Satellite
  • Day 4

    Ashgabat

    July 29, 2019 in Turkmenistan ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    Unusual city that is the capital of Turkmenistan. Basically, everything is white, even cars in the city are required to be white. There is no main square where people might go to congregate, just a place for military parades. The buildings are all marble. Virtually all monuments have a statue of the first president. We saw very few people and almost no cars on the road. The first word that came to my mind to describe this place is sterile.
    The first pic is the largest mosque in central Asia, named for the first president. All the wall engravings are in Turkish, not Arabic, and are from the former President's book, not the Koran, both extremely unusual in Islam. Next is the memorial to WW2. Then the world's largest indoor Ferris wheel (really). The next three are memorials:. To the Constitution, to neutrality and to Independence. All around the tower in the last one are statues of people famous in Turkmen history.
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