BY. [Baltarusija] Mir, Žyroviči, Synkoviči, Brest
Since this section looks much more live than the International Cafè, I post it here too, maybe you are interested in your big neighbours! 
Unfortunately I couldn't visit the Fortress of Brest, one of the most famous and impressive soviet memorials in the World, since I lost a lot of time in Minsk and on the very slow marshrutka to Brest (the train would have been much better and comfortable), I arrived in Brest late and as soon as I entered my hotel I was invited (well, almost forced
) to a wedding party which was celebrated there inside! So I couldn't see a monument of the Soviet past, but I could enjoy a real "monument" of present life in Belarus which was probably even more interesting, surely much funnier, thanks to the good people and lots of vodka!
The pictures of Brest you see here were all shot in quite early Saturday morning, so really few people around and it was a perfect and hot sunny day. I just walked around for half an hour before taking a bus to Hrodna, but the town centre really looked nice and much more at "human size" compared to Minsk. Of course everything was clean and tidy and there were big works on streets and houses for restoration and reconstruction. Better than Minsk is also the fact that part of the centre is for pedestrians only. BTW the "old town" is really small, the rest is of course grey concrete in the typical commie style. The railway station is really beautiful, you can see it in the first 2 pictures.
Mir Castle - Мірскі за́мак
Mir - Мір
I went to Mir on my first day in Belarus since my BY friend took me there with her cousin by car. Unfortunately the weather was ugly and incredibly cold and I just remember I was freezing! The castle is still under restoration/reconstruction and it seems they are also building an underground parking just below it! Quite crazy... Anyway there was almost no tourist around, as usual in Belarus, even if it's the most known Belarusian tourist attraction (listed on UNESCO World Heritage list, and I don't know why, honestly...). The castle is nice but it's a "fake" like Trakai in Lithuania (which is more beautiful IMHO), there's very little left of the original one. I really suggest not to spend the money (quite a lot) to enter the castle since by now you can go almost nowhere, just up on the walls. Maybe on a sunny day it's nicer, expecially with the little lake there around, but when everything is grey it's a bit sad.
Mir town looked much more interesting to me, but unfortunately my friends didn't agree! If I was alone I'd spend much more time exploring it since it really looked nice. The central square is all perfectly restored (almost fake, again) with the Orthodox church, while on the opposite site there's a catholic church which is in very bad conditions and need urgent restoration. All around is full of old wooden houses, one nicer than the other, you really get the idea of rural Belarus driving there around since it's full of very small towns, with no paved streets, their small cemetry and all wooden houses. Mir is bigger and saw probably more money because of the castle, but most villages look nice even if poor.
Zhirovichi - Жіровічі
Synkavichy - Сынковічы
Zhirovichi was the best surprise of this first part of my trip. I never heard about it and it's really an amazing place. It's the religious heart of Belarus and I think the only seminary of the country and one of the most important in the Orthodox world. We were lucky that the weather got really nice (even still very cold) and a priest there showed us around explaining all the history of the complex, sometimes also in English! It's really a must-visit place in Belarus, all perfectly restored and kept. It's just few Km from Slonim and there around it's again full of pretty small villages.
Synkavichy was another interesting stop. There's nothing there except this fortified church you see in the pictures. You can also go up to the tower and there was again a priest inside which told us all the history of this monument. It's just a very short stop but it's surely worth, I think I never saw such a kind of church, even in Italy.
Brest - Брэст
Mir - Мір
I went to Mir on my first day in Belarus since my BY friend took me there with her cousin by car. Unfortunately the weather was ugly and incredibly cold and I just remember I was freezing!
The castle is still under restoration/reconstruction and it seems they are also building an underground parking just below it! Quite crazy... Anyway there was almost no tourist around, as usual in Belarus, even if it's the most known Belarusian tourist attraction (listed on UNESCO World Heritage list, and I don't know why, honestly...). The castle is nice but it's a "fake" like Trakai in Lithuania (which is more beautiful IMHO), there's very little left of the original one. I really suggest not to spend the money (quite a lot) to enter the castle since by now you can go almost nowhere, just up on the walls. Maybe on a sunny day it's nicer, expecially with the little lake there around, but when everything is grey it's a bit sad.Mir town looked much more interesting to me, but unfortunately my friends didn't agree! If I was alone I'd spend much more time exploring it since it really looked nice. The central square is all perfectly restored (almost fake, again) with the Orthodox church, while on the opposite site there's a catholic church which is in very bad conditions and need urgent restoration. All around is full of old wooden houses, one nicer than the other, you really get the idea of rural Belarus driving there around since it's full of very small towns, with no paved streets, their small cemetry and all wooden houses. Mir is bigger and saw probably more money because of the castle, but most villages look nice even if poor.
Zhirovichi - Жіровічі
Synkavichy - Сынковічы
Zhirovichi was the best surprise of this first part of my trip. I never heard about it and it's really an amazing place. It's the religious heart of Belarus and I think the only seminary of the country and one of the most important in the Orthodox world. We were lucky that the weather got really nice (even still very cold) and a priest there showed us around explaining all the history of the complex, sometimes also in English!
It's really a must-visit place in Belarus, all perfectly restored and kept. It's just few Km from Slonim and there around it's again full of pretty small villages.Synkavichy was another interesting stop. There's nothing there except this fortified church you see in the pictures. You can also go up to the tower and there was again a priest inside which told us all the history of this monument. It's just a very short stop but it's surely worth, I think I never saw such a kind of church, even in Italy.
Brest - Брэст
Unfortunately I couldn't visit the Fortress of Brest, one of the most famous and impressive soviet memorials in the World, since I lost a lot of time in Minsk and on the very slow marshrutka to Brest (the train would have been much better and comfortable), I arrived in Brest late and as soon as I entered my hotel I was invited (well, almost forced
) to a wedding party which was celebrated there inside! So I couldn't see a monument of the Soviet past, but I could enjoy a real "monument" of present life in Belarus which was probably even more interesting, surely much funnier, thanks to the good people and lots of vodka! The pictures of Brest you see here were all shot in quite early Saturday morning, so really few people around and it was a perfect and hot sunny day. I just walked around for half an hour before taking a bus to Hrodna, but the town centre really looked nice and much more at "human size" compared to Minsk. Of course everything was clean and tidy and there were big works on streets and houses for restoration and reconstruction. Better than Minsk is also the fact that part of the centre is for pedestrians only. BTW the "old town" is really small, the rest is of course grey concrete in the typical commie style. The railway station is really beautiful, you can see it in the first 2 pictures.
I've seen similar patern church somewhere in Lithuania, but not with such towers.
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