Ashgabat. Day 5 afternoon

 This afternoon we assembled in the foyer - the first time we really met the rest of the group - and went out on a bus to see the city. Apparently it's a Department of Tourism bus and driver. Not sure who the local guide is employed by, but I'm sure at the least he is licensed by the government.

(update later in the evening - the Turkmeni local guide says the buildings are all fully occupied... the Uzbek tour leader says they were built as an employment project and many are completely empty.)

Anyway, central Ashgabat is essentially marble buildings 10-12 stories high, surrounded by park. There are cars on the road but rarely people on foot and the buildings might be deserted - presumably the carparks are at the back. The people all live in white marble apartment buildings further out. Apparently people come out more in the evenings when it's cooler.

Our first stop was the Independence Memorial. It was impressive and, apart from a couple of soldiers, we were the only ones there.

Lynn models the latest in independence monuments
Important people. Centre of Culture and Kopet Dag mountains behind

From there we went on to the war memorial. This is also a memorial to the 1948 earthquake that largely oleveled the city and assisted the rebuilding.



From there we went on to the nearby wedding palace. Weddings are a big deal in Turkmenistan.


And our last stop was a local mosque.

In the evening we went out to dinner and the obligatory cultural show. The dinner was high in a (sigh) white marble independence memorial building. It involved a passable eggplant salad, a salty tomato soup and a salty chicken-and-rice dish. The cultural show was fairly entertaining, though it may have just seemed that way because our group seem to be good sports and entered into the audience participation section enthusiastically. Before we left we were able to go to a balcony on the next floor for photos.





Comments

  1. Dad7 September 2026 at 05:19

    Good photos, but as you point out, everything seems to be white marble.
    Some countries seem to enjoy lots of grandiose memorials. This morning on SBS they had a story about the current "Nomad Games". It was very impressive. and held I think in a city in Krygistan (I get the names all confused).

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