Silk Road Explorer

Gissar

West of Dushanbe lies the small town of Gissar, known mainly for its fortress. Although only a rather imposing gate remains, and this much restored, it gives a good impression of what this region must have been like several centuries ago. Due to its strategic location, the town was much fought over and the fortress was destroyed by the Red Army when it was a base for the Basmachi resistance. Today its steps are a popular place for local newlyweds to come for photos. Opposite lie two madrassahs dating back to the 16th century, one of which houses a small museum.

Dushanbe

The relatively modern town of Dushanbe only became important during the Soviet era, when it was made the capital of the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and given the unfortunate name of Stalinabad – something that was quickly changed after Stalin’s death. Its name means ‘Monday’ in the Tajik language, arising from the fact that this was the day that the market was held when Dushanbe was still a small village.

The ousted Emir of Bukhara, fleeing from the Bolsheviks, stayed in Dushanbe and cooperated with Enver Pasha’s Basmachis in resistance against the Russians; from Dushanbe, he fled to Afghanistan in 1921, the year the town was freed from the Basmachis as well. Dushanbe is characterised by wide boulevards and Soviet style architecture, although in recent years much construction has taken place and the city is starting to modernise. Not to be missed is the excellent Museum of National Antiquities, which holds a wide array of archaeological finds from the region, the most impressive of which is the 13-metre-long sleeping Buddha which was excavated in 1966.

Please note that the accommodation here is simple, as this is a remote area with few options.

Istaravshan

Close to the border with Uzbekistan, Istaravshan seems to belong more to its neighbour in a cultural sense than it does to Tajikistan. Its old town, hidden well behind the main street, is a maze of alleys that lead you to pretty mosques and mausoleums, the best being the Kok Gumbaz, somewhat reminiscent of Bukhara. Overlooking the town are the remains of an old fortress – the reconstructed gateway gives you an idea of how the town once was.

Khojand

Khojand’s main sites are clustered around the centre with the mausoleum and madrassah of Sheikh Muslihiddin on one side of a square, facing the large covered Panjshanbe bazaar on the other. The bazaar is well worth exploring with friendly stallholders sitting behind vast piles of watermelons, nuts or dried apricots, happy to let you try before you buy. Not far away is Khojand Fort, originally built in the 13th century but now renovated to house a museum dedicated to the diverse history of the region.

Tashkent

Tashkent is the largest city in Central Asia, and was the fourth largest in the Soviet Union when it existed. The city has always been an important trading centre in the region, having established links with Russia centuries ago and being a key point on the Silk Road of old. It still retains its Silk Road Heritage in places, most noticeably in the old quarter, dominated by the striking Khast Imam complex, a collection of madrassahs, mosques and mausoleums, which date back to the fifteenth century.

Tashkent never quite attained the legendary status of other cities such as Khiva or Samarkand and was very much seen as a vassal of the Emirs of either Bukhara or Khokand, until it was seized by Russian forces in the 19th century and used as a springboard for their continuing conquest of the region. Tashkent became the capital of Russian Turkestan and this legacy means that it is perhaps the most cosmopolitan city in the former Soviet Union, with large Russian and Korean communities there today.

Samarkand

Immortalised in poetry, the city of Samarkand was founded in the 8th century BC by the Persians and stands with Khiva and Bukhara as one of the most glorious of all the Silk Road cities. Samarkand has had a turbulent history, which has left its mark and has been controlled at various times by Arabs, Sogdians and the armies of Alexander the Great. But it was the notorious Mongol leader who left his greatest mark.

Blessed with a wealth of ancient monuments, its most impressive is the collection of mosques and madrassahs around the Registan Square, surely the best example of Islamic architecture to be found anywhere. Elsewhere in the city, the observatory of the astronomer and ruler Ulug Beg is well worth a visit, and the wealth of buildings offer superb opportunities to marvel at the intricacies of Islamic art. Samarkand leaves a lasting impression on all who visit.

Bukhara

Bukhara is one of the true gems of Central Asia, with a superbly preserved old city which transports you back at least a couple of centuries. Bukhara was one of the most powerful of the Central Asian khanates and is considered to be the holiest city in Central Asia, with origins stretching back as far as the time when Alexander the Great and his armies passed through the region.

Bukhara’s sights are varied but one of the most interesting is the citadel known as the Ark – the residence of the emir, this sturdy construction towers high above the Registan square below, the site of execution for criminals including two unfortunate British officers who were sent here in the 19th century in an effort to bring Bukhara under the British, rather than Russian, sphere of influence. Wherever you walk through old Bukhara, you are continually confronted with grandiose mausoleums, towering minarets and charming old merchants’ houses – the city is a living museum and one cannot fail to fall in love with its charms.

Please note that the accommodation here is simple, as this is a remote area with few options.

Khiva

Khiva is a fairytale city springing out of the desert, with a multitude of well-preserved monuments stretching back centuries that have you gasping in wonder at every turn. Once an independent khanate its power was built on the slave trade, and for centuries raiders would set out from here to capture the inhabitants of towns on the very edges of imperial Russia.

Its historic centre, the Ichon Kala, is bounded by robust mud walls giving it the effect of a fortress, while inside it contains some of the very best of Uzbekistan’s sights. Graceful minarets stretch into the sky while mosques and mausoleums capped with turquoise domes and intricate tilework give the visitor a sense of the past glories of a once great city.

One of its most stunning monuments is the Kalta minaret, intended to be the highest in the Islamic world but left unfinished when its patron died. For a great view over the city, climb the winding staircase to the top of the Islam Khodja minaret to look down on a city that has changed little in centuries. It is hard to oversell the visual impact of Khiva, and no-one comes away disappointed.

Konye-Urgench

The ancient capital of the kingdom of Khorezm and dating to the 10th century, Konye-Urgench has seen a number of different Silk Road civilisations lay claim to it, with Seljuks and the Khorezmshahs conquering the city and establishing it as the centre of Islam in Central Asia, building numerous stunning mosques and madrassahs.

It was attacked by the Mongols under Genghis Khan in the early 13th century, who besieged the city for six months before destroying it, leaving little but the charred remains of its monuments and the corpses of its inhabitants. ‘Konye-Urgench became the abode of the jackal and the haunt of the owl and the kite’, wrote one local historian.

Having rebuilt itself it was then sacked by Timur (Tamerlane), adding to its woes. Fortunately, a few architectural monuments survived this tragedy, including the impressive mausoleums of former sultans as well as arched gates and fortresses which stand as testament to the former glories of this remote corner of Asia. Nearby is a local cemetery where people come to pray, pay homage to their ancestors and perform rites and rituals that bear more than an element of the pagan traditions that existed here before Islam.

Darwaza

The 60 metre crater of Darwaza is one of the most unusual sites in Central Asia, a vast opening in the earth where natural gas has been set alight and has been burning for more than forty years. This was originally a site where Soviet geologists drilled for gas – not knowing what to do when the drilling rig collapsed, they set it alight for fear that poisonous gas would seep into the atmosphere and contaminate a nearby settlement, expecting that it would burn itself out in a matter of days. Dozens of fires burn inside the crater, some of them with flames up to fifteen metres high. Its otherworldly appearance has led local people to name it the ‘Door to Hell’, and spending the night here will be a real highlight of your trip.

Ashgabat

Ashgabat can’t claim to be one of the oldest Silk Road cities – prior to Russian involvement in the region it was little more than a village, but this changed following the Battle of Geok Tepe, when the Russians finally subdued the Turkmen tribes in 1881. Growing to become an important administrative centre first in the Tsarist Empire and then the Soviet Union, the city was devastated during an earthquake in 1948, which flattened most of the city.

Rebuilt with classic Soviet architecture it remained fairly unremarkable until independence arrived in 1991. The first president of independent Turkmenistan, the self-styled ‘Turkmenbashi’, embarked upon a massive programme of reconstruction as part of his nation-building efforts, setting in motion a process which led to Ashgabat becoming one of the most unusual and striking cities in Central Asia – albeit very different from anywhere else.

Today wide highways are flanked by tall apartment blocks, most covered with white marble tiles which almost glimmer in the sunlight, modern and brash and giving Ashgabat an air of the surreal – almost like a space-age city of the future. Monuments abound, linked to the common history of the Turkmen people and an effort to impress unity on a people that were once in constant conflict with each other. The centre of the city is a showpiece, with enormous statues gracing squares and fountains, and while the golden statue of Turkmenbashi, rotating to face the sun, has disappeared with his demise, the new president builds an equal cult of personality with giant billboards of him in various poses.

Ashgabat is sure to be one of the most unusual cities that you will visit, and it certainly has its critics, but is a truly fascinating and utterly bizarre place that won’t fail to leave an impression.

Merv

The archaeological site of Merv sprawls over one hundred square kilometres, holding the history of centuries of civilisation, making it one of the most important sites in Central Asia. It was once an important oasis for those making the hard journey across the deserts of the Silk Road, and at various times has been under the rule of Zoroastrians, Buddhists, Seljuks and Achaemenians, then viciously sacked by the Mongols in the 13th century on their brutal path through the region.

The wonderful collection of monuments to explore here include the mausoleums of former sultans and Sufi scholars, Buddhist stupas, walled citadels and traditional ‘ice houses’ used for the storage of ice in the fierce climate. With so many different influences Merv is of immense importance in understanding the varied and complex history of the region.