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I imagine how things were back then: long and slow journeys each day from sunrise to sunset walking beside beasts of burden loaded with food, drinks and other supplies. One step after another with laughter and animated chatter, then quiet hours with only the wind whispering to the wide plains, or some bird squawking in flight high above. One step after another now hampered by the changing landscape, a rocky stretch along the bed of a dry stream; then the wind picking up speed and lifting dust, challenging the will of all on the road to keep on going. And at some point, past the hour of dusk and after a long awaited pause, a light would appear in the distance. “There!”, someone would say and a wave of hope would stir in everyone’s hearts. They made it for one more day.

Caravanserais were located at moderate distances from one other along the ancient trade routes and were open to merchants seeking shelter at the end of a hard day of travel. They offered not only food and a place of rest but also a space for social and cultural exchange.

An artist’s recreation of life in a caravanserai*

Around this time last year I was preparing for a trip around the world. The idea of taking an extended break to go traveling gradually took shape into a plan and by the end of April I was ready to see it happen. There were many factors contributing to this idea: TV documentaries on travel, casual conversations about the subject, perhaps a sense that my life had reached a plateau (a sense otherwise known as boredom). But in any case the curiosity for setting off to explore places of the world had been in my head for many years. I was fascinated as a kid by the extraordinary adventures of brave characters in Greek mythology like those of Ulysses and Perseus, or the long journeys of Captain Nemo aboard his Nautilus; and later on, by the travels of Marco Polo in his quest to the far east to meet the Great Kublai Khan. To a large extent, it is his chronicle and the history of the Silk Road that got me going. And now I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to see for myself some of these places, like the caravanserais, and live the experience of being on a long journey away from home, like the merchants of old in their search for silk, spices and other rarities.

And it is here where I’m sharing stories, impressions and pictures of the things I saw.
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Note:
* Photo found on http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/aryans/trade.htm