The jubilee guest was a resident of the German city of Oldenburg.
Andrey Chub together with his wife Irina and daughter Anya have a rest in one of the sanatoriums in Druskininkay in Lithuania. Knowing perfectly about the possibility to stay in Grodno, without visa, family decided not to miss the opportunity.
– For the first time we visited Grodno last year. And the first impression is imprinted with a bright picture – it’s a very clean city. Before my own departure, I shared my vacation plans with a colleague-native of Germany. He often visited various cities of Belarus and said that the purity and accuracy of the streets is your visit-card. Another point that immediately catches your eye – people are very smartly dressed. This may be a trifle, but it seems that you have a holiday here all the time, – on an excellent Russian Andrei said.
He was born in Karaganda in Kazakhstan and moved with his parents to Germany 18 years ago. At home the Russian speech always sounded, it didn’t become a barrier and for the spouse Irina comes from Russia. He understands and speaks the first words in Russian and daughter Anya, who is little more than a year and a half.
– We are often asked today about what kind of attractions we are planning to visit. But, to be honest, we came just to take a walk around and, first of all, to have a rest. It’s nice to hear around Russian speech, to enjoy the scenery of cozy streets and the benevolence of Belarusians, – Irina added.
During the last visit to Grodno, the family visited the Church of Kolozha and looked in the Farny Church.
– Anyutka was only 8 months old, and the walk was not very long. But we will try to make up for lost time today, – Andrei Chub noted with a smile. – We are spontaneous people and aren’t used to planning long walks, but at the travel agency we were given a map where the main sights of the central part of the city are marked. It will become our guide.
First of all, the family went to the Grodno castles and from the height of the Castle Hill saw Grodno in the palm of your hand.
When, on the eve of his arrival in Grodno, Andrei Chub learned that he had a so-called lucky number, and he became a jubilee tourist, he took it as a rally. But the warmth of the reception the family was impressed. The head of the sports and tourism department of the regional executive committee Oleg Andreichik greeted the guests and presented them with souvenirs. And now the reminder of the beauty of Grodno region residents of the German city of Oldenburg will be the publication “Grodno hospitable”. The album was prepared by the main regional newspaper “Grodzenskaja pravda” by order of the regional executive committee.
– Today, twice as many tourists began to visit our region, using the rules of visa-free entry. Over the same period last year, Grodno and the territory of the Augustow canal were visited by about 11 thousand visa-free tourists, today it is 20 thousand people, – said Oleg Andreichik, the head of the sports and tourism department of the regional executive committee. – This is a significant step forward, although much remains to be done.” We plan to raise the issue of unification of the Brest and Grodno visa-free zones between which today there is a kind of border for tourists in the Berestovitsky district.
If earlier visa-free tourists used to visit Grodno and the surrounding area as part of organized groups, today the number of those who get acquainted with Grodno attractions on their own increases. The leaders are still guests from Lithuania and Poland. Citizens of Germany – on the fourth place and taking into account the anniversary guest with the Grodno beauties in the visa-free regime have already met 269 people.
More and more tourists come to Grodno by train – from the beginning of the year there are already about 600. Another 40 guests without a visa have chosen the air way and landed at the Grodno airport. Health tourism is becoming more and more popular – in the sanatoriums “Ozerny”, “Zhemchuzhina” and “Neman-72”, about 200 foreign guests have already had a rest without a visa since the beginning of the year.
Catherine Motevich, Photo by Artem Turlay
