Hrodna, Western BELARUS

I am in the beautiful town of Hrodna (aka Grodna) in the far west of Belarus and my host is a 23 year old Belorussian woman. Lucky to be shown around the area with her by my side. Met up with a few of her friends and had some great Belorussian food. I really find the Belorussian people friendly and caring.

Hrodna suffered little during World War II. Many of the old churches survived the many other wars in Hrodna's history, in particular the destruction by the Nazis, however, in the late 1950's the huge XIV Century "Garrison Catholic Church" was criminally destroyed by they Soviets in their effort to stamp out religion.

Its a pretty town and certainly worth a visit - but make sure you meet up and stay with the locals to get a real feel of life in this part of the world.

Torromow I'm heading south east to the town of Mir and Nyasvizh, and later back to Minsk.