Turkmen wonder tour: Tour 8

Turkmen wonder tour: Tour 8
Destination: Turkmenistan
Duration: 7 days
Places to visit: Ashgabat – Merv – Mary – Talkhatan Baba – Yekedeshik Caves – Margiana –Margush – Ashgabat 

Day 1: Ashgabat
The loсal guide will meet you at the Ashgabat International Airport. He will transfer you to a hotel. Then we will visit Horse-farm for discovering the pride of the Turkmen people – Akhal-Teke horses. Guests will have traditional tea, see Akhal Teke horse show program and enjoy racks of horses. In the end of day, we will return to Ashgabat. City tour. Night is in a hotel.   

Day 2: Ashgabat
Visit an “Old Nisa”. It is The Sanctuary of Parhian Kings included in the UNESCO. The next destination is “Gypjak” Mosque and Mausoleum of the late President of Turkmenistan, the State Museum of History where you can see artifacts of Nisa, Merv and Gonurdepe, assortment of vintage Turkmen carpets, infrequent examples of national clothing, jewelries, and antique weapons. The 9 halls exhibit collectibles of Athens, Eros, silver gilded griffin, horn-shaped ivory vessels-rhytons of the Parthian era, gold jewelries, medallions-stamps from Margiana and Buddhist relics. Find out about 270,000,000, dinosaurs’ footprints, an 820-kg meteorite fallen in Kunya Urgench in 1998 and so on. Overnight is in a hotel.

Day 3: Ashgabat – Merv – Mary
Today we will travel to the East of Turkmenistan, to Mary region. Guests will see an Old Merv (UNESCO). It was placed at the road crossing of the Great Silk Road and become one of the biggest cities of the ancient world. Afterwards is a guided city tour. We will visit Gyz Gala, Erk Gala, Soltan Gala, Soltan Sanjar Mausoleum, Ibn Zeid Mausoleum. We will back to Mary. Night is in a hotel. 

Day 4: Mary – Talkhatan Baba – Yekedeshik Caves – Mary
The morning will start by travelling to Talkahatan Baba Mosque found in 1095. It is a mosque decorated brickwork. Then we will drive to Yekedeshik Caves as well as Tagtabazar that is the Ekedeshik cave settlement in the sandstone hills north of the town. It means “single entrance”. The place is captivating, with more than 40 rooms, on two levels. There are several slighter cave developments nearby, counting Bashdeshik, so called “Five Entrances”. Then we will return to Mary city. Overnight is in a hotel.

Day 5: Mary – Margiana – Margush – Mary
Today we will explore Margush. It is 5th center of civilization. An extraordinary Bronze Age civilization lived here, identified variously as Margush. It means “lowland” or by the Greek name of Margiana. It has been progressively discovered since the early 1970s by Professor Viktor Sarianidi, who crowns the Margiana Archaeological Expedition. The Bronze Age sites are to be unearthed at or beyond the northern edge of the present-day oasis. Climatic change and enlightened desertification produced the desertion of the area, with the result that the wrecks of the Bronze Age settlements are well preserved beneath the desert soils. The Margiana sites had close relations with those at Bactria, in present-day northern Afghanistan. Sarianidi contends that the Bactria Margiana complex was a main center of ancient civilization, and has hazarded that Margiana may even have been a hometown of Zoroastrianism. Rest is in a hotel. 

Day 6: Mary – Ashgabat
The last day of a tour will start by travelling to Ashgabat. On the way we will visit Annau, the carcasses of the 15th century Seyit Jamal ad Din Mosque, Abiward or Abi ward, was a primeval Sassanid city in modern-day Turkmenistan. Archaeological confirmations at the ancient city of Abiward have been completed in the last century to about 8 km west of the Kahka station in an area of 12,000 m2. The central tall is 60 feet high and 700 feet round. In the afternoon we will visit Russian Bazaar and night city tour. Overnight is in a hotel.

Day 7: Flight
Transfer to the Ashgabat International Airport.

Transport:
02 pax – Sedan
04-08 pax – Minibus
10 pax – Bus

Price per person:
02 pax – 875 $
04 pax – 755 $
06 pax – 615 $
08 pax – 545 $
10 pax – 500 $
Single – 130 $

Early check-in – 35 $
Single early check-in – 50 $ 

Half board – 65 $
Full board – 125 $

Service includes:
- Transport
- Accommodation:
       Ashgabat – “Menzil” Hotel 3*
       Mary – “Merv” Hotel 3*
- Visa support
- English speaking guide
- Entrances to all museums
- Mineral water during the tour                                           

Service does not include:
- Visa
- Full board
- Single rooms           
- Early check-in
- Travel insurance
- Migration tax (12$)
- Fee for using cameras on monuments

Note: Each Traveler should have 2 photos (5×6) to be presented at the points of entry.