anyone knows anything about this, please let me know!

Also, I am trying to figure out how to get from Vitebsk to Daugavpils in Latvia, via Polotsk (a historical city in Belarus, which has a famous monastery).

In central town, there is a very big EU-standard Tourist info sign, which looked very promising. I keep hoping to come across that sort of place.... I went looking for the tourist info office, and when I found the house, it was the building for a government youth movement and some form of militia office. A tiny little abandoned booth was the tourist info, and he guard told me it had been closed for good.

Creation by Chagall



Procession by Repin

Originally Posted by Hanna

I am in a really nice town called Vitebsk at the moment.
This town is in North Eastern Belarus, not far from Russia.
The town is known for being an ancient city in Belarus.

Right now the whole town is undergoing a very thorough renovation.
Parts of the town have already been redecorated and looks fantastic. The architecture is lovely in the older parts of town. Classic Northern European, Baltic area buildings and several fantastic old cathedrals that have also been recently redecorated. There must a a thousand people working simultaneously on fixing up houses, pavements etc! No wonder there is 100% employment... All pavements have been re-laid and all facades painted.
[B]...
Also, I am trying to figure out how to get from Vitebsk to Daugavpils in Latvia, via Polotsk (a historical city in Belarus, which has a famous monastery).

Yeah there is a preparation to the famous festival "Славянский Базар" now. Public places are decorating to awesome view, and other places in the deep town stay and get old without any attention) this ridiculous feature can be seen everywhere across Belarus. In russian there is a saying about it "Без портков но в шляпе" (without pants but wearing a hat).
There is a marshrutka from Vitebsk to Polotsk it starts from autostation.

Thanks for the tip Whiteknight! I found the marshrutka!

Greetings from NOVOPOLOTSK, a town in North Western Belarus.
How did I end up in this concrete 1960s place?

Well, lots of people have been recommending visiting Polotsk which has lots of nice cathedrals and monasteries. It's also on the way to Latvia, so it makes complete sense.

Unfortunately there was a bit of a glitch with the hotels. The hotel that I was supposed to stay at was running at reduced capacity as it was being redecorated, and I had taken a chance on the booking (did not get a confirmation back). When I arrived at the Slaviansky hotel, I was told that there were no rooms and no other hotel in the whole town!

I went to have a coffee and think about the situation. Eventually I summoned up some courage and asked a nice elderly couple if there really was no other hotel. They said there were plenty in Novopolotsk and walked me to the bus station to catch a bus there. To make a long story short, I ended up getting a lift there with a military officer and his girlfriend whom I had got chatting to.

They dropped me at a hotel called "NAFTAN". This hotel has single rooms for 18 USD per night. Unbelievable!
The standard is about the same as in the IBIS chain which is a European budget hotel chain. Only difference is, at the IBIS a similar room would be 80-100 USD. The hotel is 100% 1960s USSR style with lots of open spaces and air and 1960s decoration. It is completely clean, like everything else in Belarus, and has been well maintained.

Same with the city of Novopolotsk which unfortunately has none of the charm of Gomel or Vitebsk and none of the modern elegance of Minsk. People are decidedly less cool/chic looking than in Minsk. The shops are decorated in 1970s-80s style! The houses are grey concrete and have not undergone the beautification treatments that most of the buildings in the larger cities have.

Tomorrow I will have a go at finding these beautiful Polotsk churches, and then I will leave for Daugavpils, Latvia in 1-2 days.

In Vitebsk I bought lots of linen fabric for fantastic prices, and cute girls dresses for my niece. One of my Swedish friends want Belarussian cigarettes but I am not sure if I am willing to be dragging a ten pack around just so that she can try it. She should stop anyway!

One of my Swedish friends want Belarussian cigarettes but I am not sure if I am willing to be dragging a ten pack around just so that she can try it. She should stop anyway!

Is she gonna smoke them or just wants them for the collection? If the former, I can tell you that's gonna be probably the worst experience she ever had. I can tell that because I did taste that kind of thing... You might be surprised, but their local producers do not find it obvious that a cigarrette is supposed to contain tobacco...

Originally Posted by Eric C.

Is she gonna smoke them or just wants them for the collection? If the former, I can tell you that's gonna be probably the worst experience she ever had. I can tell that because I did taste that kind of thing... You might be surprised, but their local producers do not find it obvious that a cigarrette is supposed to contain tobacco...

Do they still sell «Беломорканал» папиросы in the byvshom CCCP?

Originally Posted by Eric C.

You might be surprised, but their local producers do not find it obvious that a cigarrette is supposed to contain tobacco...

Eric, I swear you are just making comments to be provocative! Actually, I bought some Belarussian cigarettes yesterday because I got a bit stressed when I thought there was no hotel room for me. (I only smoke when I am really stressed, or sometimes at parties)
Anyway the brand "Minsk" tastes exactly like Marlboro Lights, and since it is one of the most popular brands, I am sure it has enough tobacco and nicotine to satisfy the addicts.

Do they still sell «Беломорканал» папиросы in the byvshom CCCP?

@Throbert - I don't know very much about that. All I can tell you is that there used to be some cigarettes in black cartons from the USSR, with a round emblem on them, that were sold illegally or at really cheap places, for example in Scandinavia. Maybe those are the ones you mean. Those are the only Soviet cigarettes I know of - they were a bit cult/legend in their days. I have not seen them for ages and ages though - probably they are not made anymore . They were incredibly strong cigarettes.

Writing from the lobby of this hotel which is packed with massive green plants, making me feel like I am in a green house! Nice! The hotel did not have a breakfast buffet, but instead you have to make an order and they cook the breakfast on the spot. Despite being quite large, this hotel isn't even listed on Tripadvisor which is the site that almost everyone in Europe uses for hotel bookings. There is a Russian hotel review site called "Komandirovka" which says it's a good hotel.

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

Do they still sell «Беломорканал» папиросы in the byvshom CCCP?

I'm not sure about now, but they definitely did in 2005-2006. Their local cigarettes aren't far away from that brand anyway. =))

Leaving Belarus tomorrow with sadness, it's such a sweet country with some of the absolutely friendliest and most easygoing people I have ever met in Europe... I have learnt so much here and I can't wait to tell friends etc about my adventures!

There are a few quirks here of course, like bureacracy and quite a lot of the old USSR around... But I have enjoyed my stay here tremendously and it had to be a substitute for Russia, which simply turned out to be too hard to get a visa for.

I'd recommend absolutely anyone to visit BY. It's safe, it's interesting, has great people and is one of the cheapest holidays to be had on the European continent. And of course, for a Russian student - it's practically 100% Russian speaking.

I could write about the negatives and politics, but all that is already known to the Belarussians and Russian people reading this... And I don't want to say anything negative about a country that, on the whole, is really nice.

Next report will be from Daugavpils, Latvia. This is supposedly a fully Russian speaking town, that's one of the reasons I decided to stop there. Over 70% there speak Russian as their mother tongue.

Last time I was in the Baltics was about 1999.. Back then it was very much "the wild east", very much criminality and people were almost obsessively anti-Russian, at least those who I spoke with. Let's see what's happened since then.

DAUGAVPILS - LATVIA
Daugavpils is an almost completely Russian-speaking town in Southern Latvia. It has about 100 .000 inhabitants.

The language situation of this city is truly unbelievable. Even though nobody speaks Latvian to each other, all signs, all written information etc is in Latvian. Unfortunately Latvian is almost incomprensible to me, and I can only guess at words which are similar to German or Russian words that I recognise. I honestly can't understand why the inhabitants put up with it - it would never be acceptable to other language minorities elsewhere in the EU. They would be protesting, suing their countries and generally raising hell... Perhaps it was very easy for these people to learn Latvian, or most of them already know it?! Who knows? The situation is completely incomprehensible but somehow life goes on in this bizarre situation.

There is a football match in town tonight; Tromsö (Norway) vs Daugavpils. For that reason there are a few drunk people, including some Norwegians in town. Tromsö is very far North in Norway, north of the polar circle I think.

Leaving Belarus and entering Latvia was no problem. I don't have a lot of experience of crossing land borders as an adult: We never had them in Scandinavia, and the ones that existed on the European continent mostly disappeared in the 1990s. So I have been quite nervous every time I needed to cross a real border crossing! But nothing has gone wrong.

On the bus to Daugavpils I got chatting to a woman whose family was quite tragically affected by the new borders. She was born in Latvia during Soviet years, and then half the family moved to Polotsk and the other part stayed on in Daugavpils. Geographically not very far, but now, with a new border, she needs to apply for a visa in Minsk, every time she wants to visit her family! So not only does she have the inconvenience of travelling to Minsk, but she also has to pay 60 EUR for the visa, which to her, is a lot of money. This kind of craziness should be stopped...

Generally, the city is very much an EU city. It's got shops that are familiar to me in their layout and what types of products they sell, and how. There are lots and lots of Swedish brands, banks and other influence visible. In the decade since I was here last, the country has changed beyond recognition! Frankly Latvia is distinctly less interesting to me than Belarus and Ukraine were. But the fact that everything is familiar is also very convenient.

Some people here can speak English, mainly younger people, 20 and below.

This city must have some very good lobbyists in Brussels because I have never in my life seen so many EU development project signs! I occassionally see ONE in towns I visit for whatever reason, around the EU. That is one PER TOWN. Here in Daugavpils I have seen 20 or more! Just in this one city! In Romania there were not so many, and they are a poorer country.

So this is where my EU tax money is going... Joining the EU was clearly a smart move for the Baltics!

In Sweden there have been lots of scandals around money that's gone to the Baltics and "disappeared" and investments that have failed, plus overexposure of Swedish banks to the Baltic economies that are a bit shaky +a few other things. Also the way that the Russian speakers are treated in the Baltic states have been getting a lot of press.

Daugavpils has a famous "fortress" (крепость) which I set out to view. However when I got to the area, there was a big (EU sponsored) renovation project going on. Also, the fortress was not particularly old as far as I could see. It looked 200 years, max. It just looked like a military installation (barracks, kaserne etc). Everything was VERY dilapidated.

Next to the fortress where some houses which looked so terrible that I first assumed they were abandoned. But it turned out people still lived there! The houses were so dilapidated that they cannot be safe to live in. Rather than the EU fixing up some relatively obscure fortress, I think they should fix up the houses for those people. There were kids playing in the area, and they could easily have gone into the old baracks which smelled terrible and are probably full of old needles and broken glass.
I saw no such misery in Ukraine (although I did not spend so much time there) certainly not in Belarus. It was really shameful.

The rest of the town looked quite good although old houses had not been renovated as well as in Belarus. In terms of goods availble to buy, Daugavpils is not very different from towns in Sweden, apart from that it has a market, which normal Swedish towns do not have. But all the chains etc are there, there are some malls etc and modern supermarkets. Last time I was in Latvia, they had nothing like that.

I have no idea why the inhabitants in Daugavpils speak Russian as mother tongue. Are they Russians who moved there during the Soviet years? Or are they simply people who always lived there, and always spoke Russian for some reason? No idea! Doing their military service in Latvia must be a strange experience for these guys, since the "enemy" they are preparing to potentially fight, has to be Russia. I think all the Baltic states have mandatory military service.

Dilapidated "fortress". I don't understand why these unremarkable buildings are famous.




Some cute girls who lived in the dilapidated buildings


My tax money being spent... hm! Is anyone able to understand Latvian? It is a truly strange language! Among other things, they add an "S" at the end of all male names... For example: Vladimirs Putins, etc!

Are they Russians who moved there during the Soviet years?

Most of them - yes. When Latvia became independent, they did not give citizenship to those whose ancestors did not live in Latvia before 1940. Most Russians did not get citizenship (Russians were half of the population) even if they were born in Latvia. Their children did not automatically get citizenship even if they were born after independence. Some of those Russians left the country, some got Latvian citizenship, some - Russian, some remain without any citizenship. They did not have many rights (did not participate in privatization, in political sphere etc) and have been discriminated.

Very interesting, Hanna!

Are you going to any other towns there in Latvia, maybe Riga, or not?