Dream of Silk Road

Dream of Silk Road

[August 2012] The word Silk Road always makes me feel romantic.

This time in Turkey, our group tour visited Agzikarahan caravanserai.

The merchants who travelled through Silk Road with camels stayed here all those years ago.

This particular caravanserai was built in early 13th century.

The word ‘serai’ means ‘palace’, but I thought this place was too simple to call a palace.

Our guide told us that the merchants could stay in a caravanserai for free for three nights.

There used be a lot of them, one every 30 – 40 kilometres which is the distance caravans can travel one day.

I saw a caravanserai in Armenia some years ago.

The basic structure was similar, but this Agzikarahan caravanserai seemed looked after better for conservation.