Ashgabat
Overview
The capital of Turkmenistan is the weirdest city I have ever been to. Being a totalitarian and locked country it is actually not surprising. It is only 35 km from Iran but when you approach it you feel you are in a totally different world. Long and wide avenues, huge white marble buildings everywhere and nobody on the street, so you have a feeling of being somewhere out of this world. First impression is not bad not good, just weird, later you realize this is a place comparable to North Korea and you just feel sorry for the people living in there.
As a tourist you have freedom to wander around the city alone but not everywhere, as often one of the many policemen will tell you not to walk here, not to go there, not to do this, etc. Not to talk about taking pictures, almost impossible on the sight of policemen, so try to be discreet.
We spent 2 days in Ashgabat, which are more than enough to have a glimpse of what a capital of a totalitarian locked one-man governed country is.
As a tourist you have freedom to wander around the city alone but not everywhere, as often one of the many policemen will tell you not to walk here, not to go there, not to do this, etc. Not to talk about taking pictures, almost impossible on the sight of policemen, so try to be discreet.
We spent 2 days in Ashgabat, which are more than enough to have a glimpse of what a capital of a totalitarian locked one-man governed country is.
Sightseeing
Sightseeing in Ashgabat is not as in any other place in the world. Taking pictures is forbidden almost everywhere, so you have to be quick and out of the sight of the hundreds of policemen patrolling the city. Moving around the city is quite ok, but be careful where you go, as the surroundings of the Presidential Palace are off limits and you will be told to turn around and go somewhere else.
The most impressive sight of Ashgabat is the city itself. It has the Guinness record of the highest concentration of marble buildings in one place. Everything is White marble. Marble everywhere, White everywhere. Both the former president and the current one must have an obssession with marble and everything is made from this material, which is quite confusing because all the buildings look the same in the city centre. And they are building and building new ones, so I don’t want to know how this city will look like in a few decades. The worst is that to build this marble stuff, they are demolishing old buildings leaving people homeless, a really nice project.
One of the most surprising things is that most of the streets are totally empty and totally clean. This is because they have all the time women brushing the street and because people don’t go out in the centre, just to some specific places because they are either too scared or there’s nothing to do, so when you walk around Ashgabat you’ll notice you have the whole city for yourself and the only people you’ll see are policemen in every corner and these cleaning women on the road.
This said, still you can visit some places and see some people in Ashgabat:
-Independence Park: A few kilometers far from the centre, you can get there by bus. It’s a huge, new and empty park featuring, among others, the biggest fountain in the world, a huge sculpture of the Ruhnama (the national book every Turkmen has to read) and a Golden statue of Niyazov, the former president.
-Presidential Palace: You’ll se it from the bus and you can’t even approach it on foot. Marble and with a huge Golden dome, here’s where the beloved president lives. Police everywhere around.
-Ertugrul Grazi Mosque: A bit far from the centre, to get here on foot you will see the real Ashgabat, where people live out of the unreal marble world. You’ll pass by Soviet neighbouthoods with concrete blocks of apartments full of parabol antennas. The mosque wants to be a copy of the blue mosque in Istanbul but it’s really disappointing, a marble huge mosque with nothing special and you can’t get inside it.
-Lenin Square: An empty square with a tiny statue of Lenin. Nothing special.
-Russian Market: The most normal place in Ashgabat. A normal market with even people in it and where you can buy food and clothes and even some traditional souvenirs.
-Main Railway Station: Probably the nicest building in Ashgabat. Even if it is marble made, it is quite nice.
-Bus number 20: You can hop on this bus and go till the end of the line. It goes to the outskirts of Ashgabat through wide empty avenues full of white streetlamps, you can see the white Ashgabat from far, the Ashgabat flagpole and a couple of huge and impressive marble buildings on the way.
-Altyn Asir Bazaar: Formerly known as Tolkuchka Bazaar, some 8 km north of the city, reachable by bus. If you happen to be in Ashgabat on a Saturday or Sunday, find some past-time but don’t go to this bazaar. According to the Lonely Planet it used to be one of the liveliest and nicest bazaars in Central Asia. This probably was until they decided to demolish and build a new one in 2013. Now it is just a big concrete place with no soul, no charm, nothing at all. The shops are set in big covered industrial buildings numbered like A1, A2, A3 and so on. Besides, in Winter it was freezong inside, as the cover soesn’t let the sun in and there’s no heating inside. You can find food, clothes and a few souvenirs, but nothing you can’t find in the centre, so totally avoid this bazaar, probably the worst I’ve ever seen.
-Walking around the centre: By wandering around the main railway station you’ll see parks, squares and oficial buildings all looking the same: White, big, empty and with police everywhere.
The most impressive sight of Ashgabat is the city itself. It has the Guinness record of the highest concentration of marble buildings in one place. Everything is White marble. Marble everywhere, White everywhere. Both the former president and the current one must have an obssession with marble and everything is made from this material, which is quite confusing because all the buildings look the same in the city centre. And they are building and building new ones, so I don’t want to know how this city will look like in a few decades. The worst is that to build this marble stuff, they are demolishing old buildings leaving people homeless, a really nice project.
One of the most surprising things is that most of the streets are totally empty and totally clean. This is because they have all the time women brushing the street and because people don’t go out in the centre, just to some specific places because they are either too scared or there’s nothing to do, so when you walk around Ashgabat you’ll notice you have the whole city for yourself and the only people you’ll see are policemen in every corner and these cleaning women on the road.
This said, still you can visit some places and see some people in Ashgabat:
-Independence Park: A few kilometers far from the centre, you can get there by bus. It’s a huge, new and empty park featuring, among others, the biggest fountain in the world, a huge sculpture of the Ruhnama (the national book every Turkmen has to read) and a Golden statue of Niyazov, the former president.
-Presidential Palace: You’ll se it from the bus and you can’t even approach it on foot. Marble and with a huge Golden dome, here’s where the beloved president lives. Police everywhere around.
-Ertugrul Grazi Mosque: A bit far from the centre, to get here on foot you will see the real Ashgabat, where people live out of the unreal marble world. You’ll pass by Soviet neighbouthoods with concrete blocks of apartments full of parabol antennas. The mosque wants to be a copy of the blue mosque in Istanbul but it’s really disappointing, a marble huge mosque with nothing special and you can’t get inside it.
-Lenin Square: An empty square with a tiny statue of Lenin. Nothing special.
-Russian Market: The most normal place in Ashgabat. A normal market with even people in it and where you can buy food and clothes and even some traditional souvenirs.
-Main Railway Station: Probably the nicest building in Ashgabat. Even if it is marble made, it is quite nice.
-Bus number 20: You can hop on this bus and go till the end of the line. It goes to the outskirts of Ashgabat through wide empty avenues full of white streetlamps, you can see the white Ashgabat from far, the Ashgabat flagpole and a couple of huge and impressive marble buildings on the way.
-Altyn Asir Bazaar: Formerly known as Tolkuchka Bazaar, some 8 km north of the city, reachable by bus. If you happen to be in Ashgabat on a Saturday or Sunday, find some past-time but don’t go to this bazaar. According to the Lonely Planet it used to be one of the liveliest and nicest bazaars in Central Asia. This probably was until they decided to demolish and build a new one in 2013. Now it is just a big concrete place with no soul, no charm, nothing at all. The shops are set in big covered industrial buildings numbered like A1, A2, A3 and so on. Besides, in Winter it was freezong inside, as the cover soesn’t let the sun in and there’s no heating inside. You can find food, clothes and a few souvenirs, but nothing you can’t find in the centre, so totally avoid this bazaar, probably the worst I’ve ever seen.
-Walking around the centre: By wandering around the main railway station you’ll see parks, squares and oficial buildings all looking the same: White, big, empty and with police everywhere.
Accomodation
The accomodation in Turkmenistan is really a problem. Although eating, transportation and preety much everything is cheap, accomodation is very expensive and very bad. To make things worse, there are not many hotels and most of them are full or they don’t want you in there.
We stayed at Dayhan hotel, an old soviet-style hotel with rude staff for 50 USD per night. And this was the cheapest option in Ashgabat!
Totally not reccomendable, but if you are on a low Budget you don’t have many options, unless you decide to sleep in the train, which is actually an option: taking the overnight train from Ashgabat to Turkmenabat, then back to Ashgabat and so on, as this 13-hour train is less than 4 USD!
We stayed at Dayhan hotel, an old soviet-style hotel with rude staff for 50 USD per night. And this was the cheapest option in Ashgabat!
Totally not reccomendable, but if you are on a low Budget you don’t have many options, unless you decide to sleep in the train, which is actually an option: taking the overnight train from Ashgabat to Turkmenabat, then back to Ashgabat and so on, as this 13-hour train is less than 4 USD!
Food & Drink
Coming from Iran, you really appreciate Turkmen food. It’s kind of Russian food and even restaurants are like in Russia, most of them with different homemade dishes to choose from. Especially reccomended is the one at the railway station, cheap and good.
As to drinks, again coming from Iran it feels like Paradise being able to have a beer again. If you want a modern European-like place, go to the British Pub, next to the Russian Market, but expect to pay 10 manats for a beer. A few meters away, you have a Pivobar, with beers at 3 manats and local people there.
As to drinks, again coming from Iran it feels like Paradise being able to have a beer again. If you want a modern European-like place, go to the British Pub, next to the Russian Market, but expect to pay 10 manats for a beer. A few meters away, you have a Pivobar, with beers at 3 manats and local people there.
Transportation
To get to Ashgabat from the Iranian border we took a taxi for 10 USD. To move around the city you can use the White buses for 1 manat each trip. To get out from Ashgabat we went to Turkmenabat by train, and that was the cheapest train ride ever: 12 manat for a 13-hour night train in a bed, thai s some 4 USD!!
Safety
Ashgabat is literally full of policemen everywhere. Be careful where you walk and especially where you take pictures. It is forbidden to take pictures almost everywhere, so ask first or make sure there’s nobody around. Note that smoking is also forbidden on the street and that there’s a curfew at 23:00, so you must be at your hotel before that time or you can be arrested. Yes, this is Ashgabat.
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