Out on the steppe east of Taraz, in southern Kazakhstan, the remains of Akyrtas are a puzzle that no one has fully solved. Rows of massive blocks of red sandstone lie in a vast rectangle, the foundations of a palace or fortified complex that seems to have been planned on an enormous scale and never finished. Its date is usually placed around the eighth or ninth century, but who built it, an Arab governor, a Turkic ruler of the Karluks, or someone else entirely, remains open. The stones are carefully cut, the layout is formal, with a central courtyard and rooms around it, and the whole thing sits in an empty landscape that only deepens the mystery. It is part of the transnational World Heritage site of the Silk Roads.
This was the Talas valley, one of the great corridors of the Silk Road between China and the West. Not far away, in 751, Arab and Chinese armies met in the Battle of Talas, a clash that marked the limit of Tang Chinese power in Central Asia. Taraz, under its old name of Talas, was a major trading city for centuries, and the mausoleums of Aisha Bibi and Babaji Khatun near the city are among the most beautiful early Islamic buildings in Central Asia, decorated with terracotta tiles.
The landscape is wide and open. To the south the Kyrgyz Ala-Too range rises like a wall, snow-capped for much of the year, and the plain in front is covered in grass and wildflowers in spring, burnt gold by late summer. The wind blows across the steppe almost constantly, and the light is clear and hard. Herds of horses and sheep graze freely, and you may see eagles circling overhead.
The main road from Taraz to Almaty passes not far from the site, a long, straight highway in variable condition, with heavy trucks and some brave overtaking. The last stretch to Akyrtas is a minor road or track that can be rough and dusty. There are no facilities at the site. Taraz, a city of several hundred thousand people, has fuel, hotels and markets, and Sarykemer is the nearest town with basic services. Try the local food: beshbarmak, boiled meat with flat noodles, and kumys, fermented mare's milk, if you dare.