Post by mikejust wondering who all is going....
I assume you mean in Belarus?
You can hardly avoid Minsk and there is certaintly no need to do so
either. The opera theathre is very good and very inexpensive (I paid 3
Euro on the third row on Yevgeny Onegin last year). Stary Mensk is a
popular bar for tourist where you can have a beer just opposite of the
old KGB building. Minsk is probably the best example of Stalin Baroque
architecture in the whole CIS. There are several villages outside Minsk
that is easy reached by train / bus that gives you an insight in rural
Belarus - the most inexpensive time machine you will ever go by;). Just
outside Minsk you can see the massgrave Karapary (about 350.000 people
that was killed by the NKVD in buried/stored on top of eachother and
local people have set up a small monument that has fresh flowers year
around), there is no public transportation there as far as I know -
stop an unofficial taxi outside the trainstation or bus station and
they can take you there. Since you are a foreigner there is no problem
going there. I highly advice you to stay away from jaywalking or any
kind of political demonstrations (unless you are ready to take the
consequences - the cooking is very bad in the prisons;-).
I have not been in Brest myself, but I have heard from people who has
that it is a very nice town. My Russian freinds has also told me a lot
about this being a super popular place to visit during Soviet times as
the closest town to the western border of the Soviet Union one could
come.
I liked Grodna/Hrodna. I was so lucky to visit on Easter day and it was
interesting to walk between Ortodox and catholic churces. The market is
also nice.
Another obvious thing to experience in Belarus is the part of the
country affected by the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, often refered to
as "the zone". As Ukraine have waived the need for a visa for EU,
Japaneese US and more ciitzes it is easier to combine a trip to both
Belarus and Ukraine (it is probably easier to start and end in Ukraine
and visit Bealrus from there so you just need a single entry visa).
Do try the birch juice and birch vodka. Very typical. If you are used
to travel in Russia you probably know that it is easy to make a hotel
register you for more nights than you stay in a hotel. Do not try that
in Belarus. Especially not in state owned hotels (more or less all
hotels in Minsk is state owned). If you have travelled in Russia you
probably also have seen that there is lots of garbage and very dirty
many places. Belarus is much cleaner. The people is very friendly too.
I highly reccommend a homestay, so you get the chance to meet a local
family, one of the best things the country has to offer is the people
living there. The night train is also an excellent way to meet locals.
Bring a bottle of wine (or something else) and some plastic cups and it
is very likely that you will have a nice evening.
Jan