We left Ashgabat in the (very) early morning to catch a flight to Dashogus in the North of Turkmenistan. Here a bus was waiting for us for a three hours journey to the ruins and necropolis of Konye-Urgench.

This used to be the thriving metropolis (and capital at stages) of the Khorezm empire back in the 12th and early 13th century until the city was hit by Chinggis Khan in 1221. While the town was rebuilt, however in the late 14th century the nearby Amu-Darya river changed course, leaving the city dry; on top another invader – this time Timur – destroyed the city once more in 1388. Refer to this wikipedia article for more details on the history, as well as details on the sights.

We started our tour of this UNESCO heritage site with a visit of the Turabeg Khanym Complex (I stick with ‘complex’ here … it is sometimes referred to it as mosque, sometimes as mausoleum, sometimes as complex – which I consider the most neutral); from here walked past graves and mausoleums (the whole area is a huge necropolis) to the Gutlug Timur Minaret (at 59 meters the highest on the trip) and finished our visit with stops at the Sultan Tekesh and the Il-Arslan Mausoleums (the latter being the oldest standing monument in Konye-Urgench).