The Silk Roads - A route and planning guide.

Las rutas de la Seda.
Autor: Paul Wilson.
Idiomas: INGLÉS.
ISBN 978-1-905864-32-4.
3ª edición.
446 páginas.
60 mapas.
24 fotos a color.
4 fotos BLANCO y NEGRO.
120 x 180 mm.
LA MAYOR RUTA DE TODOS LOS TIEMPOS.

THE GREATEST ROUTE OF ALL TIME

Fully updated and expanded third edition of this best-selling guide. Paul Wilson has travelled the Silk Road four times and made this the authoritative guidebook to the route.
The Silk Road was never a single thread across Asia but an intricate web of shorter routes - Silk Roads - which together linked the Pacific Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. This guidebook covers these routes in their entirety and with it you can retrace the Golden Road to Samarkand, follow in the footsteps of Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan and Marco Polo, and travel the length of the Great Wall of China. With detailed information on over 10,000km (6000 miles) of overland routes both by road and rail, this guide includes:

51 city guides with maps – Where to stay, where to eat and what to see in 51 stopovers along the way

Practical information – For travellers in Syria, Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and China

Planning your trip – Information for all budgets whether you're an independent traveller or joining a group, and in the new edition multiple options for countries to pass through or avoid

Also includes lesser-known routes – Southern Taklamakan, Kashgar-Rawalpindi (Karakorum Highway) Marco Polo's route to Xanadu, the Black Sea route

Extensive history of the Silk Roads – much expanded in the third edition

Useful words and phrases – Arabic, Russian and Chinese

Includes 60 maps

INTRODUCTION

PART 1: PLANNING YOUR TRIP

Routes, costs and making a booking
Route options 8 – Costs 11 – When to go 12 – Making a booking 13
Visas 15

Before you leave
Who to go with 20 – What to take 20 – Vaccinations and health safe- guards 25 – Travel insurance 27 – Background reading 27 – Internet resources 35 – Other useful points of contact 36

PART 2: THE SILK ROAD

History
The route 37 – Alexander the Great 45 – Zhang Qian 47 – The Parthian Shot 49 – The Royal Purple 51 – No more secrets 53 – A New Golden Age 54 – The Mongols 56 – Pax Mongolica 61 – The end 62

PART 3: THE MIDDLE EAST

Facts about the region
Geographical background 64 – History 65 – The people and their religion 80

Practical information for the visitor
The route 83 – Documents 85 – Climate 86 – Safety 86 – Accommodation 86 Transport 88 – Travel agencies and tourist information 90 Electricity 90 – Time 90 – Money 90 – Communications 92 National holidays 93 – Customs and attitudes 93 – Food 94 – Drink 96

Istanbul 97 – Cappadocia (Göreme) 112 – Antakya (Hatay) 117 Aleppo 121 – Hama 126 – Krak des Chevaliers 129 – Palmyra 132 Damascus 136 – Malatya and Kahta 145 – Erzurum 147 Do?ubeyazit 153 – Tabriz 155 – Ghazvin (Qazvin) 157 – Tehran 160 Esfahan 169 – Shiraz 176 – Persepolis 180 – Mashad 183

PART 4: CENTRAL ASIA

Facts about the region
Geographical background 187 – History 188 (Turkmenistan 197,
Uzbekistan 199, Kyrgyzstan 201) – The people 202
Practical information for the visitor
The route 205 – Documents and formalities 205 – Climate 207 – Safety 209 Accommodation 211 – Travel agencies and tourist information 212 Transport 212 – Electricity 214 – Time 214 – Money 214 Communications 215 – National holidays 216 – Customs and attitudes 217 Food 217 – Drink 218

Mary & Merv 219 – Ashgabat 224 – Konye-Urgench 229 – Nukus 233 Khiva 235 – Bukhara 241 – Samarkand 252 – Tashkent 261 – The Ferghana Valley 269 – Osh 271 – Bishkek 274 – Issyk Kul (Lake Issyk) 278 – Song Kul (Lake Song) 281

PART 5: PAKISTAN AND THE KARAKORUM HIGHWAY

Facts about the region
Geographical background 284 – History 284 – The people 294 The economy 295 – Religion 295

Practical information for the visitor
The route 296 – Documents 299 – Climate 299 – Accommodation 300 Travel agencies and tourist information 300 – Transport 301 Electricity 302 – Time 302 – Money 302 – Communications 302 National holidays 303 – Customs and attitudes 303 – Food 304 – Drink 305
Sost 306 – Passu 307 (Hiking around Passu 308) – The Hunza and Nagar valleys 311 (Karimabad 312) – Gilgit 315 – Rawalpindi and Islamabad 319

PART 6: CHINA

Facts about the country
Geographical background 324 – History 324 – The people 336
Religion 338

Practical information for the visitor
The route 339 – Documents 341 – Climate 341 – Accommodation 342 Travel agencies and tourist information 344 – Transport 344 Electricity 348 – Time 349 – Money 349 – Communications 349 National holidays 350 – Customs and attitudes 350 – Food 352 – Drink 354
Xinjiang 355 – Kashgar 359 – Kuqa (Kuche) 364 – Turfan (Tulufan) 367 Southern Taklamakan route 376 – Khotan (Hetian) 377 – Charklik (Ruoqiang) 380 – Dunhuang 382 – Jiayuguan 389 – Lanzhou 394 Xi’an 401 – Luoyang 411 – Pingyao 412 – Datong 416 – Beijing 420

APPENDIX Useful words and phrases (Arabic 441, Russian 442, Chinese 442)
INDEX 445