Homyel

Homyel is the second city of the country and its centre is essentially one very large park running down to the Sozh, laid out around the palace the Rumyantsev and Paskevich families built and filled with specimen trees. The palace museum is the strongest collection outside the capital. A chapel below the terrace holds the family crypt, and a winter garden now occupies the old sugar works beside it. Boats run on the river right through the summer. The city sits well north of the zone contaminated by the reactor and is entirely normal to visit.