Hotels Restaurants Cafés Nightlife Sightseeing Events Maps MINSK VVol.Volol. 1,1 , 20132 2001133 Inside A fully updated, impartial scrutiny of the best things Minsk has to offer visitors and residents A walk to remember: 2013 Through the heart of the city. www.inyourpocket.com Part two. CONTENTS 3 ESSENTIAL CITY GUIDES Contents Arriving in Minsk 5 Are we there yet? Basics 7 Essential information, from alcohol to visas History 10 Some useful background information Mail & phones 11 Keeping in touch Culture & Events 12 Galleries, theatres, events and more A walk to remember 14 Where to stay 17 A bed for all budgets Boy with a Swan (by L. Bernini, 1874). Together, not only did they survive the revolution and the war, Dining & Nightlife but also outlasted a monument to Stalin which stood Restaurants 20 across the avenue between 1952 and 1961 A roll call of recommended eateries Cafés 29 Where to find the best espresso Nightlife 34 Drinking, dancing and other after-dark treats Sightseeing What to see 39 Travel A gencies Unmissable Minsk Getting around 45 When legs just aren’t enough Directory Shopping 48 Lifestyle 51 Health 53 Business 54 Where to partake and observe Maps Street index 57 The fountain in front of the main entrance to the recently City centre map 58 renovated Opera House (I. Langbard, 1936) City map 60 is the favourite place of Minsk’s youth to get cooled off on a hot summer day Country map 62 minsk.inyourpocket.com Vol. 1, 2013 4 FOREWORD ARRIVING IN MINSK 5 Welcome to Minsk! The capital city of the sovereign Republic of Belarus cordially is greeting its visitors. The World of In Your Pocket The Independence Avenue with its famous ensemble of buildings – examples of the Stalinist neo-classical Northern style – that date back to the early postwar years; Ireland Estonia Ireland the greenery of Minsk’s public parks and gardens; Latvia Russia the sparkling crystal of the National Library washed Lithuania by warm summer rains; the city’s theatres and museums with their new exhibitions – all hoping to Belarus Netherlands draw your attention. A lot has changed in the city Poland since your previous visit. New hotels and restaurants Germany Ukraine Belgium have been opened, theatres have updated their Czech Republic repertoire, new dishes have appeared on the menu. One thing has remained intact however – the affability Austria Switzerland Slovenia Romania of Minsk residents towards the city’s visitors. If Croatia this is your first time here, we have no doubts that Italy Bosnia Serbia having discovered Minsk you will love it as much as Bulgaria Montenegro Kosovo we love our city. Explore the urban environment, try FYR Macedonia the Belarusian cuisine, communicate with the city Albania Greece residents – and share your impressions with us. Help Minsk Central Train Station us make the city better, praise, advise, complain; all the comments you have posted on our website in the Arriving in and getting around Minsk are fairly simple affairs section http://www.inyourpocket.com/belarus/ once you understand the basics. Accordingly, travelling By car minsk-russian do not go unnoticed. Send your It’s now 21 years since we published the first In Your further afield is relatively painless if you’re prepared to do Driving in Belarus is generally much better than it used to Pocket guide - to Vilnius in Lithuania - in which time your research beforehand and use some sign language be, and certainly less fraught with danger than in some of e-mails to [email protected]. Go ahead, when using buses and trains. Car rental is relatively cheap its EU neighbours. There’s a risk of receiving on-the-spot the city is waiting! we have grown to become the largest publisher of locally produced city guides in Europe. We now cover by Western standards. ‘fines’ from traffic police, so stay within the speed limits. more than 75 cities across the continent (with Tbilisi, Road signs are in Belarusian only with the exception of the M1 (E30) Brest-Minsk highway. At the border it’s necessary Cover story in Georgia, the latest city to be pocketed) and the By bus to fill out a declaration on your car and buy Belarusian vehicle number of concise, witty, well-written and downright Minsk is served by three different international bus stations, insurance which is cheap, but be sure you have the money indispensable In Your Pocket guides published each namely Tsentralny (Central), Vostochny (Eastern) and Mosk- in cash (Russian roubles, US dollars and euros only). There MinskM City Hall was built anew in 2002– year is approaching five million. We also publish an ovsky (Moscow). Check which one you’ll be arriving at when may not be controls at the border coming in from Russia, 20032 on its original site confirmed iPhone app, including more than 40 guides, which you buy your ticket. but there could be sporadic checks. You’ll have to pay a byb archaeological excavations. It was can be downloaded for free from the AppStore. small toll for using the Brest-Minsk highway, again payable reconstructedr according to old pictures Search for ‘IYP Guides’ by name. Getting to town Tsentralny is located next to the train sta- only in Russian roubles, US dollars and euros. In the event anda drawings. The emblem of the city tion. See Arriving by train for more information. Vostochny of a breakdown trouble, call tel. 116. anda a clock with chimes were installed on To keep up to date with all that’s new at In Your is out in the suburbs. Getting to the city centre from it thet 32-meter tower with a weather vane. Pocket, like us on Facebook (facebook.com/ is complicated for anyone who doesn’t speak Russian, By plane TheT first floor of the City Hall houses the inyourpocket) or follow us on Twitter (twitter.com/ involving multiple stops and boundless possibilities to get museumm of Minsk. inyourpocket). seriously lost. A taxi is by far the best bet. Moskovsky is Minsk has two airports, the tiny and hardly used Minsk-1 in located close to the National Library, a short walk from the the city centre and the larger National Airport Minsk (Minsk-2), Moskovskaya Metro station. where the majority of international flights arrive and depart. MinskMikIY In Your Pocket P Copyright notice published by LLC TopPRINT/ Text and photos copyright LLC TopPRINT ESSENTIAL CITY GUIDES In Your Pocket. 1992-2011. Maps copyright LLC TopPRINT. Belarus, 220040 Minsk, All rights reserved. No part of this publication Справочное издание 155, ul. M.Bogdanovicha, 1013 may be reproduced in any form, except brief Минск в твоем кармане extracts for the purpose of review, without Справочник. Вып. 1, 2013 [email protected] written permission from the publisher and На английском языке tel./fax: (+375 17) 331 34 52, copyright. Составители: Мартынов Виктор Вадимович, www.inyourpocket.com Чудникова Елена Андреевна Editor’s note Фотографы А.П. Дрибас, Е.И. Страшнова Editorial The editorial content of In Your Pocket guides Ответственный за выпуск М.В. Чудников Editor Sco is independent from paid-for advertising. Редактор В.В. Мартынов Sponsored listings are clearly marked as Компьютерная верстка Е.В. Павлова Contributors Andrew Quested, such. We welcome all readers‘ comments 1 Tim Orr and suggestions. We have made every effort Подписано в печать 28.06.2013. Формат 60x84 /16. Бумага мелованая. Печать офсетная. Усл. печ. л. 3,72. Researchers Victor Martynov, to ensure the accuracy of the information at Уч.-изд. л. 7,6. Тираж 20000 экз. Заказ № 108. Elena Chudnikova the time of going to press and assume no Издатель и полиграфическое исполнение: responsibility for changes and errors. ООО “ТОППРИНТ” Photos Anatoly Dribas, Elena Strashnova © Составление, оформление. ООО “ТОППРИНТ”, ЛИ № 02330/614 от 07.10.2011. 2012. ЛП № 02330/188 от 03.04.2009. General Manager Vadim Martynov © Дрибас А.П., Страшнова Е.И., фото, 2013 Ул. Богдановича, 155-1013, 220040, Минск. Layout & Design Elena Pavlova © Государственный комитет по имуществу ISBN 978-985-90313-2-8 Республики Беларусь, картоснова, 2013 Distribution (+375 17) 334 87 23 © Квадрограф, составление, 2013. National Airport Minsk (Minsk-2) Minsk In Your Pocket minsk.inyourpocket.com minsk.inyourpocket.com Vol. 1, 2013 6 ARRIVING IN MINSK BASICS 7 СЕРВИС - ЦЕНТР Service Center CLUB SV tel. (+375 17) 225-00-52 Alcohol Basic data “КЛУБ ” (Highly comfortable area) fax. (+375 17) 225-52-00 As one would expect to find in this part of the world, vodka is essentially the Belarusian national drink. Local brands Population станции МинскCB-Пассажирский Open daily e-mail: [email protected] are inexpensive and generally very good. Three to watch Belarus 9,503,800 Minsk 1,850,000 from 07.00 to 23.00 out for are Bulbash (Бульбашъ), Minsk Kristal (Минск Admission payable Кристалл) and Belalco (Белалко). For men, knocking Ethnic composition (Belarus, 2009) For passengers with SV (First Class) tickets back ice-cold shots in one is considered the correct way Belarusians 83.7% free stay to drink. Mixing vodka is looked on as being somewhat Russians 8.3% at the Service Center unmanly. Belarusian beer comes in all shapes and sizes Poles 3.1% within three hours on the day from the mass-produced brands such as Krinica (Криница) Ukrainians 1.7% to the more interesting ales such as the live Beaver Dark of arrival or departure Others 3.2% Privokzalnaya sq., 5, Minsk (Бивер Темное) and the light Lidskoye Beloye (Лидское The Railway Station Building, second floor Белое). Minsk has three or four microbreweries worth investigating. See the Nightlife section of this guide for Territory more information. The choice of imported beers, wines and 207,595 square kilometres.