Heritage of Turkmenistan
Itinerary name: Heritage of Turkmenistan
Day-by-day program:
Day 1: Ashgabat
You will be met by the local guide at the airport. Drive to hotel and have some leisure time before noon. Afternoon, you will visit the famous horse farm. There are special breed of horses called Akhal Teke. Turkmen people proud of Akhal Teke. They are very graceful. In this farm, you can see short demonstration of riders with tradition of drinking tea. Drive back to Ashgabat and continue a city tour. Overnight in a hotel.
Day 2: Ashgabat
In the morning, start your tour with The Sanctuary of Parhian Kings, called “Old Nissa”. This site is in the list of UNESCO. Later explore the Mausoleum of the last Turkmenistan President and Mosque of Gypjak. Then drive to State Museum of History full of ancient artefacts. Most of the exhibits were found in old cities like Nisa, Merv and Gonudepe. They are series of old Turkmen carpets, rare examples of national clothing, jewelries, and antique weapons. The hall 9 represents statues of Athens, Eros, and silver gilded griffin horn-shaped ivory vessels-rhytons of the Parthian era, gold jewelries, medallions-stamps from Margiana and Buddhist artifacts. Museum is rich in ancient world heritage. There are also fossilized piece of wood of the Paleozoic period, aged 270,000,000, dinosaurs’ footprints, an 820-kg meteorite fallen in Kunya-Urgench in 1998 and many other interesting artefacts. Night in a hotel.
Day 3: Ashgabat – Merv – Mary
Today you will continue your journey to Mevr in the eastern part of Turkmenistan. Nowadays city is in the list of UNESCO as a Historical Park. It was one of the largest and most developed cities on the Great Silk Road. In Mevr, you will visit Gyz Gala, Erk Gala, Soltan Gala, Soltan Sanjar Mausoleum and Ibn Zeid Mausoleum. After excursion, drive to Mary and stay in a hotel.
Day 4: Mary – Talkhatan Baba – Yekedeshik Caves – Mary
Today is dedicated to discover the area around Mary town. The first is Talkahatan Baba Mosque, which was constructed in 1095. Its beautiful decoration belongs to Seljuk period. Further, explore the most mysterious places like Yekedeshik Caves. There are two cave settlements on the sand rock hill: Tagtabazar cave and Ekedeshik cave. In translation, “Ekedeshik” means “single entrance”. There are more than 40 rooms in it, located on the two level. Except that two there are many other caves in this area, which have not explored enough by specialists, but still attracts many of them. One of them is Bashdeshik, which means “Five Entrances”. Night in a hotel in Mary.
Day 5: Mary – Margiana (Margush) – Mary
Today you will travel to ancient time, in the morning depart to Margush, the center of development in 5th century. This site was the human populated place early than Achaemenian period. According to researches, it is the Bronze Age civilization. Moreover it is known by various name: Margush, which means “lowland” of Margiana, how Greeks used to call. Until 1970s, there were no information about this site. Much thing were discovered by Margiana Archaeological Expedition lead by Professor Viktor Sarianidi. Most of the Bronze Age settlements were located in the north part of today’s oasis, which is turned into a desert. It is well known fact that last century changes in climate deeply influence on abundance of some areas. In the territory where there is no human activities, the ruins of ancient settlements are preserved better. So do in Margush case. There many common facts about Margush with Bactria in nowadays Afghanistan. In accordance with Sarianidi, Bactria and Margush was the center of old civilization. There is assumption that Margush was the starting place of Zoroastrianism. Drive back to Mary and stay in a hotel.
Day 6: Mary – Ashgabat
Today tour goes back to Ashgabat. Enjoyable drive has several stops to visit interesting sites. Make a break at Annau, where the ruins of Seyit Jamal-ad-Din Mosque dating back to 15th century. Abiward or Abi-ward was old city of Sassanid. There were some archeological researches in the ancient city Abiward in 20th century. It was about 8 km from Kahka station. The territory of the excavation was 12,000m2. Afternoon, visit central bazaar in Ashgabat, which is known as a Russian Bazar. Continue city tour in the evening and rest in a hotel.
Day 7: Flight
Night transfer to the airport according to flight schedule.