Breakfast. Meeting with guide. Minsk city sightseeing tour. You will see: Independence Square with the House of Government; Roman Catholic red-brick Church of Saints Simon and Helena (the Red Church, 1909); Victory Square with its 38 meters gray obelisk and eternal flame honoring the heroes of World War II; The Trinity Suburb with XIX c. downtown buildings restored; Orthodox Holy Spirit Cathedral and St. Peter and Paul’s Church (XVII c.). Dudutki open air ethnographic museum tour. In Dudutki you will see the old and only functioning in Belarus windmill, learn the history and secrets of its construction work, and finely try a miller’s treat (lard, bread, onions). You can take the place of the master for a few minutes at the potter’s wheel in the pottery workshop. Then you will visit a rural smithy, watch a blacksmith work and learn the secrets of his craft. You can visit the Belarusian traditional bakery where you hear about the enchanting process of the birth of rye bread and then you will find a welcome baker’s treat (bread, cheese, butter, herbal tea). You will have a chance to purchase a souvenir of straw and flax at the ethnographic souvenir gallery with an exhibition of everyday objects XVIII-XX cc. presented. Then you will visit tavern in the country style with vintage cars exhibited at tavern grounds: ZIM, Willis, Volkswagen Beetle, Fiat Topolino, Chrysler, Horch, Ganomak, Chayka. There is a zoo and barnyard in craft courtyard backside where you can see not only the usual cows, geese and chickens but also wild boar, ostrich and even American deer. Returning to Minsk. Accommodation at hotel***/ hotel****. Overnight. (B)

Breakfast. Check out. Transfer to the Mir Castle (100 km from Minsk). The Mir Castle Complex tour. The Mir Castle is a historic fortified castle and a UNESCO World Heritage site. The castle was built in the 16th century in the late Polish Gothic style. It is one of the few remaining architectural monuments of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in contemporary Belarus. The architectural complex consists of the castle, earth mounds of the 17th centuries, a landscape and regular park, an artificial lake, an outhouse, the Chapel-Crypt of the Svyatopolk-Mirsky Dukes with the watchman’s house and gates, a roadside chapel. Nowadays the Mir Castle is a branch of the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus.  The peculiarity of the museum is not only in the preserved original details of the architectural monument but in the restored interiors of the main halls, where visitors can discover material culture for the period of the beginning of the 17th and the middle of the 18th centuries. The expositions of the museum contain unique articles of furniture, arms, tapestry, etc. The Nesvizh Castle tour. The Nesvizh Castle is a residential castle of the Radziwill family and one of the most beautiful castles of Belarus. The Nesvizh castle complex is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The castle was built in 16^th century and rebuilt lately many times. As a consequence the castle has features of different architectural styles: Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Classicism, Neo-gothic, Modernism. The castle complex has beautifully landscaped gardens with ornamental lakes.  Nowadays the Nesvizh Castle is the National Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve. Inside of the castles you will be able to see historical halls where the noble dynasty lived. The expositions of the museum contain articles of furniture, arms, tapestry, etc. Transfer to Brest (270 km). Accommodation at hotel***/****. (BL)

Breakfast. Brest city tour: the city was firstly mentioned in 1017. The unification of Catholic and Orthodox Christianity under supremacy of Catholic Church in the territory of  Rzechpospolita was proclaimed in Brest in 1596 and accelerated process of polonisation of Lithuanian lands which began as the result of union of Lithuania and Poland under the hegemony of Poland (1569). Brest Fortress tour. Brest Fortress was built in 1830s. During WW I Russian troops leaved the fortress without fight as the result of rapid general advance of the German army (August 1915). 03/03/1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk which fixed capitulation of Bolshevik government to Germany and its allies was signed at the White Palace of the Brest Fortress. After Polish-Soviet War (1919-1921) Brest has departed to Poland and fortress was used as a prison for particularly dangerous political criminals. In September 1939 German army captured Brest and Brest Fortress after fierce resistance of Polish troops. In accordance with demarcation agreement city was given by Germany to the USSR.  22-29.06.1941 small garrison of the Brest Fortress had the heroic resistance of the advancing German troops. Defense Museum provides you with opportunity to learn and to feel the tragic events of 1941 and also to understand why their memory lives in the hearts of the post-war generations in all countries of the former USSR, especially in Belarus. Accommodation at hotel***/****.

Breakfast. Check out. Transfer to Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Belovezhskaya Pushcha is a national park within parts of the Brest and Grodno regions located at the boarder with Poland. The park was declared by UNESCO as the World Heritage Site. It is the last primeval forest fragment of the European woodlands that once stretched across the European Plain. It is home to a large population of European bison. You will admire ancient forest with many old trees, thousands of different kinds of plants and animals. Besides, you will visit the Museum of nature to learn more about the park and its flora and fauna.  On the territory of the park there is the Estate of Belarusian Farther Frost (local St. Claus). Transfer to Minsk (350 km). Arrival in Minsk. Accommodation at hotel***/ hotel****.

Breakfast. Khatyn tour. The small village of Khatyn located near Minsk was burnt down together with its 149 residents (75 children among them) on 22.03.1943 by SS and punitive police force formed from captive Red Army soldiers and Ukrainian volunteers. Memorial opened in Khatyn in 1969 is dedicated to all Belarusian villages burnt down with their inhabitants by Nazis and their collaborators (186 villages in total) and as well as to all victims of the WW II in Belarus (about 25% of all Belarus residents was lost).