Zoë Sheng

Chinese-Canadian - 02-Jun-25 -

I went to five locations of this serial nomination, perhaps even six without knowing. They are covering the entire country and if you go SOMEWHERE you can just ask for an extra one to cover this. I am not sure all would be included in the final listing because some are just forgotten realms.

My first, and probably the easiest to cover, is Anau. The mosque here has been ruined by an earthquake and it would probably would look good. I saw the original in the museum and there is a famous story about dragons - something I won't get into before you know it yourself - and this is definitely a highlight. It's even better if you actually got the background in the museum first because frankly seeing the remains are a bit sad. As it's just at the outer edges of Ashgabat with facilities and restaurant this is a good stopover.

Second stop was Abiverd. Because I requested this we didn't take the new highway to Turkmenabad. The stopover wasn't long - in fact nobody was else was interested to check it out. The walls are low and rained off - in fact I think this would disappear in a few decades without any care and maintenance. I walked through this for 10 minutes but after you see one corner of the site the rest is all the same. Definitely NOT a highlight but not the worse of the bunch! I don't have a picture of this included my collage although I think I DID take a pic. Even if I have one it's not worth posting eh.

Next stop was the two sites in Astana-Baba. They are both "modern" mosques and don't have much to show for. They are nice to visit but I don't see anything special about them. You can go into them as a woman by the way. Only a few people actually went to pray the rest were just seeking cool shade. As it's on the way to Afghanistan, oops I mean, the mountains (for the dino footprints) it's another stopover. Astanabana is also a good stopover in general with this and Kerki being the last stops before you reach the mountains and the required police check to enter the area. The "see one and see them all" rule applies of these buildings unfortunately even though their history with the silk road does speak for inclusion.

Fourth stop was Amul in Turkmenabad itself. You'd think this is an easy spot to cover as it's ON the way you drive past town and free, and ... well...there is not much left to see here. You see some walls and that's it. No wonder the guides weren't giving me high hopes to check it out. Surely the worst of them all and no maintenance is gonna make this better. Spend a few minutes here and off you go.

Final stop was after my visit to Merv. This was a special request because the guide has never been to Chilburj. In fact Google map places this as the wrong spot. The local taxi driver said he knew the place, then of course he didn't, and eventually we had to ask a local for directions. You take a dirt road north and eventually when you give up on things it ends up at a huge complex that is Chilburj! Should be signed and included in tours!! You get to see huge walls - see top left of picture - can climb up and see the interior which doesn't have anything left unfortunately - but still worth seeing. You can spend 15 minutes here checking out everything and maybe it's worthy for a sunset visit if the road back wouldn't be horrible. I would say inscribe even with the missing interior. It may all be buried under the sand and we don't have a modern Vadim Masson to dig around here.

Overall I would include this but be careful of which sites.

Anau - YES
Abiverd - NO
Astana-Baba - YES and YES
Amul - NO...BIG NO!
Chilburj - YES

Clyde

Malta - 31-Jul-17 -

I visited the silk road site of Anau in June 2017. Being relatively close to Ashgabat (around 8km) I made an extra effort to visit the remains of the Seyitdzhemaliddin Mosque included on Turkmenistan's tentative list.

Anau derives from Abi-anau meaning new water and surely enough there's a well and water system just next to the mosque. The mosque was heavily damaged by the Ashgabat earthquake, however locals still pray (mostly for fertility) at this site. There are a few turquoise tiles left but nothing really outstanding which would add value to the WH list in my opinion.

Els Slots

The Netherlands - 16-May-10 -

The road between Mary and Ashgabat is possibly the most boring stretch that I have ever travelled on. My fellow travellers made a joke out of it - "Is this on your List too? It should be." It took us over 7 hours to reach the Turkmen capital. Our minibus could only reach an average speed of 50km per hour because of the many holes and bumps in the road.

An hour before we arrived in Ashgabat we had a final stop to stretch our legs. It was at a place called Abiwerd just near the road. I took some obligatory photos, just in case this tiny archeological site would ever show up on a WH or Tentative List.

My surprise couldn't have been bigger when I came home and discovered that Turkmenistan had just entered a new Tentative Site called "Silk Roads Sites in Turkmenistan". And what is part of it? Abiverd!

Abiverd or Abiwerd is an ancient fortified settlement. The remains near the road are merely silhouettes of ancient structures, although a local boy came to us to point out a fortress a bit further inland.