{"id":33808,"date":"2019-03-28T03:03:31","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T16:03:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/?p=33808"},"modified":"2025-03-07T21:07:42","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T10:07:42","slug":"facts-about-belarus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/facts-about-belarus\/","title":{"rendered":"10 weird and wonderful facts about Belarus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sandwiched by Poland<\/a>, Ukraine<\/a>, Latvia<\/a>, Lithuania<\/a> and Russia<\/a> \u2013 Belarus<\/a> occupies a fairly unexplored corner of Eastern Europe<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But with beautiful primeval forests to be discovered, delicious potato pancakes to be eaten and enormous bison to be spotted, it\u2019s time it got a ping on your travel radar.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve never considered visiting Belarus before (which admittedly I hadn\u2019t either), these brilliantly weird and wonderful facts<\/a> will definitely spark some intrigue\u2026<\/p>\n

1. Around 40% of Belarus is covered by forest.<\/h2>\n
\"Bia\u0142owie\u017ca

Aleksander Bolbot\/Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

Sometimes referred to as the \u2018Lungs of Europe\u2019, Belarus is home to one of the last and largest remaining parts of the huge primeval forest that once covered the European Plain \u2013 the Bia\u0142owie\u017ca Forest. You\u2019ll also find several stunning national parks to explore here, ideal for avid walkers and fans of the fresh air. Oh, and the green stripe on the Belarusian flag actually represents its forests.<\/p>\n

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTERS FOR THE LATEST OFFERS, NEWS AND GIVEAWAYS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

2. Independence Avenue is the country\u2019s longest street.<\/h2>\n
\"Independence

SviatlouSS\/Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

Stretching over 15 kilometres across the capital, Independence Avenue passes through five different squares including Victory Square and October Square. Throughout history, it has not only grown in length and width but has also had 14 name changes \u2013 more than any other street in Minsk.<\/p>\n

3. Forget Pancake Day, it\u2019s all about Pancake Week!<\/h2>\n
\"Maslenitsa

Grisha Bruev\/Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

Called Maslenitsa Week, this Eastern Slavic holiday is celebrated in the last week before Lent. Pancakes are rustled up in every home to be enjoyed with friends and family, as well as being served up at local street festivals. Belarusians don\u2019t shy away from creative toppings either, from ground poppy seeds sweetened with sugar to hearty mushroom stew \u2013 the possibilities know no bounds.<\/p>\n

LOVE FOOD? CHECK OUT INTREPID TRAVEL’S RANGE OF FOODIE BREAKS IN EUROPE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

4. They love a bit of sport.<\/h2>\n
\"Minsk

Tumar\/Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

With 23,000 sporting venues open to the public across the country, if Belarusians aren\u2019t playing sport chances are they\u2019re watching it. Favourites include football, handball, ice hockey and tennis. A little fun fact for you now\u2026 Well-known tennis player Victoria Azarenka comes from Belarus and is the only Belarusian tennis pro (female or male) to ever win a Grand Slam singles title.<\/p>\n

5. It\u2019s impossible not to be charmed by the locals.<\/h2>\n

Belarusians are some of the warmest, friendliest and most hospitable people you will ever meet. Even if they can\u2019t speak your language they will go above and beyond to help you in absolutely any way they can.<\/p>\n

6. Their national library is award-winning, in more ways than one.<\/h2>\n
\"The

Grisha Bruev\/Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

Also known as \u2018The Diamond of Knowledge\u2019, the National Library of Belarus is an imposing structure. Standing at 74 metres tall, with 23 floors and a viewing deck from the top \u2013 it\u2019s difficult to miss. It\u2019s enjoyed fame as one of the most unusual buildings in the world but also as one of the ugliest. Apparently, architects Michael Vinogradov and Viktor Kramarenko were asked to make a statement, and they most certainly did.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: DISCOVER WHY BELARUS HAS A PLACE IN LONELY PLANET’S BEST IN TRAVEL LIST FOR 2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

7.\u00a0Potatoes are a big deal.<\/h2>\n
\"Potato

freeskyline\/Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

The humble potato is a staple of Belarusian cuisine<\/a> and it\u2019s rare that you\u2019ll sit down to a meal where they\u2019re not featured. With over 300 potato recipes to choose from such as tukmachi, a layered potato cake, and kalduny, potato wrapped minced meat dumplings \u2013 you\u2019ll be spoiled for choice. My favourite has to be draniki. These grated potato pancakes are delicious served with a healthy dollop of sour cream.<\/p>\n

CHOOSE FROM OVER 200 TRIPS IN EUROPE WITH INTREPID TRAVEL<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

8. Street art fans will love Minsk.<\/h2>\n
\"\"

Photo captured by Liv Bohn<\/p><\/div>\n

Strolling the city streets, you\u2019ll come across a number of large, brightly-coloured murals painted by various street artists. Some of the biggest can be found on Oktyabrskaya Street. This area of town used to be an industrial estate, but the local youth have breathed new life into it. Since 2014, Minsk has hosted Vulica Brazil, a street art festival launched in partnership with the Brazilian embassy that brings together artists from around Belarus and Brazil<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: YOUR GUIDE TO SCOPING OUT THE BEST STREET ART IN BERLIN<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

9.\u00a0The bison is (one of) their national symbol(s).<\/h2>\n
\"Bison,

Alex Marakhovets\/Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

When choosing their national animal, the Belarusians opted for the heaviest surviving land mammal in the whole of Europe. Brought back from the brink of extinction in the early 50s, two European bison were released into the Bia\u0142owie\u017ca Forest. Today there are around 600 to be spotted here. Other national symbols include the stork and the cornflower.<\/p>\n

BROWSE INTREPID TRAVEL’S SELECTION OF WILDLIFE TRIPS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

10. Superstition is<\/em> the way.<\/h2>\n

Belarusians love a good superstition. A particularly popular one is that you should never whistle in your house or you\u2019ll blow all your money away. They also say that you shouldn\u2019t clean your house once a guest has left until they\u2019ve reached their final destination, or it\u2019s believed that you\u2019re clearing them out of your life for good.<\/p>\n

Sold on Belarus<\/a>?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sandwiched by Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia \u2013 Belarus occupies a fairly unexplored corner of Eastern Europe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15998,"featured_media":33822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1313],"tags":[1730,513,46,1468],"class_list":["post-33808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guides","tag-belarus","tag-eastern-europe","tag-europe","tag-facts","ipf_region-belarus"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n10 Weird And Wonderful Facts About Belarus | Intrepid Travel Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sandwiched by Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia \u2013 Belarus occupies a fairly unexplored corner of Eastern Europe.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/facts-about-belarus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"10 weird and wonderful facts about Belarus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sandwiched by Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia \u2013 Belarus occupies a fairly unexplored corner of Eastern Europe.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/facts-about-belarus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Good Times by Intrepid\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/intrepidtravel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-03-27T16:03:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-07T10:07:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/shutterstock_776828326.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Liv Bohn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Intrepid_Travel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Intrepid_Travel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Liv Bohn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/facts-about-belarus\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/facts-about-belarus\/\",\"name\":\"10 Weird And Wonderful Facts About Belarus | Intrepid Travel Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/facts-about-belarus\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/facts-about-belarus\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/shutterstock_776828326.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-27T16:03:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-07T10:07:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/47a41277b50ef08b9fd11dac139ec246\"},\"description\":\"Sandwiched by Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia \u2013 Belarus occupies a fairly unexplored corner of Eastern Europe.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/facts-about-belarus\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/facts-about-belarus\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/facts-about-belarus\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/shutterstock_776828326.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/shutterstock_776828326.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":450,\"caption\":\"karp5\/Shutterstock\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/facts-about-belarus\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"10 weird and wonderful facts about Belarus\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/\",\"name\":\"The Good Times by Intrepid\",\"description\":\"adventure news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/47a41277b50ef08b9fd11dac139ec246\",\"name\":\"Liv Bohn\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cc4b10fcacccd6056ef619dd053a94f45de2dde84d0515128bb4cbc20b8a399b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cc4b10fcacccd6056ef619dd053a94f45de2dde84d0515128bb4cbc20b8a399b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Liv Bohn\"},\"description\":\"I'm a firm believer in the saying: \\\"you'll always regret what you didn't do, not what you did\\\". So, even after people told me I'd never get a job again if I left London to travel, I did it anyway. 29 countries later, and it will always be one of the best decisions I've ever made (corny maybe, but true). Life's short, the time to get out there and see the world is now!\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/author\/livbohn\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"10 Weird And Wonderful Facts About Belarus | Intrepid Travel Blog","description":"Sandwiched by Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia \u2013 Belarus occupies a fairly unexplored corner of Eastern Europe.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/facts-about-belarus\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"10 weird and wonderful facts about Belarus","og_description":"Sandwiched by Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia \u2013 Belarus occupies a fairly unexplored corner of Eastern Europe.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/facts-about-belarus\/","og_site_name":"The Good Times by Intrepid","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/intrepidtravel\/","article_published_time":"2019-03-27T16:03:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-07T10:07:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":450,"url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/shutterstock_776828326.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Liv Bohn","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Intrepid_Travel","twitter_site":"@Intrepid_Travel","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Liv Bohn","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/facts-about-belarus\/","url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/facts-about-belarus\/","name":"10 Weird And Wonderful Facts About Belarus | Intrepid Travel Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/facts-about-belarus\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/facts-about-belarus\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/shutterstock_776828326.jpg","datePublished":"2019-03-27T16:03:31+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-07T10:07:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/47a41277b50ef08b9fd11dac139ec246"},"description":"Sandwiched by Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia \u2013 Belarus occupies a fairly unexplored corner of Eastern Europe.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/facts-about-belarus\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/facts-about-belarus\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/facts-about-belarus\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/shutterstock_776828326.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/shutterstock_776828326.jpg","width":800,"height":450,"caption":"karp5\/Shutterstock"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/facts-about-belarus\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"10 weird and wonderful facts about Belarus"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/","name":"The Good Times by Intrepid","description":"adventure news","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/47a41277b50ef08b9fd11dac139ec246","name":"Liv Bohn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cc4b10fcacccd6056ef619dd053a94f45de2dde84d0515128bb4cbc20b8a399b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cc4b10fcacccd6056ef619dd053a94f45de2dde84d0515128bb4cbc20b8a399b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Liv Bohn"},"description":"I'm a firm believer in the saying: \"you'll always regret what you didn't do, not what you did\". So, even after people told me I'd never get a job again if I left London to travel, I did it anyway. 29 countries later, and it will always be one of the best decisions I've ever made (corny maybe, but true). Life's short, the time to get out there and see the world is now!","url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/author\/livbohn\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/shutterstock_776828326.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4OQMK-8Ni","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15998"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33808"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82210,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33808\/revisions\/82210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}