Lifetrippin. "In the land of Lukashenka" pt.2

part one of my story here.

9th of May in Belarus is a special day. Victory Day over the fascists. It is celebrated with a huge military parade, together with a variety of events for young and old as a follow-up. One of our goals for this trip, was to see this parade, as it is quite an extraordinary experience. Unfortunately, in order to make it for the start, we had to leave Grodno at 5 in the morning, as the parade had to begin at 9 a.m. and to last only for 4 hours. We decided to skip this possibility, as it would influence our further plans. So around 11 a.m., we headed to the bus station, and were lucky to be offered a place to go in a private mini-van, for a cheaper price (120 000 Belarussian rubles), together with a possibility to arrive to Minsk a bit as faster. There were 5 passengers all together with us. The quality of the road was good, we drove quite fast, and again, the surroundings looked very clean and ...green. On our way we also noticed, so-called agro-villages, those specially focusing on the production of groceries. I think super-eco-natural as well. 

Lifetrippin. "In the land of Lukashenka" pt.1

Three days. It took me just three days, to finally, fully and forever realize one very easy point– „Don’t be a victim of someone’s opinion. Prove it by yourself “.

Belarus. Land which seemed always so close to me, yet somehow so far. For me, as an Ukrainian, living in Western Ukraine, it would take me around 4 hours to get to Belarus (distance is small, but road is awful, and I mean really awful). However, my road seemed always not on the right way. Only once I have travelled through Belarus whilst I was going to Estonia. Surprisingly, during that trip I have no memorable flashbacks stored, that is maybe due to the fact that the trip was quite tiring with lots of custom check-ups and so on. The fact that we don’t need visa there, and it would be relatively cheap trip as well as one full of surprises, seemed not persuading enough. „Lukashenko is watching everyone“, „You will get into trouble“, „What will You do there?“, „They have nothing but potatoes“, „It's communism out there“. These and many other popular stereotypes and media paradigms seem funny, yet again they can influence your attitude, thoughts and expectations. Cannot say, that it was totally in my case, but somehow I didn't go there. But finally, having found time and most importantly perfect traveler (Roksana), as well as purpose, I managed to make a short time acquaintance with this „last dictatorship in Europe“.

Travel tips. How to get from Banska Bystrica to Krakow?

Having spent lot of my time in Banska Bystrica and in Slovakia in general, and having travelled a lot to Poland and Krakow in particular, I might have some travelling tips for You. First one - the connection is really bad, if you don't have a car). Banska Bystrica, being, in the middle of the route between Krakow and Budapest, unfortunately now, is out of business. Some years ago, there was a Hungarian company which served this way via Banska, but now it’s gone, for some reasons. The company is called "Orange Ways". The good thing, is that it has buses from Budapest to Krakow, for a relatively cheap price (around 25 euros).

So...what possibilities do You have??

Unexpected adventure or how to get (not) from Krakow to Banska Bystrica

This story had to be mainly about the cheap route of how to get from Krakow to Slovakia (and Banska Bystica in particular), but due to some difficulties it turned into my personal mini-adventure.

If you wonder how to get from Krakow to Slovakia, you might find different options. Direct bus to Banska Bystrica for 200 zl. (almost 50 euros), via connection trains(one of them might lead you even to the boarder of Czech Republic), via bus to Bratislava(service provided via Polskibus), via Katowice (depends on your timetable), Lysa Polana and Chocholow.