Minsk, Belarus

We had a late start to the day, taking advantage of the longer breakfast hours on the weekend. It was just as well, as the Belarusian National Arts Museum didn’t open until noon (!) I guess the arts folks aren’t morning people.

The Arts Museum was just 1km down the street from us, so we walked down. There was a 10 minute line up to buy tickets; I think the backlog from others who showed up prior to noon thinking it would be open already.

As a bonus, the museum had a special exhibition featuring Salvador Dali! We went through the Dali exhibit first. It was pretty extensive. We’ve been fortunate with the special exhibits on our recent trips, including a Picasso one in Rome.

The rest of the museum was good, although somewhat haphazardly arranged. They did have a nicely curated section on Orthodox artwork.

We debated eating lunch at the museum, but didn’t feel like local food, so decided to try out Svobody 4, about half way back to the hotel in the old town. In an odd sequence of the events, the wine bar had been recommended to us by a shop owner/photographer in Istanbul who we chatted with about travel on our last trip.

The food was really good at Svobody 4. I had a pasta with shrimp and Heather had a salmon and couscous salad. We liked it enough (and the kitchen was open late), so we made a reservation for dinner (we had tickets to see the ballet tonight).

After lunch we browsed around the craft stalls in the old town, but that was cut short when we heard a loud clap of thunder and decided to boot it back to our hotel. We needed to get back anyways to get ready for the ballet.

The skies cleared by the time we headed back out, so we just walked the 20 minutes to National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre. It looked like most people either walked or took transit. There was a buzz in the air as we got closer to the theatre, similar to going to a sports event. Most people were dressed up, but there were a few in jeans so I didn’t look out of place.

We arrived at 6:40, giving us some time to look around the inside before taking our seats. They started promptly at 7pm.

Tonight’s performance was Anyuta. We both really enjoyed it; I preferred it to the opera.

Later we walked over to Svobody 4 and for food and wine. It was a great place to finish off the evening.