Turkmenistan                                          2015

From Houston to Sydney 2013

For our final full day in Turkmenistan, we were given a free morning to do any final shopping, independent sightseeing, relaxing or wandering.  Like about a dozen others, I was keen to explore Nisa Fort, so our guide kindly organised for our bus to take us all there and back without any extra charge, which was appreciated very much.

The bus was organised to leave the hotel at 10:30 am, which gave me about an hour and a half to go walking after breakfast.  Camera in hand, I chose a large loop that took me south, and then east, from the Ak-Altyn Hotel.  The furthest point south-east on my walking loop was a curve on Atamyrat Niyazov Avenue (named after the first President’s father) just south of the huge, futuristic looking, white marble clad hospital (identified on Google Maps as the “Hospital with Research Centre of Cardiology”).  Atamyrat Niyazov Avenue was one of Ashgabat’s newly developed thoroughfares, characteristically lined on both sides by uniform high rise white marble clad housing blocks and excessively ornate street light poles.

Nisa Fort is located about 15 kilometres west of Ashgabat.  Although I had visited several archaeological sites during my 2006 visit, this was my first visit to Nisa.  Surrounded by what was once an impressive 20 metre high mud brick defensive wall, the fort was situated on the summit of a hill that provided lovely views of the Kopet Dag Mountains to the south, with an especially good view of one end of the First President’s Health Path, a fenced, well it, paved fitness path that winds through the mountains, and which was apparently designed to encourage government workers to maintain their personal fitness.  It is said that when he was alive, Niyazov would join his Ministers in starting the walk up the steep hill, before retreating to his helicopter after a couple of hundred metres, flying to the finishing point, and congratulating his considerably more sweaty colleagues as they completed their eight kilometre trek through the mountains. 

Nisa Fort dates back to about 250BC when the Parthians drove out the Greeks (who had occupied the area since the times of Alexander the Great about a century earlier).  I had never heard of the Parthians before, but it seems they were a tribe of Turkmen people from the north-west of what is now Turkmenistan.

There seems to be some debate about the purpose of Nisa Fort, and it may indeed have had varying uses over time such as a royal residence and/or a religious complex.  We entered the fort through a gaping cavity that had been cut through the ancient wall to facilitate a visit by French President Mitterand in 1994.  From an elevated platform, we had a good view of the remains of the fort, including two depressions in the land that used to be water reservoirs.

Only the foundations remain of most of the fort, but UNESCO seem to be involved in ‘restoring’ these remains by building new mud brick ‘protective’ walls directly on top of the ancient mud brick remnants (using the ancient walls as the foundation for the new construction), completely hiding the ancient remains from view.

Under the informative and often humorous direction of a local guide, we were shown through the remains of the fort, including a round hall 17 metres in diameter that was used for religious ceremonies, a square room with some fired brick pillars that is thought to have been a throne room, and so on.  We emerged at the far end of the fort, where we were able to climb onto the old surrounding walls to get a good view of the layout of the complex.

All too soon, it was time to return to the hotel, where we could rest for an hour and a half prior to our 3:00 pm departure for a final tour of some more of Ashgabat’s sights.

Our first stip on the afternoon tour was the cable car station at the foot of the Kopet Dag Mountains.  Our intention was to take the cable cars up into the mountains from where spectacular views of Ashgabat could be seen on a clear afternoon (which this afternoon was not!).  Unfortunately, when we arrived, we learned that the cable cars were out of action for repairs and maintenance, and had been for several months.  We considered going instead to the television tower, which also offered great views (on a clear afternoon), but we were told that the elevators in the TV Tower were also closed down for maintenance.

We were therefore given a choice – either to go shopping in a new “Dubai-style” air conditioned shopping mall, or to visit to the State Museum of the State Cultural Centre of Turkmenistan.  I chose the latter.

Opened in 1998, the museum was recently completely remodelled, and this was obvious by the displays.  Everything in the museum that we saw was devoted to the current President, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow.  We saw no mention whatsoever of the former President (Niyazov); it seemed as though a new personality cult was well and truly being established.  Admittedly, we were short of time, as we arrived at 4:00 pm and the museum was due to close at 5:00 pm, so there may be other displays in the building.  However, we saw nothing but tributes to Berdimuhamedow, gifts presented to Berdimuhamedow, photos of Berdimuhamedow, biographical details of Berdimuhamedow, and so on.  The displays showed Berdimuhamedow as a student, Berdimuhamedow as a doctor (actually a dentist), Berdimuhamedow as a politician, Berdimuhamedow as a pilot, Berdimuhamedow as a jockey, Berdimuhamedow as a racing car driver, Berdimuhamedow as a hockey player – is there anything in which the President cannot excel?

After the museum closed, the shopping and the museum sub-groups coalesced once again and we headed to the Alem Cultural and Entertainment Centre, home of the world’s biggest indoor ferris wheel.  Opened in 2012, the ferris wheel is housed in a distinctive 95 metre high building that is shaped (not unexpectedly) like a giant ferris wheel.

After entering the building, we walked through a large games arcade where young children were playing on miniature cars and aeroplanes, past a shooting gallery where the objective seemed to be to shoot hillibillies with rifles, before emerging at the base of the ferris wheel.

The views from the gondolas was somewhat disappointing when looking sideways, as we were looking through a window in the gondola, and then through another window on the building, the latter being decorated with large golden eight-pointed stars (a symbol of Turkmenistan) to obscure the view even further.  However, there were some good views to the front and rear of the gondolas at certain points of the rotation, as the end walls seemed to be lacking any windows or glazing (which begs the question as to whether the ferris wheel is truly fully ‘indoors’).

Unfortunately, haze and low clouds obscured much of our view while the ferris wheel was rotating, but the sun seemed to break through magically towards the end, revealing the skyline of Ashgabat in full majesty.

Our final dinner was held at a small restaurant in central Ashgabat.  After dinner, we had one final sightseeing treat, which was to see Ashgabat’s buildings by night.  Almost every new (i.e. white marble) building is floodlit at night time, often in garish colours, and usually throughout the night until dawn.  Clearly saving energy is not a prime consideration in Ashgabat.

Our drive finished at the summit of a hill overlooking the city in front of the Palace of Happiness, a large and distinctive (of course!) building topped with a 32 metre diameter cube containing a glass ball displaying a map of Turkmenistan.  It is the place where people in Ashgabat go to get married, or to register their marriages.  The floodlighting on the building was especially striking, changing colour at frequent intervals through a sequence that included, red, green, blue, yellow and white.  Our aim, however, was to admire the brightly lit Ashgabat skyline, and viewing this spectacular sight was a fitting finale to our wonderful week in Turkmenistan.

Day 7 - Ashgabat and Nisa Fort

Friday

15 May 2015