‘Everyone Speaking Russian? No, No And No Again’
50- 29.10.2024, 8:09
- 37,702
A Russian has reported about his trip to Belarus.
The correspondent of the Yaroslavl YarNews regional portal together with friends has decided to spend a holiday in Belarus and shared his impressions of the trip.
In the text the journalist immediately notes that Belarus is his first foreign trip in 11 years and that at the very beginning of the trip he was completely sure that he was still in Russia. Until his first encounter with the police.
‘When entering Belarus, you should immediately forget that you can exceed the speed limit by 20 kilometres. No, it's only 10 kilometres here, otherwise you'll be fined. And don't doubt, you will be stopped sooner or later. We found ourselves in just such a situation: we exceeded the speed limit not intentionally. And in the end, the police stopped us in a completely different location. While we were waiting for our turn, the inspectors stopped five or six other cars. All of them had Russian licence plates,’ the Russian journalist said.
According to the journalist, when he arrived in Vitsebsk, he felt that ‘this exemplary socialist city with its typical new buildings with impressive distances between the houses evokes nostalgia for the last years of the Soviet Union,’ and noted that although Yaroslavl is also called the city of wide avenues, but ‘it can't compare with the expanses of Vitsebsk and even less with Minsk.
Then the journalist describes the difficulties with Russian bank cards, noting that they cannot be topped off in Belarus, so one has to make a new one in local banks or take cash in advance.
He also states that ‘prices for goods and services in Minsk are about the same as for a tourist in St. Petersburg, and more expensive than even in Moscow’. At the same time, he praises Belarusian cuisine, architectural diversity, and notes that some Russian stereotypes about Belarusians have no connection with reality.
‘Is it true that all Belarusians speak Russian? No, no and once again no. It all depends only on where you are. During a couple of days in Vitsebsk, I never heard anyone speaking something other than Russian. However, people in Minsk were often talking in Belarusian. At the same time, there are Brest and Hrodna, which are called ‘territories of Belarusian language’. By the way, all road signs, signs on buildings, significant signs are in Belarusian. And there are no major problems with this,' shares the YarNews correspondent.
He emphasises that ‘Belarus, despite its resemblance to Russia, is actually a completely different country with its long and ancient history,’ which he advises readers to get acquainted with.
‘And, in fact, the further into the woods you go, the more differences there will be. After all, this is a country that used to be part of Medieval Europe. There are many castles in Belarus, and Minsk has preserved neighbourhoods that look like typical streets of Prague, Budapest or Warsaw. And I advise you to get to know them better by going on at least a standard sightseeing tour,’ the Russian journalist concludes.
Bank's name: Bank Millennium S.A.
Address: ul. Stanislawa Zaryna, 2A, 02-593, Warszawa
IBAN: PL97116022020000000216711123
SWIFT: BIGBPLPW
Name of the account holder: Fundacja “KARTA ‘97”
Purpose/title of payment: Donation for statuary aims
You can contact us by the e-mail charter97@gmail.com
