Russian holidays in Belarus: Broken roads and "breakfast as a joke"

Resident of Kaluga visited Lida and Nesvizh on Christmas day.

In general, he liked Belarus but some points spoiled the holiday. So what he writes in his blog.

"After passing the border the highway M1 disproves a well-known legend about Belarusian roads": dirt is everywhere, an awful track, no street lamps, no sand or salt on the road (to make it less slippery) and lots of potholes, he writes about his first impressions after crossing the border. - The same picture is about 30 kilometers until a high-speed section begins. Then goes 120 km per hour speed limit, and the road is either surfaced with more or less decent asphalt or with inaccurate seams on concrete. If you're not afraid of breaking your suspension, you may drive at 129 km/hour without being fined for overspeeding. There are lots of cameras on the road but they are easy to notice. It's either a huge slanted box on a post or a spyglass on bridges. Road signs warn about speed camera approach and Navitel precautionary beeps".

On his way the resident of Kaluga broke some more myths about our country.

"The legend has it that in Belarus everything is in perfect order, all the fields are plowed and sown, but it's disproved along the highway M6. When I traveled it in the spring and the summer, I saw that about one half of the fields was not sown (just plowed), and the other half was abandoned and grown over with weeds. Among the growing crops I noticed neither potatoes nor carrots or cabbage, but rape, which pleased the eye with its bright-yellow flowers. As the local fellows explained the oil was made for biofuel exported to Europe. The fence facing the road in a village is always the same (as they say, made with the help of the state), and if you take a regardant eye, you may find the fence of sticks. Oh, and villages along the way are more or less accurate", he writes.

In Lida the Russian citizen stayed in the "Equator" hotel.

"The hotel has a free parking lot", he writes. There are a bathroom with shower, comfortable bed, modern TV set, lots of cabinets, racks, and bulbs. There are some little things you may complain about: no bedside lamps, therefore, to read, one needs to put the overhead light on. The switch is located on the opposite wall, so one needs to get out of bed to turn it off and then return in the darkness. There are three towels in the bathroom (Bravo!) but no shampoo... No slippers, and the floor is cold. The cost of living during the day is 1500 rubles, the concept of "time of payment" does not exist, and this is great.

Breakfast was not a fly in the ointment, but a piece of fun. First I was looked at with round eyes: "Did you really order breakfast?! You are not in the list; we have applications for three and two servings". Reminding of the Soviet Union, with the most sincere smile ever I assured them that I had the breakfast ordered, for sure. I was not kidding. Finally they said: "Perhaps someone has mixed something up, there are not three but two and one servings", I was invited to the table and brought... 10 grams of butter, 20 grams of cheese and fried sausages and two eggs. Turbid yesterday's flavorless tea brew takes the floor. God-damn! And which of this is unavailable so the breakfast must be ordered in advance? I had to laugh more than to eat, especially when I paid for breakfast 250 rubles. "

Lida Castle also had a few words to tell about, or rather about its restores.

"Poor restoration has spoiled the main point of interest, Lida Castle. If in 2006 (my first visit to Lida) these were the remains of a stone fortress, now stone walls of orange bricks are built up on top. Apparently they saved money on cement and were in a hurry as the entire construction looks massive with bulging curve corners and the top is covered with a horrible roof. In general, a historic castle has become a shed for collective combines. It looks amazing only at night being illuminated", he writes.