Taraz - Meeting with the guide at 9:30 am.
o You can get to Taraz either from Nur-Sultan, there are daily morning flights from Nur-Sultan to Taraz by Scat Airline and Fly Arystan with flight tickets starting from 30USD or from Almaty. From Almaty you can get to Taraz either by flight or by overnight train Talgo train with train tickets starting from 20USD.
Our tour will start from Akyrtas Palace Complex located 40 km from Taraz. Akyrtas Palace is one of the site that was included in the list of the UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE under the name Silk roads: the routes network of Chang’an – Tian-Shan corridor.
Akyrtas dated back to (6th-9th) c. are ruins of ancient huge stone settlement, scientists say that it used be a Palace complex of Turks Khanate others argue that it is a Palace complex built by Arab architect right after the Great Talas Battle cause its design is similar to complexes of Arab Khalifate. There were even those that claimed that Akyrtas was Buddhist temple or Nestorian church.
Akyrtas stands on a territory of 10 ha (much bigger than Roman Coliseum), there you will see the bases of equally massive columns, jumbles of stones from around 100 rooms around a central open space, and evidence of an ingenious water supply system built in 8th century.
Upon visiting Akyrtas Palace we will return to Taraz and move for visit of “Ancient Taraz” Open space museum.Earlier on the site of “Ancient Taraz” was the Central Bazaar, but after an unusual occasion, archaeologists discovered that under the bazaar lie ruins of ancient city. Upon this discovery, during the excavation works were found about 40 thousand artifacts of the 6th-8th c. period.Currently this Open Space Museum includes “Mynbulak” platform”, “Melody of Taraz”, and observation tower.
Upon visiting Taraz Open Space musem we will move forvisit of Central Historical museum of Taraz that boasts with one of the largest collections of unique stone sculptures also known as “Balbals” dated back to 2-4th century BC. Balbals are memorial statues of ancestors that were believed to protect people and were put on top of Kurgans (graves). Balbals were found on the territory of Central Asia as well as Mongolia and Russian Siberia.
Lunch in local cafe, during the lunch you can try authentic Kazakh cuisine at which Taraz specializes.
Other places of visit are 1)Mausoleum of Karakhan which was built in the 11th century on the grave of one of the first khans of the Karakhani dynasty, who controlled enormous territories and founded Karakhan Khanate. There are many legends about the person Karakhan. Most of them connect the hero Karakhan with a young beautiful girl named Aisha, whose mausoleum although located on outskirts of Taraz faces mausoleum of Karakhan.
Next is 2) mausoleum of Dauitbek- who in 13th century was a warlord of Mongol army and the governor of Taraz city. The inscription on the tombstone near the mausoleum says that Dauitbek was a defender of the Koran and of the faithful.
The most unexpected part of the tour is dated back to 7th century Nestorian temple that was later turned into the mosque. The mosque itself was discovered only in 2006 by the Kazakh institute of Archeology and is quite unique in that it determines the exact time of the emergence of Islamic culture in the area of Central Asia and also serve as a confirmation that in 7th century there was Christianity on the route of the Great Silk Road.
If time is left we will also visit ancient bathes of Kali-Yunus which are made of red bricks and quite characteristic for Central Asian architecture.

• Lunch
• Dinner
• Breakfast

• Accommodation