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Walking to Samarkand
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Buddy Read Walking to Samarkand
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Qara Kelisa - Monastery and Church of St. Thaddeus - mentioned in 1st chapter ancient Armenian monastery and church in Northern Iran - believed to be oldest in world, still a pilgrimage destination.
According to Armenian Church tradition, the Apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew traveled through Armenia in AD 45 to preach the word of God, where many people were converted and numerous secret Christian communities were established.
Just the church with black basalt wall and ringed tower.
Theresa wrote: "Qara Kelisa - Monastery and Church of St. Thaddeus - mentioned in 1st chapter ancient Armenian monastery and church in Northern Iran - believed to be oldest in world, still a pilgrimage destination."
Thanks Theresa, that is awesome. I didn't have an ebook when I read this, and while I did look somethings up, it wasn't at the level I usually do when I'm on my kindle.
Towards the end of Ch 3 Bernard has left the city of Mianeh behind and is heading SE to Tehran. After a poor decision to walk along a highway through a long tunnel of nothing but heavy truck traffic ... I allow myself a little break in the shade beside a brick bridge whose central arch has collapsed into the river. It looks as if it has been cut in half with an enormous hachet—an earthquake is to blame. Some children, having climbed up onto the bridge and are jumping off it into the water, fully clothed. Lying comfortably with my back against a wall, my derrière deep in a cool patch of flowering grass, I fall asleep.He is wrong about what collapsed the bridge central arch - I found references to 20th Century man-made destruction in multiple places. The story reminds me of the Parthenon.
this is known as the Kiz Bridge over the Qizil Üzen River, dating from possibly the 8th century, although some archaeologists believe it may even be of Sassanian, or pre-Islamic, origin. Despite its ancient origins, the damage to the central arch of the bridge was recent; in 1946, in the aftermath of World War 2, Communist separatists of the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan, blew up the central arch in a futile attempt to stop the advance of the Iranian Army who were re-occupying this area of Iran which had been occupied by Soviet troops since 1941.
The image also reminds me of the Pont d'Aviignon upon which I and 2 friends danced about 18 years ago.
Here is a link to the blog where I got best info and this image.
https://neilrawlins.blogspot.com/2021...
Shortly after he heads off the highway toward Jamal Abad and meets 2 old guys with an ancient truck. He sings to them General a Vendre - this song: https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_cont...Lyrics - https://www.paroles.net/francis-blanc...
Could not find them in English.
The Caravanseray of Jamalabad. It really is as spectacular as Bernard describes.
Contrast the Nikpei Caravansary in Zanjan, where Bernard spends the next night.https://itto.org/iran/itemgallery/Nik...
This must be what he saw on that hilltop on country road he took when looked toward Soltaniyeh.
Link to an article about the city being turned into a tourist and heritage site: https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/4546...
This book is a quick read ,,, except for the rabbit holes!
His next caranvanserai in Qazvin - Sa'd al-Saltaneh - still in use.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sa%27...
Thanks, Theresa. Those are spectacular.The bridge is amazing, as well as the story behind it.
I well remember the tunnel he went through and the poor decision making on that one.
I am half way through the book. He hit the 1000 kilometer mark. Still some poor decision-making but also some good based on his new knowledge painfully learned the year before. Most important was the decision to have an escort and driver through Iran's desert - or most of it.And to take rest days.
But he still pressed on and bypassed taking acday to visit some pretty remarkable heritage sites at Lake Utremis near Maineh because waiting for his new camera sent DHL from Paris (which we all know is the most unreliable carrier) took extra days.
Iran is clearly the place to see still mostly intact caravanserai!
I was struck by how welcoming the people were for the most part. It did help that he was French.I noted how often they offered him fresh fruit.
He never quite gets over wanting to walk further than he should.
Definitely eating better and more regularly. No mention of cookies daily.My personal experience of the Turks is they are equally warm and welcoming, but that is not the far eastern area that has basically been at war forever and is completely impoverished. Plus at the point he was walking through eastern Turkey, he was not in optimal shape - mentally or physically.
I've enjoyed his meet-ups with truckers and such who travel the route regularly and have seen him at different points. Reminded me of my backpacking student days in Europe where you ran into other student backpackers in different cities because you were all following the same basic route - i.e. Rome, Florence, Venice during spring break.
Turkmenistan - Lost City of Merv - caught my attention!An article about it: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/20...
I adore ruins and remnants of ancient historical sites and romantic ideas like the caravanserai of the Silk Road, and they have featured in my travels. Places like this speak to me.
Theresa, you are moving right along in the book. I was impressed with the friendships Bernard formed after crossing the Iranian desert.One can see how different Turkmenistan is from Iran almost immediately.
I loved the little cart he built for his backpack.
I finished! Loved it. He had a much better journey this time. I think he was better prepared for one thing and more aware of some of his short comings and things he needed to control. He also was making a point of eating better and more regularly, resting more, taking days of no walking -- though that tendency to keep pushing was still there. He had to fight it. And in the end he had to cool his heels for days at the Uzbekistan border when he could have spent a day or two more either resting earlier on the route (I think of that lovely village he arrived at by mid-day about 3/4's through Turkmenistan, but he allowed his urge/need to press on overrule his planned rest stop in a beautiful park and green filled town with hotels and restaurants because someone he spoke with on the road said there was a hotel and restaurant in the next village 9 miles away - and he pressed on to find nothing but 4 hovels so he pressed another 10 miles to a village which also had nothing and was awful - and arrived exhausted having pushed too hard. Just wanted to shake him.
I was also uncomfortable when he would engage aggressively with the bullies and officials he would meet - especially towards the end of the walk. But that may also be a woman's response - we would have handled it very differently. I didn't disagree with his basic premises - never let them take you somewhere, stay in public, etc. His behavior of course was that of a big man (all these countries tend to produce people on the short side - I felt tall in Turkey and I'm 5'2"! pretty secure in his size and strength, and also that of an entitled white male westerner.
EVNI was the best! And it's final resting place superb.
After reading this and seeing how much better he did, including just the condition of his feet!, I can say he was better prepared for this stage of the walk than in the first on so many levels. And I think his judgement in Turkey was impaired from fairly early into the walk.
I'm going to post some photos of the various dishes he encountered on this journey -- persian food is so wonderful -- I have to dig out my Persian Cookbook and look up some recipes.
I certainly will want to read the third, but not for a bit. I've spent enough time with Bernard right now.
I think this stretch of his journey was better in so many ways.As you said he still had the tendency to push on when he should have remained where he was.
He did indeed make me nervous with officials, but for him it did seem to always end well.
He made me chuckle with his fear of snakes but I am the same so not about to shame him.
I'll let you know if I am ready to start the next part of the journey. I have a couple of slow travel books lined up in front of him.
Looking forward to a look back at the food. I've had many Iranian friends and acquaintances over the years through my work.
I will be joining in on the buddy read, but not sure when it will come to the top of the list yet. Glad to see you enjoyed it Theresa!
You will love it, I think. But just to entice you and others further, the next 3 posts are the foods described. I fell down a google rabbit hole and I'm now digging out my Persian cookbook.
Starting on top right, clockwise, dishes are:
baghali polo - rice green beans chicken
plov - rice and mutton stew - Turkmenistan national dish - each cook has own recipe
manti - meat dumplings
churpa - lamb stew
laghman - noodle dish
manti - variation
samsa - meat and vegetable hand pies
Clockwise from top right:
abgoosht - interactivve dish - served piping hot in an iron or earthen pot, accompaniedby a soup dish and pestle. You pour the juice from the pot into the dish, then loadit up with bread until all the liquid has been absorbed. When there’s no more soupleft, you move on to the mutton at the bottom of the pot, crushing the vegetableswith the pestle: tomatoes, potatoes, and chickpeas.
khoresht - lamb stew with rice, yogurt, carrots, dried berriesis topped with a sprinkling of rose petals. (middle picture)
kuku - vegetable omelet - another dish which each cook has own recipe.
koofteh tabrizi (cut open)—chopped lamb cooked with eggs served with a side of lentils and potatoes. Reminds me of Scotch Eggs.
koofteh tabrizi - how served.
dal adas - persian red lentil and potato stew with tomato and lime
Last of persian dishes from Walking to Samarkand.
On left - albaloo polo rice served with berries and koofteh/kebabs
On right - sholeh zard— sweet rice with crushed almonds and saffron
Looks so good. I love the use of saffron.
I've started the book and loving it so far!
Joy D wrote: "I've started the book and loving it so far!"It grabbed me immediately too! I stayed up way too late every night reading it!
Once you finish and leave Samarkand, might find this interesting: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20...
Theresa wrote: "Once you finish and leave Samarkand, might find this interesting: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20..."Thanks! I'll check it out.
I really loved this. I'm so glad Bernard was better prepared. His crossing of the desert was amazing! It would take a certain type of personality to be 1) fit enough, 2) brave enough, 3) able to communicate though unable to speak most of the languages. He also had to have personal awareness, figuring out if people were friendly or not pretty much at first encounter. I know I couldn't do it. I enjoy reading about parts of the world I will never visit. Finished my review:
Walking to Samarkand: The Great Silk Road from Persia to Central Asia by Bernard Ollivier - 5* - My Review
I knew you would love it too!I agree with you on 'it takes a certain type of personality'. I also think that being a journalist, a certain type of journalist, contributed.
In a way I am already itching to read Winds of the Steppe: Walking the Great Silk Road from Central Asia to China, and in another I want to delay reading it for quite a while. I have it in my Kindle Library (it was a deal of the day recently) where it flirts for my attention. I think I need to move it as I don't want this journey to end yet.
But if I get 'journey' or 'travel essay' in Steeplechase... all bets off.
Bernard does seem to be the kind of person that you would like to meet. Theresa noted at one point how he always longed to be alone and yet was so social and I think that also lended itself to his journalist personality and his ability to travel alone. He needed to meet people for the story and yet he needed times of contemplation and observation of the landscape to focus his writing.
I am itching to read Winds of the Steppe as well.
I am reading another book that is filling to some extent the hole left after reading Walking to Samarkind. It was set aside while I finished my IRL Feminerdy book and then Steeplechase book. The Lost Girls: Three Friends. Four Continents. One Unconventional Detour Around the World. will be alternating with my HM reads for the rest of the week/month. It's also long. How about putting Winds of the Steppes for April? Or thereabouts? That way we know it's coming but we aren't rushing into it. I actually am still dipping back into Walking to Samarkind a bit here and there.
April sounds good to me.
Here's an interesting article about key cities pf the Silk Road.https://www.catalystplanet.com/travel...
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Books mentioned in this topic
The Lost Girls: Three Friends. Four Continents. One Unconventional Detour Around the World. (other topics)Winds of the Steppe: Walking the Great Silk Road from Central Asia to China (other topics)
Walking to Samarkand: The Great Silk Road from Persia to Central Asia (other topics)
I know there are a couple others out there who want to read the 2nd in the trilogy documenting Bernard Ollivier's walking the Silk Road, and BnB has already read this one but will chime in as we read and discuss. I finished my final read of 2023 earlier today and find myself anxious to start this -- a desire to read it has been growing steadily as I wrapped up my challenge reads for 2023.
I may only start it - but it's not all that long - I think my ebook copy is just about 300 pages. It might just get read this week or be put aside for a couple other books then finished mid-month.