Tracing the Silk Route Part One- Turkey and Iran

When I was coming to Kandahar… I took one hard look at the map of this part of the world… and it occurred to me that Afghanistan was centre of all civilizations- the China, the India, the Iran and the Middle East… and no wonder the silk routes criss-crossed this tumultuous country…. The Valley of Oxus… and the Khyber Pass, for instance, were often said to be the gateway to India… for from here… the armies of Ghanznavids, Ghorids, Mughals came to India… they brought with them conquests and cultures, pillage and philosophies, scepter and Sufism….

And when I looked deeper into the map… the Silk Road started capturing my imagination… nobody told me what it was… for it was apparent… it exists even today… the roads and caravans are ephemeral… but destination, like truth, is eternal. And in a pursuit to discover these eternal destinations… I started making itineraries of wanderings…

I don’t know whether I will be able to cover these destinations from here or not… one problem is the connectivity… Kandahar is, to put it bluntly, an Island… and to go anywhere from here… one needs to go to Kabul… which, at best is a bigger island. Other problems are deeper… of that of balancing between my family and my urge to wander… my wife has a pertinent point… that if you get some leaves… you must use them in spending it with your kids… I just can’t counter this argument. My kids, after all, have a superior right over me…

Anyways… I have always maintained that dreaming itself is an act of emancipation…. It does not matter as to whether you are able to actualize your dream or not… for that is the second step, logically speaking, the first being dreaming itself. If you dream! You have won half the battle… and winning half the battle is better than none.

And then my dreams made me chart out two itineraries, which will be a travelers’ delight… one that takes him through the span of Turkey and Iran… and the other that takes him through the dust-tracks of Xingjian, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan.

Route 1- Turkey and Iran.

• Istanbul- Centre of all civilizations… where the orient meets the occident… where the Asia meets the Europe… city that has seen the two largest empires of the world… Byzantine and Ottoman… Istanbul has always been a dream destination, everything pales in comparison. EVERYTHING!

• Selcuk- A wonderful tourist place… close to Izmir… Pamukkale… Ephesus… Selcuk itself is a history’s delight… an absolute must-do.
  

• Cappadocia- If a fairy tale was to be enacted on earth somewhere… this is it… unique moon-like landscape, underground cities, cave churches and houses carved in the rocks… Cappadocia… narrates the history of communal strife and human endurance, all rolled in one.
  

• Koyna- City of Whirling Dervishes, the greatest poet Rumi… Koyna is perhaps the totem pole of Sufism… and no visit to Turkey would ever be complete is this place is breezed past

• Ankara- Not touristy… however… a capital is a capital… center of modern Turkey… therefore… needs a brief stopover.
  

• Trabzon- A picturesque town by the Black Sea… Trabzon houses within its folds the stunning Sumera Monastery… the Black Sea Coast of Turkey have its own unique culture… due to its proximity to the Russia, Armenia.
  

• Van- The gateway to Iran…located by the mysterious Van Lake… that, myths tell, has a mythological monster in its depths… and only a few years ago people have seen that some such thing actually exists in this place.
  

• Tabriz- Biblical “Garden of Eden”… Tabriz has a history of more than 4500 years… it also has a unique culture… partly Iranian, partly Azeri.
  

• Teheran- The center of modern Iran… great museums, parks, restaurants, warm friendly people…
  

• Qom- Jewel of Iran… one of he holiest city… most prominent center of Shiite learning… all in all, a must visit
  

• Esfahan- Considered, often, the most beautiful city of the world… Esfahan is half the world…"Nesf-e-Jahan"…tree-lined boulevards and relaxed pace… It also has a functional Atashgah… a Zoroastrian fire temple…
  

• Shiraj- Birth place of Saadi, the great poet… Shiraj has often been dubbed as the center of all art and architecture in Persian civilization… it also holds one of the most renowned sites of entire Iran… Persepolis.
  

• Yazd- Travelers tell me stories and stories about this place… they say that there is no place like Yazd in entire Iran… its most beautiful town… hardly touristy… Yazd is one of the best kept secrets of Iran… though not any more
  

• Mashhad- Land of Saffron, Land of belief… of Imam Reza… Mashhad in the holiest site of Shias in Iran… right after Mecca and Karbala….
  

Now the possibilities of completing this route is not all that remote... one way is that I fly to Dubai... and Kandahar has more than one flight to Dubai every week... and then coordinate onward flight to Istanbul and return flight from Mashhad....

Or the other way is to fly to Istanbul... from Kandahar itself... and I am told that very soon a Kandahar-Baku-Istanbul flight would be starting... and the fly back from Mashhad to Kandahar... so I believe logistics for this route are not all that difficult... what is difficult is however getting a Visa to Iran... and believe me... its quite difficult.

And then come Route Two… which is even more spectacular