arrival at the caravanserai

I'm packing again for another journey. This time it is to be a sort of safari but very unlike today's safaris where you are driven in jeeps from place to place. This one is to be a safari in a different time and a different place. The common element will be the animals as we will be travelling by camel. This safari will be taking place in a very different world and I must pack accordingly.

This time I will take with me long flowing clothes to protect me from the heat of the sun and the cold of the night. I will probably also need a cloak which can double as something a bit more comfortable to sleep on than the ground. I will need a notebook and some sort of writing implement which I have put into a small saddle bag. I also have a water skin. I have decided to take a musical instrument with me, it's small and similar to a lute and may help pass the time. Most important though will be my eyes and my senses for this will be a journey for, of and to the senses......

It was a hot day in late Haziran (June) and the caravan of travellers wound, snake like in the dust, over a long distance with stragglers far behind the main body of the party.

It had been another long day. Each day the distance between the caravanserais seemed to increase although they were, in fact, situtated at fairly regular intervals along the route.

The scenery had almost become monotonous, fields of blue flax as far as the eye could see, punctuated by the brilliant red of the field poppies. The trees were scarce, a few stunted olive trees or cork oaks which gave little shade. Women toiled in the fields in their voluminous multi-coloured trousers and long sleeved blouses that left little skin exposed to the glare of the sun. Goatherds with their flocks hung around the well heads waiting for water to be drawn. Such activity had changed little over hundreds of years.

The landscape lay flat ahead of him but he could now just make out the towering shape of the next caravanserai. It reminded him of a huge ship sailing across the plains.. He urged his beasts forward and, as if they sensed that food and water were near, with a jingling of harness they picked up speed and the wagons rolled forwards with a satisfying crunch over the stony track.

They could soon see other travellers ahead of them making their way towards shelter.
At length they reached the intricately carved archway over the double doors that would reveal their sanctuary for the night, doors that were high and wide enough to allow passage to the bulkiest of wagons and the most heavily laden camel..
Selim gave his name and the number of people travelling with him together with other means of identification from his merchant's guild, to the master of the caravanserai and they were shown to their quarters.

Selim had agreed to take me as far as this first caravanserai and now here I was – in a place I had often visited in my dreams for I had long wanted to travel the silk road.



The entrance gate towers high above me. Intricate patterns have been carved into the stone, patterns unlike any I have ever seen before. Islamic art forbids the depiction of the human face or animals as they would be viewed as idols so the patterns are invariable calligraphic, geometric, or based on plants. I walk through the archway and am temporarily blinded by the light as I emerge from the relative darkness of the entrance portal.

The caravanserai is a huge, rectangular construction with high walls all around it, built for protection as much against the elements as against potentially dangerous raiders. Staircases have been built at intervals along the walls so that a watch can be kept from the top of the walls. There is room inside this particular caravanserai for several hundred people. All around the edges of the courtyard rooms have been constructed which serve as the separate bathing areas for men and women, the kitchens and the stables for the animals. Selim’s people attend to their animals first and then settle down to look after each other. His group numbers several families and they have come from the east bringing loads of spices and sea sponges as well as richly woven carpets and pottery which will fetch good prices in the west.Before me is a scene of chaos. The noise is deafening, the stench is gut-wrenching and there are people and animals everywhere. How am I supposed to find the rest of my group?

In the far corner of the courtyard there is a well with a rose bush growing close to it. There is a woman sitting on the edge of the well, deep in contemplation. She, too, looks out of place here. I will go and converse with her ......