belarus: brest

After booking my trip to Minsk, I did some quick research. A name that kept coming up was Brest, that is a city in the far west of Belarus. There seemed to be more mentions of Brest than Minsk. I decided to do a day trip if I could make it work time wise. 

My first day in Minsk I made my way to the train station and found tickets that would make a day trip to Brest feasible. When I say feasible I mean possible, not convenient. 

I woke up early that morning and got out the door by 0505. I walked 55 minutes (in the rain, ugh,) to the train station and found my train. The train was just like the trains I've ridden all over Ukraine, I knew exactly how everything worked. We departed a couple minutes late and just over four hours later arrived in Brest. 

I like the train station in Brest a lot more than I like the station in Minsk. It is like so many of the classical, nice looking stations I've seen all over Ukraine. 

It took me a few minutes to get oriented, then I started walking. I started on Lenin street, which is apparently still okay here. (I think they've renamed everything to do with Lenin in Ukraine.) Nothing was particularly exciting, oh well. 

After a few blocks I spied a church a few blocks down a street to my left. The street itself had a nice green pedestrian lane in the middle of the street. 

The church was nice, and not crowded. I had a headscarf with me, but this was a church that wants women to wear skirts as well so they have wraparound skirts available to borrow. 

Not long after I walked out I heard the bells serenade the hour. Lovely. 

I went back to Lenin street and kept walking. Eventually I got back to a statue of Lenin himself. Yay! I was able to set up my tripod and take a full body picture of me with the man. 

Almost in front of Lenin, on the other side of the street was a Catholic Church. I stepped inside and realized people were arriving for an Easter service. I stayed for a few minutes, then stepped back out. 

I walked to the intersection of Lenin street and Gogol street. Gogol street was another street with a greenway in the middle of the lanes. This greenway was unique in that there were artistic lamp lights every few meters. Cute.

I walked a few minutes the opposite of the way I needed to go, just to see the lamps. I wonder what time they're turned on every day. 

I turned around and walked back in the direction from which I'd come. When I got to the intersection again I kept walking, and followed Gogol street to its end. 

At the end of Gogol street I came to the main sight of Brest, the fortress. 

In the middle of the fortress walls is a wide, open area. In the middle of this area are several large things. Two of them are memorials to the soldiers of WW2. These memorials are even bigger than I'm used to seeing, which is saying something. The interior of the church was totally quiet, and made of unpainted brick. As always I looked up, but the cupolas weren't anything exciting. Parts of the church were decorated for Easter, which was nice. I absorbed the atmosphere for a while, I usually like standing in a house of (any) faith for a few minutes. 

As I walked through the area I realized I was getting cold, especially my hands and fingers. The wind was crazy strong but not consistent in direction or force. My hair went everywhere. I walked every path I saw, even ducking outside one of the gates of the fortress at one point. 

If I'd wanted to, I think I could've walked along the outer walls, or along the moat. It was raining a bit harder at that point, which didn't help my comfort level, argh. My umbrella is old and rather useless at this point, it wasn't doing me much good. 

I walked into St Nicholas, I was the only one in there at the time. The cleaning lady showed me how the church looked back when, as well as during the war, and after being redone. The photos are impressive. The interior of the church was totally quiet, and made of unpainted brick. As always I looked up, but the cupolas weren't anything exciting. Parts of the church were decorated for Easter, which was nice. I absorbed the atmosphere for a while, I usually like standing in a house of (any) faith for a few minutes. Plus, it felt warm inside, which felt amazing on my fingers and hands. 

I kept following paths, and eventually made my way back to the gate through which I'd entered the fortress. If the weather had been better I think I would've walked all over the grounds. I also skipped a military museum. 

I followed another street, walking past a train museum. Since it was outdoors, I didn't feel like stopping. Plus, the fence outside wasn't blocking everything, and I enjoyed the views of the various trains. 

My next stop was a supermarket. Exciting, I know. I realized I hadn't had anything to eat or drink since my quick yogurt and banana breakfast at 0615. I've learned the hard way that I need to stay hydrated. 

I found another church, this one was green. The interior wasn't at all exciting. 

It turned out I had wound my way back around to another part of Lenin street. I followed it again, coming to the same intersection with Gogol street. 

I turned and walked along part of the street I'd already seen. This time I kept walking, eventually coming to a millennium memorial. It was okay. 

As I walked during the day, I didn't see many people out on the streets. I didn't know if it was because it was Easter, or if because the weather wasn't great. Or maybe a combination of the two. I also noticed most businesses were closed, even those that appeared to normally be open seven days a week. I was a bit nervous the cafe I wanted wouldn't be open. 

Fortunately, the cafe I wanted was open. And it was warm inside. The desserts were fabulous. Chocolate cake with ginger frosting, yum. It was nice to sit and relax and warm up for an hour. 

While I was sitting inside I noticed it was snowing outside. Snow on 16 April, really? Quite heavy for a few minutes. Lucky me, I got to walk back to the train station in the end of that mess. 

As I got back to the train station I saw that my train was already at the platform. I didn't have to wait inside, yay. 

The train ride back to Minsk was easy and smooth, and a bit faster than the ride in the morning. 

It was nice to see Brest, but I don't get why it seems to be such a hotspot. It didn't feel like it was big enough to be worth spending more than a day exploring. Maybe the weather made a difference in my impression? 

Plus, I didn't see postcards or magnets. What kind of city in this area doesn't have either of those? Or maybe I didn't see them because all the stores were closed. Oh well.