Four girls and the city called Brest

Hello everybody!

We are still visiting Belarus, our last country before we arrive in Lithuania. I’m a bit sad because the end of our fantastic journey comes very close.

After visiting the capital of Belarus, Minsk, we are moving on to another city called Brest. It’s not the most famous city but let me convince you that it is really worth a visit.

 

First, some background information. In 2010, there were living 310,800 living in the city who is situated at the border with Poland. It’s the capital city of the “Brest voblast”.

Since World War ll, Brest became a principal border crossing thanks to its orientation on the main railway line connecting Berlin and Moscow. Nowadays, it connects the European Union and the so called Commonwealth of Independent States, a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics.

Because our trip is almost over, we did not want to lose a lot of time so we decided to take a shower and start exploring. We started off with a relaxing walk by the Naberezhnaya river. The riverfront has a lot of willow trees and there are a lot of ducks swimming in the river.

The next day, we took the bus to visit the Fortress of Brest that preserves the ruins of a massive fort built in the XIX century by the Russian Empire. An interesting fact is that it achieved “Hero Fortress” status during World War II. Walking the grounds of this impressive fortification is an unforgettable experience that gives a good sense of the poverty faced by the forces that were caught there.

The Fortress also owns a museum where you can learn about battles between attacking Germans and defending Soviet. We also saw there was a small part about Polish defenders who were attacked earlier by Germans and Soviets. Trust me, the history of Brest Fortress is complicated but if you are really interested, I am sure it is worth learning.

There is also a patriotic war film called: “The Brest Fortress”. You can visit the following link if you want to know more about this movie. http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/dec/24/russia-spies-kremlin-backed-nationalist-film?INTCMP=SRCH

On our last day in Brest, we decided to do something very fun! We went ice-skating in the Ice Palace. Nobody of us was really good at this sport so it was quite hilarious. I am sure I will remember those moments forever.

Thanks for being with us today!

Lies Descheemaeker