Well after lunch we continue the cultural part of our tour and head for the Carpet museum which is noted for its huge Tekke carpets.
One Tekke carpet measures 193m² and weighs a metric tonne and was made by some 40 people in 1941 to make a curtain for the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
Another, made in 2001, is even larger, measuring 301m² and 14 by 21.2 metres and was made to commemorate 10 years of Turkmen independence from the Soviet Union.
I tell you this only because there are no photos you are not allowed not exactly sure why and you don’t bother to ask because there things are what they are, I’m not actually sure the staff want us to be there either given their lack of interest. After this we are off on a whistle stop tour of the town which all seems very new, I may have mentioned this but it’s a bit like Vegas everything looks new and shiny.
There are lots of statues and monuments all of which are a little overstated but none the less interesting.
