Belarus
The last dictatorship of Europe, how can you stop yourself from going to Belarus when you hear those words? Last year the leader Aleksandr Lukashenko finally made it possible to go to Belarus for a couple of days without a visa and my friend Erik and I decided to meet up in the capital Minsk. We took a cab into town and the driver offered us free water bottles that were lying in the taxi, but they seem to have been opened before so we never dared to drink it. Beforehand this would possibly be the worst country I've ever went to, but they must have put all of their money into the capital because to my surprise it looked nice during the long taxi ride. Not a single one of those gigantic apartment complex looked worn-down, not even in the suburbs. We were beginning to think that all the beautiful women who looked like models, the casually relaxing people in the pedal boats on the cozy river and the heat from the sun must all be an illusion made up by Lukashenko, this can't be f...