There are only a view train connection I found out.
I figured out the busses from Vilnius to Minsk and decided form the one departing at 15:50.
For about 25 LTL I purchased a ticket in the bus.
The trip suppose to take three hours. It is to late for the apartment today
I thought and I could try stay a night in the Sputnik Hotel.
The bus had seen better days but OK for me - it always arrived.
That was in 2002. In 2007 better busses are in service.
Following a statement of the Belarussian Embassy one must buy
health insurance at the border, as travel health insurance is not accepted.
But nobody bothered at the border about this and there was no possibility to
buy one.
And here is a translation of the custom declaration form.
There a insurance offices before the passport control
when one enters Belarus by Minsk airport.
One must buy insurance . I paid 2 USD for a insurance .
In September 2007 the entry document was in Russuan and English as well.
The people are friendly. At the border we must leave the bus for the exit
procedure in Lithuania. Stamping the passports takes 35 minutes.
Then we proceed to the Belarussian side. Someone imports two Enduros.
The friendly customs officers enter the bus and collect the passports
to stamp them and the visa. This happens in a record breaking 7 minutes.
We do not have to fill in the usual custom declaration.
For the Custom procedure we have to leave the bus and our bagage is x-rayed.
The officer has a short glance in my laptop bag and I can leave.
The busses from Vilnius to Minsk depart from the bus station next to train station
at 1:20, 5:50, 9:00, 12:50, 14:00, 15:50, 17:00 and 18:05 (September 2007)
and take 3 to 5 hours depending on border crossing.
In Vilnius the ticket cost 34 LTL (9.84 EUR, Sep. 2007) and can be board in the bus.
Also in Minsk busses depart normaly from the bus station next to train station.
But till April 2008 busses to Vilnius deparrtt from the eastern bus station.
There is for example a bus at 7:30 and 11:00.
Here you get the ticket at the ticket office in the bus station and
you pay 29570 BYR (9.85 EUR, Sep 2007 ) .
(2007) Seit ich vor 6 Jahren das erste mal hier war ist vieles modernisiert worden.
Straßen, Plätze und Gebäude.
So ist der Platz der Unabhänigkeit (Nezavisimosti,Независимости) nun kein öder Parkplatz mehr sondern ein Shoppingcenter.
Auch heute noch wird das Straßenbild von deutschen
Autos dominiert. Aber im Gegensatz zu damals sind es heute neue Wagen.
Tatsächlich gibt es natürlich auch fernöstliche Marken in den Straßen.
Was fehlt sind die Frauen die Waren anbieten.
Dies ist auf eine Dekret der Regierung zurückzuführen die
höhere Anfoderungen an die Zustand und Umweltbelastung der Autos stellt.
Aber Minsk hat, wie so manche andere Stadt, seine Gesicht nicht verloren. Minsk ist
immer noch Minsk. Alles ist noch an seinem Platz: Der Palast der Republik, das zentrale Kaufhaus Universam,
die Metro, die um weitere Stationen ergänzt wurde, der zentrale Lebenmittelmarkt.
(2007) ...
(2002) At around 20:00 h we arrive at the cental station. I am searching
where I could do a telephone call. I line up and wait half an hour
to buy a telephone card. The unfriendly lady does not even look up to me and
ask "Which ?" in Russian and does not look interested further.
No idea! But with the help of other customers I get by accident the right
one.
I reach Irina to organize the apartment for tomorrow,
but Irina insists to try to find something for today.
Next day Irina
did a great job to organize
something nice (for Belarus).
To go by Metro is fast and very easy: You buy a giton near the
entrance barriers, insert it an pass the barrier. You
can go where you like. The trains go often - during the day every 2 minutes
to 1:00 a.m. were they go every 8 minutes.
The are 2 lines, one from east to west and one from north to south.
There meet at the center at station Kupalovskaja.
In the beginning one has problems to identify the station names, that
are announced and written in Russian only, but it gets easier after some time.
A giton costs 600 BYR in 2007
(2004) I watched a little confused how people watched a Top and Jerry Film
at Metro-Station Pl. Nesavicimocti on a large station screen.
I can not image a bigger contrast: The Belarussian people next to the Lenin
memorial stare at the the screen that watching these disgusting Symbols of
capitalism.
The Festival if friendship between Minsk and Moscow took place at the river
at the Prospect Masharova street. A rock concert took place in a pleasant and
friendly atmosphere followed by fireworks at this Friday evening.
The underpath of the 1999 stampage was blocked by dozens of police man.
r
The streets look pretty familiar to me as 60 % of the cars are of German make
and 35 % a Russian brand. Far-Eastern brands and other nearly do not exist.
Ich habe eine große Auswahl an Restaurants zu Abendessen.
Auf der Franciska Skorini Strasse (Франциска Скорины ), die seit 2005 Nezalezhnaszi (Незалежнасци) Strasse heißt gibt es Cafe Klimpart (Климпарт) macht hervorragende Torten.
Noch bekannter für leckere Torten ist das Cafe Pakobskij Vrovar (Раковский Бровар)
in der Nähe des Yubileinaya Platz (Юбилейная Пложа). hier gibt es immer
eine lange Schlange von Leuten die sich die Torten mit nach Hause nehmen.
Near the Red Church we went to is the Pizza Kipriana, at Bersona 14 (Пицца Киприана)
where student go out some time. Although not the most exclusive place,
I like it very much.
Karchma (Карчма) is a nice little restaurant in the old town (Starovilenskaya 2)
The meal was really delicious and we would have paid 21000 BYR (13 EUR) for
two if there would not be the exorbitant wine price on listed the bill.
I ask the waiter "Why are there 8 glasses of wine on the bill we only had two?".
Well says the waiter "The price listed on the menu is for 50 ml so a glass of
wine is 4 times that price". So we ended up paying 18800 BYR (12 EUR) for
two glasses of wine.
Everybody knows that the Mafia rules in the wild East (in general).
Carjacking is dayly buissness and if you don't get shoot at once,
your propperty will be stolen.
At least this are the propagandistic statements of western media and travel
guides.
In fact this statements match better a description of Ney York, Italy or Amsterdam.
In contrast to this places you don't need to worry about crime in Minsk.
Those statements are made to fool you about the low standars
your goverment goverments supplies.
Minsk has been destroyed compleatly during WW2.
One intuitively realizes that Minsk is artificial build a example of
soviet planing.
On the Place of the Republic there is a mile stone with distances and
direction of other European cites. Often it is claimed that this is center
of Minsk or Belarus. But this is not true - it is the point zero
or reference point of the city planers of Minsk.
In one direction there is the park and the residence of the president.
In the other end is the Palace of culture and Art the museum of "the
great patriotic war". The metro lines cross here at Aktjabrvskan (Октябрвскан)
station and the great supermarket "Universe" is located here.
The 23 km long main and business street Franciska Skorini (Франциска Скорины)
that was renamed in 2005 to Nezalezhnaszi (Незалежнасци) Street, passed this point.
Outside the center Minsk is made up of rather nasty batteries of housing
blocks. But these are supplemented with parks.
Prices in Restaurants
2004 BYR(EUR)
2007 BYR(EUR)
Good Meal
7000(4.50)
34000
Big Mac at Mc Donald
2600(1.70)
4900
Pizza
4500(2.95)
12000
Beer (0.5 Liter)
600-2000 ( 0.375 - 1.25)
5000
Cup of Coffee
1915 ( 1.25)
3150
Wine is very expensive at restaurants. There are two units in which
wine is sold:
A bottle and a unit of 50 milliliter, which is carefully measured.
If one orders a glass of wine (200 ml) four times this price will be charged.
A bottle of cheap French red wine cost e.g. 33000 BYR (20 EUR) und
50 ml 2200 BYR (1.375 EUR). Makes 5.5 EUR for a glass.
After all Belarus is a beer and Vodka country.
Es gibt Supermärkte, Tagesmärkte und Kiosks überall in der Innenstadt und
in den Wohngebieten. Diese habe ein breites Angebot an westlichen und
russischen Produkten.
(2007) Die meisten Leute haben inzwischen eine mobiles Telefonnummer bei einen der vier Operatoren : MTS, Velcom, Best ....
Roaming mit westlichen Operator ist nicht immer möglich. Speziell Prepaid-System stellen ein Problem dar.
Doch es gibt zwei noch viele öffentliche Telefone die mit Telefonkarten funktionierne.
Wenn man eine Mobilnummer wie z.B. 6541234 bekommt muss man noch 80 (für anders Netz/Stadt) und für Mobilnetz
vorwählen, also 80-29-6541234. Wenn man von öffentlichen Telefonen anruft wartet man bis die Gegenseite abhebt.
Dann drückt man den entsprechen den Knopf und erst dann kann man sprechen und werden Gebühren gezählt.
(2001) Das meiste kommt aus direkt oder indirekt Deutschland. Man bekommt
Salamander-Schuhkreme, Schauma-Schampoo u.s.w. zu sagen wir 2/3 bis 1/1 des
Preises wie im Westen oder billige russische Produkte.
Brot und Milch stehen unter Preiskontrolle der Regierung und
sind sehr billig. Fleisch und Aufschnitt kosten zwischen 1.5 bis 6 EUR.
Bier gibt es ab 0.375 EUR die 0.5 Liter Flasche, für die ganz verzweifelten gibt es 1.5 Liter Flaschen.
Die Preise sind überall gleich egal ob man am Kiosk, Super- oder Tagesmarkt kauft.
Erstaunt war ich über das breite Angebot und 1a Obst und Gemüse das aus dem Westen via Deutschland
importiert wird und zu gleichen Preisen erhältlich ist.
Und es wird gekauft, von der breiten Masse der Einheimischen - denn Touristen
fehlen nahezu völlig.
(2004) Da stellt sich die Frage nach dem Einkommensverteilung.
Ein mittleres Einkommen ist ca. 150 bis 200 EUR. Renten sind mit 40 bis
50 EUR sehr niedrig. Nun ist es zum einen so das die Grundkosten sehr niedrig
sind - eine Wohnung kostet ca 15 EUR - und zum anderen das der Familien
zusammen halt besser ist. Es leben in der Regel Kinder, Eltern
Großeltern in einer Wohnung. Damit bleibt natürlich bei den einzelnen sehr
viel Geld übrig, was man dann verprassen kann.
So ist es doch üblich das man als Student mit Freunden regelmässig ausgeht
und eine Pizza mit Bier für 3 EUR und ich kenne auch einfache Studenten
die viel Sparen
um dann für 850 USD zwei Wochen Urlaub und der "Costa de Sol" in Spanien
buchen. Das recht große Angebot in Kaufhäusern, Märkten, Restaurants
und Kneipen wird auf jeden Fall genutzt und zwar Mangels Touristen von der
breiten Masse.
Jeder kauft nach seinen Möglichkeiten.
Die Struktur der Ausgaben ist halt eine andere: Während im Westen die
Grundkosten fast das Gehalt verschlingen (Miete z.B. in München 1000 EUR plus
Auto, Versicherung, Handy .....) sind Essen,
Konsum- und Luxusgüter sehr billig.
Lebensmittelpreise in Minsk in weissrussischen Rubeln, Euro und US Dollar in Klammern: BYR(EUR, USD)
Product
05-2002
01-2004
01-2005
08-2005
09-2007
Euro
1600
2635
3080
2550
2930
Dollar
1700
2166
2150
2130
Bread (1 kg)
500 (0.20 - 0.35)
580-895
470
660
1664
Butter (0.2 kg)
1420
1610
1800
Meat and Coldcut/kg
2500 - 8000 BYR
9000-25000
Milk (1 liter 1.5%)
235 (0.14)
1690
Tea (100 pads/130g)
2560
Bottle Wodka / 0.5 l
2000 (1.30)
12600
6000
Tooth paste (Russian)
700(0.45)
1350
Shoecreame (Russian
300
Shoecreame (German)
2200
Fruit juice
1780
2410-5000
Chocolate
1500-3200
Beer (0.5 liter )
450 - 1000
850 - 1850
1150 - 1870
1280-2050
Light bulb 75W
1100(0.70)
4800
Books
2000 - 9000
10'000 - 30'000
Metro ticket
120( 0.075)
260
360
400
600
Minibus ticket
1500
Busticket Minsk-Vilnius
14400
19100
29570
Ballet Ticket
12000
Stamp for postcard to Europe
110
440
Shops are opened from Monday to Saturday from 9:00 h to 21:00 h
and Sundays from 10:00 to 18:00h.
New supermarkets are called but "supermarket" but at soviet times
they where called "Universam".
The central supermarket has the longest opening times.
(2004) In many shops one must pay in advanced and then pick up the goods -
a relict of soviet times.
Ice cream seems to be a favorite in winter even if it is as cold as -10°C.
I see a teenage girl buying ice-cream on a a kiosk.
(2002) The US Dollar, and increasingly the Euro, that is called JEFRO and written EVRO
, seems to be the local Currency. Since you can not
pay in USD but in BYR people change it forth and back on one of the
many official exchange kiosk to cope inflation. The difference between buying and
selling is about 1 %.
(2007) ...
(2001) I was looking for a Bank where you can get credit-card cash advance.
The Belarussian Bank on Franciska Skorini (Франциска Скорины) has
a Mastercard and Visa symbol on. So I enter and ask with my phrase book and i
some pointing if I could get a and cash advance.
The friendly lady says Нет but writes down an address where I should succeed.
I passed some ATMs where you could get Rubles.
At the exchange kiosk at Volodarskogo street 21 (Володарского 21)
it was indeed possible to get USD cash advance also they charge 4% for it.
This is also one of the view places where you can change all kind of
currencies, including my Lithuanian money.
(2002) A Russian told me that she once once did accept and offer and
the man showed a police Id and she had to come to the office and pay a fine.
(2007) ... Defakto ist seit ca. 2004 der Belarussische Rubel and den US-Dollar mit einem Kurs von ca. 2100 Rubel für einen Dollar gekoppelt.
Auch gibt es heute überall Bankomaten und man kann mit der Kredit- oder Bankkarte bezahlen,
Die Wechselkurse sind überall ungefär gleich und es ist illegal Geld bei privaten Personen zu tauschen.
Private Personen die einem dies anbieten sind meist von der Polizei.
(2004) On the other hand there are only a view beggars that want your money.
Often this are handicapped people but an interesting case cached my eyes:
A rather unemployed young man begged for money, and his board said:
"to pay for his Internet an cellular phone".
For automobile travelers of interest is that in Minsk
the green stoplight flashes before it turns yellow.
But both sides get yellow at the same time!
Fuel prices in BYR(EUR,USD)/Liter in Minsk as below:
05-2002
01-2004
09-2007
98(unleaded)
95(unleaded)
670 (0.43,0.39)
1390 (0.53
2310
92(unleaded)
590 (0.37,0.34)
1210 (0.46
2020
76/80
475 (0.30,0.28)
975 (0.37,0.45)
1600
Diesel
465 (0.29,0.27)
975 (0.37,0.45)
1610
LPG
330 (0.21,0.19)
560 (0.21,0.26)
880
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Following a statement of the Belarussian Embassy one must buy
health insurance at the border, as travel health insurance is not accepted.
But nobody bothered at the border about this and there was no possibility to
buy one.
And here is a translation of the custom declaration form.
There a insurance offices before the passport control
when one enters Belarus by Minsk airport.
One must buy insurance . I paid 2 USD for a insurance .
In September 2007 the entry document was in Russuan and English as well.
To go by Metro is fast and very easy: You buy a giton near the
entrance barriers, insert it an pass the barrier. You
can go where you like. The trains go often - during the day every 2 minutes
to 1:00 a.m. were they go every 8 minutes.
The are 2 lines, one from east to west and one from north to south.
There meet at the center at station Kupalovskaja.
In the beginning one has problems to identify the station names, that
are announced and written in Russian only, but it gets easier after some time.
A giton costs 600 BYR in 2007
