Visiting Vitebsk was the last minute idea of my Belarus trip. And pretty bad one. There was no time for a decent research, so prompt decision between Luchesa and Eridan in favour of the latter was based on few positive reviews on some local travel web-sites. Big mistake.
Yet another proof thorough prior research is a key to decent holiday! Eridan was my worst ever experience in Belarus, even though my prior expectations were very low. Hope I will never have to come back to Vitebsk, but even if I do, I shall surely never again stay in Eridan.
Booked over the phone on the eve of arrival, and was told there were no AC rooms left. At this point, should have considered another place. Pity I didn’t.
Mentioned to the receptionist we were arriving by car and asked if they had a parking lot. Not a word did the receptionist say the hotel was located in a pedestrian area, i.e. there was no reaching it by car closer than a quarter away.
Moreover, not a single sound she made to warn there was a major road construction underway all around the hotel. So not only you couldn’t drive to it, but even walking there was a problem – the surrounding area was dug out and turned over, with loads of constructions debris on your way and right in front of the hotel entrance. What a lovely surprise to people travelling with luggage and having to jump over the excavated pipes and pits! That said, there was NO help offered by the hotel with the luggage.
Parking was available, located in the backyard of the nearby militia (police) department and it was paid for (USD 2). For your small money, you can get a huge “pleasure” of being harassed by the old man guarding the place. The parking lot was almost empty when I arrived and parked on the unoccupied space by another car, in the shadow. As I killed the engine, the man approached and started murmuring some gibberish about "those people getting back after work and expecting to park their cars there, as usually". That was why he insisted I had to move mine to the other side, sunny and hot at +38C. Being the hotel suite guest at the hotel parking that I paid for, with no signs of any privileged parking space on it, why should I have been moved to the heat to provide the privilege to unknown people, obviously not the hotel guests, the man was keeping the place for??
Back to the hotel. As all AC suites were taken, booked the best of non-AC left. Price for non-AC suite was the same as for the AC one, BLR 280,000 (ca USD 94). But in hot mid-summer it does make difference!
Payment was upfront, in cash in local currency. According to the door signs, they accept credit cards as well. Parking is not included. Breakfast is not included. WiFi is not included. Nothing is included.
The first impression was “dusty”. And it didn’t change during my stay, but only strengthened. So did the feeling of staying not in a hotel, but in a dark old Soviet building full of multifamily units or shared accommodations (“communal flats”).
There’s no elevator to get to your room, stairs only. The prints of Marc Chagall paintings on the walls along the stairs were the only thing to make climbing less depressive.
The hotel web-site mentions the rooms were designed in original style to make it unique. And they surely are unique: vulgar, screamingly coloured and yet depressing. Despite three large windows in the corner living room and one in the bedroom, the room looked gloomy and dated. It gave no feeling of a hotel room, but of a small old apartment where large family of different generations lived for ages.
Had to leave all windows open because of the heat. There is a building so close to the hotel that we could see each other with the residents of the opposite apartment perfectly well. No privacy at all unless you shut the draperies, blocking the fresh air from outside as well.
The living room had fridge (large, with decent freezing capacity and no smell), but neither mini-bar, nor drinking water was available.
Lovely view over the construction site that the nearby area was turned into.
The bedroom, far from being spacious, was visually lessened by inhospitable grey and blue dark colours in décor. The bed was large, occupying most of the room. Linen and towels were cheap and motley coloured. Dreadfully uncomfortable synthetic pillow gave me a neck ache in the morning. The police dept’s vicinity could have made some people sleep better, but only until the police got bored at night and decided to make a roll-call over the megaphone or some other loudspeaker.
Despite complete exhaustion after the long road, I had a terrible sleep. The ventilating blower kindly provided by the hotel (incredible – for free!) only partially helped with the heat. In any case, it was better than nothing.
Small bathroom had relatively new facilities and was satisfactory clean. There were no toiletries except a tiny soap bar in it.
No WiFi in the rooms. It’s only available in a small public area near the reception and at the bar next to it; and it’s paid for, you have to buy cards with the reception.
The hotel is a non-smoking area, just as many other Belarus hotels. A benefit, in my eyes.
Checked the hotel restaurant for dinner. Should have gotten alerted seeing no one there at the usually rush hour for any establishment. Realized why when the first entry arrived. Food was very simple, no restaurant-type, rather amateur cooking. Familiar meals contained ingredients that were neither supposed to be there, nor mentioned in the menu description, and tasted either plain or wrong. To make the things worse, they ran out of soft drinks and still water shortly (fancy that at +38C) and served horrible wine. The waitress brought the change after retaining her tips at self-will, though the service charge was not included hence was at my full discretion.
There are lots of restaurants, cafes and pubs right behind the corner as well as one block away from the hotel, easily walkable once you leave the construction area. Better eat out.
Eventually, I didn’t expect much from the breakfast and was even ready to leave without one and have a bite on the road. Surprisingly, it turned out not bad at all: relatively generous and pretty diversified buffet plus hot meals of limited choice. The only downsides were the instant coffee sticks instead of the natural coffee and pancakes that must have been heated minimum three times, but tasted good anyway.
Hardly I was ever happier to leave the hotel.
