The route

Xian to Istanbul,
stage by stage

The caravan covered roughly 25 to 30 kilometres a day. Stages ended where a caravan could water, feed and re-provision — the same oases, passes and river crossings the old trade used.

Painted map of the expedition of the Silk Road by camel caravan from Xian to Istanbul, marking the route through Lanchou, Anxi, Hami, Turphan, Kucha, Aksu, Kashgar, Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Marv, Ashkhabad, Tehran, Tabriz, Ankara and Istanbul
The expedition map, painted by Doğan Ür for the project.

The line of march

Six months of the journey lay in China alone. The mountain frontiers — Torugart at 4,000 metres, the Alato Pass in the Tianshan — were the hardest ground; the long steppe and desert legs were the slowest.

  1. Xian · Lanchou · Anxi · DunhuangChina, from 4 June 1996
  2. Hami · Turphan · Kucha · Aksu · KashgarTakla Makan oases
  3. Torugart Pass · Naryn · ChaekKyrgyzstan, Tianshan mountains
  4. Tashkent · Samarkand · Bukhara · KhivaUzbekistan
  5. Merv · AshkhabadTurkmenistan
  6. Tehran · TabrizIran
  7. Ankara · Bursa · Çan · IstanbulTurkey, to Topkapı Palace

Marks along the way

No.PlaceCountryWhat happened there
01XianChinaDeparture from the western gate, 4 June 1996; letters exchanged between the two presidents.
02Xiangyang, XingpingChinaFirst nights on the road, reached at midnight; blistered feet and loads thrown by unhappy camels.
03LanchouChinaThe camel Sami sold to a farmer with an infected foot; the first camel, Karagöz, died.
04XiaheChinaThe Labrang Monastery, visited off the line of march.
05Gansu CorridorChinaThe Hexi Pass, and the Buddhist Turks of the mountains, the Yugur, filmed and photographed.
06DunhuangChinaThe Magao Caves and their wall paintings — the greatest art of the road.
07TurphanChinaA desert oasis below sea level; met there by the photographer Ian Berry.
08KashgarChinaSand storms and steppe; the last Chinese city, toured once more before the border.
09Torugart PassKyrgyzstan4,000 metres; the caravan later lost in the Tianshan before the Alato Pass.
10SamarkandUzbekistanFlecker’s “Queen of Earth”; the camels rested while the party went on to Khiva.
11AshkhabadTurkmenistanThe desert market filmed; customs trouble at the frontier behind them.
12Tehran, TabrizIranDemavend, Mehnaz and Shirine bought to replace lost camels.
13Çankaya, AnkaraTurkeyReceived by President Demirel; the letters and gifts of six countries presented.
14BursaTurkeyA parade at the International Bursa Culture Festival; the silk looms photographed.
15Çan, ÇanakkaleTurkeyOne hundred photographs exhibited, after a night storm flattened the tent.
16Topkapı Palace, IstanbulTurkeyThe final ceremony, two months later, in the autumn.
İpek Yolu’nda Son Kervan — The Silk Road by camel caravan, Xian to Istanbul. Main Sponsor Kale Group (Çanakkaleseramik, Kalebodur). Enquiries.