Maracanda and Alexandria Margiana

[marcus]

Dear all,

Here are a few pictures from my recent visit to Maracanda and Alexandria Margiana. They are mixed in with some non-Alexandrian pics (just so's you know).

All the best

[sikander]

Greetings Marcus,

Enjoyed your photos. Nice capture on the Silk Road Memorial and the Akhal Tekes- clearly showed their unique traits, even the "razor withers" <chuckling>. When do we get to read more of your adventures?

Regards,
Sikander

[marcus]

Hi Sikander,

Enjoyed your photos. Nice capture on the Silk Road Memorial and the Akhal Tekes- clearly showed their unique traits, even the "razor withers" <chuckling>. When do we get to read more of your adventures?

Thanks!

It was just a shame about the weather - the lowering skies over the Registan don't make for the best photo. When we went out to see the Akhal Tekkes it was miserable, and we stood shivering while the stable boys put the horses through their paces. Beautiful horses, all the same - very fast at the gallop, too!

The whole trip was fantastic, despite the poor weather. I've got loads of sorting out to do, but will endeavour to put some more stuff up on the travel section of the main site in the not too distant.

ATB

[Fiona]

Very interesting I loved seeing the rivers. Thank you for sharing your photos.
Fiona

[jan]

Hello Marcus, I enjoyed especially learning about Tamerlane...very, very interesting...thanks for a wonderful vicarious experience. Beautiful photos, and shows that you had a great time...Jan

[marcus]

Very interesting I loved seeing the rivers.

It's just a shame that the two rivers don't look more exciting! Unfortunately, those of the Syr Darya were taken through the window of a bus, in driving rain. The Amu Darya is so wide, even when it was at "low tide", that I couldn't really give a decent indication of its width. I tried to take a surreptitious picture of the pontoon bridge we walked across, but photographing bridges is verboten - and I wasn't prepared to risk the Turkmen authorities, who can be quite authoritarian! - and when I looked at the result I had missed the bridge entirely, and had a dodgy, funny-angled picture of a dredger instead ... doh!

ATB

[marcus]

Hello Marcus, I enjoyed especially learning about Tamerlane...very, very interesting...thanks for a wonderful vicarious experience. Beautiful photos, and shows that you had a great time...Jan

Thanks, Jan. I'm quite disappointed with many of the photos I took, because unfortunately the weather was terrible. Not quite the blue skies and searing heat I was hoping for. But I certainly had a great time, especially the clambering up and down over ancient Maracanda, and running up the steep slope of the citadel at Merv.

ATB