To the actual ruins at merv. So, were going, were doing it, should be worth it, its supposed to be an amazing place. But we cant film until we get there. From bukhara across the turkmenistan border, its a journey of around 200 miles or so to the ancient ruins of merv. Today, merv is marooned completely offthebeatentrack in the remote and rarely visited turkmenistan desert. But historically it was a crucially strategic and very busy silk road junction. In its heyday, nearly 1,000 years ago, merv stood alongside cairo, damascus and baghdad as one of the islamic worlds greatest cities. But in the 13th century merv was almost completely destroyed by the mongols, and today very little remains of the once legendary silk road city, apart from a few crumbling ruins and its once massive walls. Im given a tour of the vast and desolate site by local guide gulchat berdyyeva. Oh yeah, look at this. This is the erk kala, and it was the first settlement. She starts off by showing me the most ancient
Caspian-sea
Oceans-general
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Istanbul
Turkey
Kyrgyzstan
Bosphorus
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United-states
Damascus
Dimashq
Syria