The road between Mary and Ashgabat is possibly the most boring stretch that I have ever travelled on. My fellow travellers made a joke out of it - "Is this on your List too? It should be." It took us over 7 hours to reach the Turkmen capital. Our minibus could only reach an average speed of 50km per hour because of the many holes and bumps in the road.

An hour before we arrived in Ashgabat we had a final stop to stretch our legs. It was at a place called Abiwerd just near the road. I took some obligatory photos, just in case this tiny archeological site would ever show up on a WH or Tentative List.

My surprise couldn't have been bigger when I came home and discovered that Turkmenistan had just entered a new Tentative Site called "Silk Roads Sites in Turkmenistan". And what is part of it? Abiverd!

Abiverd or Abiwerd is an ancient fortified settlement. The remains near the road are merely silhouettes of ancient structures, although a local boy came to us to point out a fortress a bit further inland.