Ashgabat (Aşgabat — "City of Love" in Turkmen, population 1.1 million — the capital of Turkmenistan and one of the most extraordinary cities in the world) is simultaneously one of the most expensive cities to visit (the requirement for foreign tourists to hire a mandatory government guide for all activities makes independent travel effectively impossible) and one of the most visually spectacular: the city that Saparmurat Niyazov ("Turkmenbashi" — "Father of all Turkmen") and his successor Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow rebuilt from scratch after the 1948 earthquake (the Ashgabat earthquake of October 6, 1948 — magnitude 7.3, killing between 10,000 and 176,000 people (the death toll was classified as a state secret under Stalin and has never been definitively established): the earthquake destroyed virtually the entire city) as a showcase of Turkmen national identity. The result is the most unusual capital city in the world: an entire city rebuilt in brilliant white marble (the Guinness World Record for the "highest density of white marble-clad buildings in the world" — awarded to Ashgabat in 2013), dominated by golden statues (including the rotating golden statue of Turkmenbashi that tracked the sun by revolving to always face the sun, until it was removed in 2010), enormous monuments (the Neutrality Arch — the 75m tripod arch topped by a gold statue of Turkmenbashi that rotated to face the sun), and the most elaborate national symbols: the 8-pointed star (the Rub el Hizb — the symbol of the Seljuk Turkic heritage visible on every building), the horse (the Akhal-Teke — the most ancient and most beautiful breed of horse in the world: the golden-coated Turkmen horse with the metallic sheen that is the primary national symbol of Turkmenistan), the dog (the Alabay — the Central Asian shepherd dog: the second most important Turkmen national animal), and natural gas (the Darvaza Gas Crater (the "Door to Hell" — the burning gas crater in the Karakum desert 260km north of Ashgabat that has been burning continuously since a Soviet drilling accident in 1971)).
Ruhy Mosque (the "Spiritual Mosque" — the mosque built by Saparmurat Niyazov (Turkmenbashi) in his home village of Kipchak (12km west of Ashgabat, now incorporated into the suburban sprawl): the largest mosque in Central Asia (capacity: 10,000 worshippers inside + 10,000 in the surrounding prayer yard — a total of 20,000 at major festivals): the white Makrana marble exterior (the same marble used for the Taj Mahal — the white Indian marble from the Makrana quarries of Rajasthan), the 72m gold dome and the four 91m minarets (the tallest minarets in Central Asia): the interior (the most elaborate Islamic interior decoration in Turkmenistan: the ceiling calligraphy in gold on a blue ground — the Quran inscribed in its entirety (the entire 6,236 verses of the Quran carved in Arabic calligraphy) on the inner surfaces of the dome), and the controversial feature: the Rukhname of Turkmenbashi (the "Book of the Soul" — the spiritual autobiography written by Niyazov (he claimed divine inspiration and mandated that it be displayed in mosques alongside the Quran — an unprecedented secular intrusion into Islamic sacred space)).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBitaraplyk (Neutrality) Monument (the "Neutrality Arch" — the 75m white marble and steel tripod structure (originally built with a rotating golden statue of Turkmenbashi at the apex that tracked the sun by revolving 360° over the course of the day: the rotating statue was the most extraordinary piece of political narcissism in any modern capital city, and was decommissioned in 2010 after Niyazov's death in 2006 and the accession of Berdimuhamedow: the golden statue remains at the apex but no longer rotates) in the southern part of the city near the former presidential palace: the lift and stairs to the observation deck at the base of the golden statue give the most complete panoramic view of the white marble city): the Independence Monument (the 118m monument on the central Magtymguly Boulevard — the white marble column rising from a 3-story podium decorated with the symbols of Turkmen nationhood: the Akhal-Teke horse, the 8-pointed star and the carpet border motifs).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideTolkuchka Bazaar (the outdoor market on the north side of Ashgabat — the largest bazaar in Central Asia and the most authentic non-government experience in Turkmenistan: the Sunday market (Tolkuchka operates daily but the Sunday market is the largest and most spectacular: the 50,000+ vendors covering a vast open-air space (the size of several football fields) north of the city): the Turkmen carpet section (the Turkmen carpet (the "hali" — the hand-knotted Turkmen pile carpet with the geometric "gol" (medallion) designs in deep crimson, burgundy and caramel red: the most important traditional craft in Turkmenistan: the specific tribal designs (each of the 5 major Turkmen tribes (Tekke, Yomut, Saryk, Ersari and Chodor) has its own distinctive carpet design pattern), the livestock market (the Karakul sheep — the Turkmen sheep breed whose curly newborn fleece is the "Persian lamb" (the "astrakhan" fur)), and the secondhand goods market (the most chaotic section of Tolkuchka: the Soviet-era tools, the military hardware and the electronics of indeterminate age and provenance).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuidePlov (the Central Asian rice pilaf (called plov in Turkic, palov or osh in Uzbek, polo in Persian, pilaf in English) — the most important dish in Central Asian cuisine: the Turkmen plov is the most lamb-centric version of the Central Asian pilaf: the lamb (the fatty Karakul sheep of the Turkmen steppe) cut into large pieces and first browned in the rendered fat from the lamb tail (the Kurdyuk — the fatty tail of the Karakul sheep: the fat from the lamb tail is the traditional cooking fat of Central Asia, used instead of oil or butter), then cooked with the onion (browned until dark) and the carrot (the julienne-cut yellow carrot — the sweetness of the yellow carrot is essential to the Central Asian plov flavor), then the rice (the long-grain Devzira rice or the local Turkmen varieties) added and cooked until each grain is separate and fluffy, with the specific additions of the Turkmen plov: the raisins, the chickpeas and the dried apricots added to the rice layer) and the non (the Turkmen flatbread baked in the tandoor clay oven, the round or oval flatbread with the decorative central stamp (the "damga") that is the specific geometric pattern of the baker's tribe).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideDarvaza Gas Crater (the "Shining of Karakum" in Turkmen — known internationally as the "Door to Hell"): the burning crater in the Karakum Desert (the "Black Sand Desert" — the second-largest sand desert in the world after the Sahara: covering 350,000 km² and occupying 70% of the territory of Turkmenistan) 260km north of Ashgabat: the origin story: in 1971, Soviet geologists drilling for natural gas at the site accidentally drilled into a gas-filled underground cavern — the drilling platform and the surrounding ground collapsed into the void (the collapse created a crater approximately 60m in diameter and 30m deep): the geologists set fire to the natural gas leaking from the crater (the standard procedure for preventing the spread of methane underground): the intention was to burn off the gas in a few weeks: the gas has been burning continuously for 53+ years (the underground gas reservoir is larger than initially estimated). The crater at night: the most extraordinary and apocalyptic landscape accessible to visitors from Ashgabat. A day trip to the crater (leaving Ashgabat at 06:00, arriving at the crater in the late afternoon for the sunset-to-night experience, sleeping in a yurt camp adjacent to the crater and returning the next morning) is the most essential experience available from Ashgabat.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideKarakum Desert yurt camp (the camp of traditional Turkmen yurts (the portable circular tent of the Central Asian nomad — the Turkmen yurt (the "ak öý" — the "white house": the round felt tent on a wooden lattice frame (the "kerege" — the collapsible diamond-pattern wooden lattice that forms the circular walls) topped by the "tündük" (the circular crown at the apex through which smoke escapes and stars are visible): the Turkmen yurt is the most refined of all Central Asian yurt traditions (the Turkmen yurt is larger, more ornate and has a higher-quality felt lining than the Mongolian or Kazakh yurt): set up 20km from the Darvaza crater, the yurt camp provides the most authentic Central Asian nomadic experience accessible from Ashgabat. At night: the Karakum Desert sky (one of the darkest skies in Central Asia — the Milky Way and the planetary system visible with extraordinary clarity from the desert camp, 250km from any significant light pollution).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Karakum dawn (the drive back to Ashgabat through the Karakum Desert at dawn: the most photogenic time in the desert (the long shadows of the saxaul trees (Haloxylon ammodendron — the drought-resistant tree that stabilizes the Karakum sand dunes: the root system of the saxaul can extend 20m into the desert subsurface to reach water), the pink and orange light on the sand dunes (the Karakum dunes are not the enormous Saharan ergs but the "barchan" dunes — the crescent-shaped mobile dunes that migrate across the desert floor driven by the prevailing northwest wind): the three hours of the dawn drive from the Darvaza crater to the Ashgabat outskirts are the most beautiful of the entire Darvaza day trip.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideA Turkmen nomad family (who still maintain seasonal yurt camps in the Karakum) receive visitors 15km from the burning crater. The double-humped Bactrian camels graze on the saxaul shrubs of the desert. The family demonstrates traditional felting, serves camel milk chai and shows the handwoven carpet patterns specific to their tribe — a living connection to the 3,000-year Silk Road nomadic tradition that the marble capital of Ashgabat has almost erased.
Milli Muzei (the National Museum of Turkmenistan — the largest museum in Central Asia (opened 2009 in the new white marble complex): the most important archaeological collection from Turkmenistan: the Nisa (Nissa — the UNESCO World Heritage site 18km west of Ashgabat: the Parthian royal capital (3rd century BCE – 3rd century CE) of the Arsacid dynasty: the Parthians (the Iranian dynasty that created the empire between Rome and China, controlled the Silk Road and repeatedly defeated the Romans (the Battle of Carrhae (53 BCE) — the Parthian destruction of the Roman army of Crassus (the third of the First Triumvirate after Caesar and Pompey): 20,000 Romans killed and 10,000 captured): the Nisa rhytons (the ivory drinking horns (the "rhyton" — the drinking vessel shaped as a horn, from the Greek for "that which flows"): the 40 Nisa ivory rhytons (the most important collection of Hellenistic-Parthian decorative art in Central Asia: the rhytons are carved ivory (the elephant ivory imported from India along the Silk Road) with the most elaborate figure scenes of Greek and Eastern mythology (centaurs, Dionysiac scenes, eagle griffins) ever produced in Central Asia)).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideAkhal-Teke stud farm (the most important cultural institution in Turkmenistan after the national flag — the Akhal-Teke horse is the most ancient purebred horse in the world (bred for 3,000+ years by the Teke Turkmen tribe in the Akhal oasis of the Kopet Dag mountains south of Ashgabat): the most distinctive characteristic of the Akhal-Teke: the metallic sheen of the coat (the "golden coat" of the buckskin and the palomino individuals has a specific metallic luster (the "sheen" or "bloom") that is unique in the horse world — it is caused by the unusually thin hair shaft with a transparent core that refracts light like a fiber-optic cable): the Akhal-Teke is the national symbol of Turkmenistan (the white Akhal-Teke horse appears on the flag, the coat of arms and the currency of Turkmenistan): the horse of Alexander the Great's legendary mount Bucephalus was, according to some historians, an Akhal-Teke; the horse is also thought to be the ancestor of the Thoroughbred racehorse.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideTürkmen Halysy (the Turkmenistan Carpet Museum — the most important carpet collection in the world: the 14,000 traditional Turkmen carpets from the five major Turkmen tribal traditions (the Tekke (the crimson-red "elephant foot" gol medallion pattern), the Yomut (the the diamond-shaped "kepse gol" pattern in dark red and black), the Saryk (the octagonal "tauk nuska gol" pattern with the bird-step motif), the Ersari (the largest tribal tradition, with the greatest variety of designs including the "dyrnak gol" and the "torba" small bags), and the Chodor (the distinctive "erre gol" pattern with the "erre" motif)): the world's largest hand-knotted carpet (the carpet woven in 2001 measuring 301m² (the size of a tennis court) for the Guinness Book of Records: 121 million knots, hand-knotted over 4 years by 40 Turkmen women — the most labor-intensive craft object ever completed in Central Asia).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideManti (the Turkmen steamed dumplings — the most important dumpling in the Central Asian culinary tradition (identical in concept to the Chinese mantou/momo/baozi from which they descend via the Silk Road): the Turkmen manti has the characteristic large size (10–12cm diameter) compared to the smaller Chinese or Korean dumplings: the thin unleavened pasta wrapper (rolled by hand, as thin as possible) filled with a mixture of raw lamb and onion (the raw filling: the specific Turkmen and Central Asian tradition of filling the dumplings with raw (not pre-cooked) meat, which cooks inside the sealed dumpling during the steaming: the juice from the raw lamb filling creates the characteristic soup inside the dumpling — the Turkmen equivalent of the Chinese "soup dumpling"): steamed in a special multi-level steaming pot (the "mantovarka") and served with a garlic-yogurt sauce (the "sarimsaq aýran" — the garlic thinned with ayran (the sour drinking yogurt)) and hot red pepper). Çal (fermented camel milk — the Turkmen equivalent of the Kazakh shubat).
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