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This ancient trading route was used by silk
merchants from the 2nd century AD until its decline in the 14th
century, and is open in parts to tourists, stretching from northern
China, through bleak and foreboding desert and mountainous terrain to
the ports on either the Caspian Sea or Mediterranean Sea.
For further details of the route, see The Silk Road in the
China section.
Among the many silk route attractions worth seeing in Turkmenistan are
the vibrant Sunday Tolkuchka market in Ashgabat (selling such
wares as traditional carpets, camels and pistachio nuts), the
historical silk road cities of Konye-Urgench and Merv
(including Kyz-Kala, a windowless castle known locally as the
‘House of the Maiden Tears’ and the mausoleum of Mohammed Ibn-Zeida)
and the Kugitang Nature Reserve which reportedly bears
impressions of hundreds of dinosaur footprints. Travel along the silk
road can be quite difficult due to the terrain, harsh climate and lack
of developed infrastructure. Visitors to the region are advised to
travel with an organised tour company or travel agent. |
