May 13-16. Almaty

Against a stunning backdrop of the snow-capped Tianshan Mountains, sparkling fountains play everywhere in Almaty; they even have festival days dedicated to fountains! Did you know ..... Almaty means ‘father of apples’; the modern Apple has its genetic origins here. So there you go. This was an important trading post on the old Silk Road (which incidentally was not named the Silk Road until the 1800s). It was always simply a network of trade routes with Silk as just one of the commodities. Interestingly the current day markets sit on the same site as the markets of old. ‘The Road’? A piece of the original cobblestone paving was discovered when building a new walking road after the end of the Soviet period and has been embedded into the new walkway as a feature.

‘Golden Man’ was discovered in a burial mound. He was dressed in gold leaf and carried gold weapons and hat. He is a National treasure.

This is part of a huge national monument and in this section ‘Sunhead Man’, a petroglyph in the mountains is depicted. Also the Silk Road and the Russian space installation in Kazakhstan is shown. The whole immense mural is made from stone found in Almaty including marble and granite.

This section depicts the Aral and Caspian Seas both of which border Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

The city, which was part of Soviet Russia during the C20th, is a proud city of monuments to its ancient past as well as its more recent achievements including its war ‘contributions’ to support Russia in WWII - about a million Kazak people died. They boast scholars, poets and great strategists. Most of the city people still speak Russian but the majority of information and signage is in both Russian and Kazak although there is a program to gradually change all signage to Kazak.

During Soviet time most of the city’s mosaics were destroyed or removed. The city is in the process of restoring them. This is on Kok Tobe (Green Mountain).

We walked and walked and then walked some more through parks and gardens, through the museum, and passed many monuments. All I can say is thank goodness for our new walking sticks (bought first up, after exchanging some dough) and park benches. We then took a cable car to the top of Kok Tobe (Green Mountain) overlooking the city. Guess what ?? After that we collapsed!!

The view of Almaty from Kok Tobe.