Colette's Grand Detour

This afternoon we visited the archeological ruins of Otrar, an ancient Silk Road city in southern Kazakhstan. Between the 9th and 12th centuries it was a booming fortress city, successful because of its location at the confluence of the Syr Darya and Arys rivers and a point of convergence for many different caravan routes coming from China, the Middle East, Europe, Siberia and the Urals.

At present less than 30% of the city has been excavated. It is possible to see some of the original fortified walls, the bath houses, part of the mosque and a palace There were even examples of an underground pipe system which is amazing considering how old it is. But a large % still remains untouched. There have been archaeological digs here since the early 20th century and whilst there are still some small digs on-going, progress is limited by funding. It is on the tentative list to become a UNESCO World Heritage site which may eventually help with this.

Otrar is particularly famous for 2 reasons. Firstly it is where Timur the Great died in the early 15th century. His body was then sent to Samarkand for burial. And more gruesomely, in 1218 the governor of Otrar executed a Mongolian trade caravan, accusing them of spying which was a major breech of good relations. Ghengis Khan responded, slaughtering the population of the city. Although it eventually recovered, environmental changes, particularly the migration of the Syr Darya river away from the city led to issues with irrigation and by the 19th century it had been completely abandoned.

The city is easy to explore in 30 minutes or so, but it is quite a walk from the carpark to the main gate. And it is currently very hot weather. Luckily, golf carts are offered to shuttle you back and forth. At the main gate, you can see the remains of the original fortified wall as well as a big area of reconstruction. And then once you are inside it is easy to wander and explore independently. There are very few tourists here, and for most of our visit we were the only ones there.

We are now on our way to Shymkent to catch an overnight train to Almaty.