Minsk - Final Thoughts

I have had time to reflect on the experience I had in Minsk and would like to offer an explanation for its weirdness. I will use Klaipeda as a counter-example. While walking the streets of Klaipeda, I noticed that a number of them were being re-cobbled, likely to make them more picturesque and tourist friendly. You know when you see cobbled streets that a tourist can't be far. The old city of Klaipeda is a massive construction zone. A giant crane loomed next to the restaurant I ate tonight. While the new 'old' buildings may not be historically authentic, they draw in the tourists and are aesthetically pleasing. All of the waitresses in restaurants speak English and are friendly. There are good signs and maps of the city everywhere. While Klaipeda is by no means a beautiful city, these small things are nice, and make the experience of staying here pleasant. I would guess that in about five years, Klaipeda will be very nice, and would like to revisit it then.

Minsk on the other hand, is a counter-example to this. No effort has been made to beautify the city, and it remains stunningly austere. Signage (even in Cyrillic), remains practically non-existent. Apart from people in hotels and the occasional young person, no one speaks English. They don't even sell postcards. This being said, I think that with some effort, Minsk could become a tourist mecca. By brightening up the grey buildings, opening a few museums with subtitles in English, and placing signs, the city would be much improved. There are many people who would be truly fascinated to see what a true Soviet city is like, but are put off by the requirements to enter Belarus. It's a shame really.

The question is why? Clearly it is because Belarus is aligned with Russia. It has chosen the East and not the West, which in my opinion is a bad choice. Unfortunately Belarus is a dictatorship and Lukashenko (the leader) is only 53! He could have another thirty years of life ahead of him. To see what could happen if Belarus aligned with the West, we need only look at Ukraine, which recently had the Orange revolution. Unfortunately I have not been there, and so can only comment on the visa situation. Since the pro-Russian non-democratic government was turfed in the revolution, visa restrictions have loosened, and Canadians (among others) no longer need a visa to get in. Undoubtedly this has greatly increased the tourism industry, and put money into the Ukrainian economy. I think Belarus could greatly benefit from loosening visa restrictions as well. However, as long as it remains allied with Russia (and Russia remains authoritarian), Belarus will always be a horribly dysfunctional country.