Turkmenbashi City

Most cities acquire their significance gradually - centuries of trade, a cathedral, a university, a slow accumulation of reasons to exist. Turkmenbashi City took a more direct route: it sits at the only place where Turkmenistan touches the Caspian Sea, which means everything that crosses that water to or from the country passes through here. That geographic monopoly has defined the city ever since Russian engineers chose this bay as a terminus for the Trans-Caspian Railway in the 19th century.

Originally called Krasnovodsk - a Russian name derived from "krasny" (red) and "voda" (water), giving the standard translation "Red Water", though older Russian usage of "krasny" also carried the meaning "beautiful" - the city was renamed Turkmenbashi after independence. The name Turkmenbashi means "Head of the Turkmen" or "Leader of the Turkmen", and was the title of Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenistan's first president after independence from the Soviet Union.

The city itself spreads along a natural bay on the eastern Caspian shore, backed by the bare ridges of the Balkan Mountains. The harbour is the central fact around which everything else organizes itself. Cargo ships, ferries, fishing vessels - the waterfront moves at the irregular pace of a working port rather than a resort. The famous Caspian ferry crossing to Baku, Azerbaijan, departs from here, a voyage that can take anywhere from twelve hours to considerably longer depending on scheduling, winds, and the ferry's own mysterious agenda. Seasoned travelers speak of the crossing with a mixture of affection and resignation that marks all truly memorable journeys.

Beyond the port, the older Russian-era neighborhoods give the city an architectural texture absent in Ashgabat. In Turkmenbashi, earlier layers remain visible. The Caspian itself is always near - a grey-green inland sea that is, geologically speaking, the world's largest lake by surface area, its surface sitting below global sea level.

Few visitors linger in Turkmenbashi by choice when they first arrive. By the time they leave, most find they have more to say about it than they expected.