Travel pictures
Turkmenistan has for long been one of the world's most mysterious and isolated countries. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Saparmurat Niyazov trooper one as president and range for 25 years that's a brutal and eccentric dictator, naming the weekdays and the months after his neaest family, erecting gold statues across the country, and building a glittering white marble capital of Ashgabat. Further, during and after Covid the country was hermetically closed for three years. In the spring of 2023 we were the first tourists to enter the country after the closure. Arriving in the middle of the night we were immediately breathtaken by the marble capital of Ashgabat with impressive building surrounding broad avenues almost devoid of cars. We were installed in a nice hotel looking like something taken right out of Star Wars. Although arriving late and having almost no sleep, there was no rest for the wicked! In the morning we went straight out of the city to the UNESCO side of Nisa, an important sop on the old Silk Road. Here we were tracked and interviewed by a Turkmen TV crew who wanted to encounter the first tourists in the country! Unfortunately we never came to see the footage. Later the same day we continued to Turkmenistan’s most famous tourist attraction,0 the surreal Darvaza Gas Crater, known as the "Gateway to Hell." salt off for failing subject experiment, where the gas has burned since the early 1970s. What's in after dark and staying next to it during the night was an impressive experience with glowing yellow flames and an unmistaken smell of burning gas. Nothing like this anywhere else in the world! Venturing north, we went further through the vast expanse of the Karakum Desert, where the nomadic lifestyle flourishes amidst the arid landscape. In the far north, we visited the UNESCO site of Kunya-Urgench with old mausoleums and minarets, another important stop on the Silk Road. From the far eastern city of Dazoguz we flew down to Merv, another UNESCO World Heritage site, where the remnants of this ancient city whisper stories of its historical significance as one of the key stops along the Silk Road. The last days we went far West, to the impressive Yangykala Canyon, where the brute forces of water have created a landscape looking like something from another planet. We slept among pilgrims in the desert before heading to the more modern town of Balkanabat. The last day we visited more of Ashgabat’s splendid architecture including the world's largest indoor Ferris wheel! Turkmenistan is truly a wondrous country full of contrasts. Turkmenistan is still possible on group travels only, and ours was arranged by Jonas Bang Andersen from “Above Borders” that can be highly recommended.
