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Paul Simon had a highly successful song in the mid-1970s called 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover. The repeating chorus has the line, “Make a new plan, Stan,” one of several ways the song suggests to “get yourself free.” But this post isn’t about music; it’s about “Stan.” Well, “Stans.”

Part of the reason for the gap since my last post is that I was traveling. Not just a road trip like I did in early April (or even the Iberian and Moroccan jaunt from late April). This one took me to Turkey and four of the “Stans,” specifically Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. [I did not go to Turkmenistan, which is barely open to foreigners at this point, although I did talk with someone who had been there to see the Gates of Hell.]

The trip was organized by a friend of mine with whom I’ve traveled three times before (Balkans; Australia/New Zealand; Tanzania). A travel planner by profession, she puts together a trip a year specifically for friends. This trip had eleven of us, with me and one other being the only male travelers.

It’s a long way to Uzbekistan, so on the way there I had a 15-hour layover in Istanbul, Turkey. One of the perks of flying Turkish Airlines is that for certain flights you can take advantage of one of eight complimentary tours of the city. I had never been to Istanbul before so joined about 40 others being bused downtown for a six-hour walking tour. I saw the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia mosques close up, including inside the latter. They even fed us dinner at a local restaurant before bringing us back to the airport, all for free.

The next day I joined my friend’s group in Tashkent, the capital city of Uzbekistan. The “kent” part means city; the “stan” part means either home or land of (or homeland of), or as one of the guides put it, republic. So, Uzbekistan is land of the Uzbeks, Kazakhstan is land of the Kazakhs, and so on for each major ethnic group populated the regions. [Note that this works also for Afghanistan (home of the Afghans), but is a bit different for Pakistan (home of the pure).]

The greatest amount of time was in Uzbekistan. Besides Tashkent, we also went to Samarkand and Bukhara, two of the more ancient cities in the region. We did a one-day visit into neighboring Tajikistan, which after a bit of drama at the border, gave a taste of ancient Penjikent. Two high-speed trains and two short flights later we were in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Another short flight got us to Almaty, Kazakhstan.

I’ll have more posts and photos on my author website, but if I had to sum it all up, I would simply say: Mosques, Madrassahs, and Mausoleums. Some of the mosques allowed visitors while others didn’t (and always required head coverings for women). All of the madrassahs, aka, schools, were ancient and no longer used to teach students, although they have mostly been turned into museums or bazaars. Mausoleums ranged from tiny to huge depending on the importance (and wealth) of the people having them built. All of these were in various stages of renovation given they were all many centuries old and had more or less survived various waves of foreign invasions. Some of the buildings were incredibly beautiful, with a lot of bright blue tiles. Others were left partially unrenovated to show the age. All were fascinating, although it was a bit like touring the old gothic cathedrals of Europe – after a while they all started to look the same.

One aspect that fascinated me was how much science and mathematics (and astronomy) originated in the Muslim world, something we too often forget. I’ll have more on that on my author website.

It wasn’t all cities and mosques, however, especially once we got to Bishkek and Almaty. There was hiking in national parks, taking cable cars up snow-capped mountains, and a fascinating display of falconry and other large raptors.

My flight back also passed through Istanbul. By the time I got there was rethinking the even longer layover originally scheduled, and rather than taking another tour or their complimentary hotel room and waiting until the next morning, I squeezed myself onto the only other flight home that day and came back about 20 hours earlier. It took me over a week to get the photos off my phone and camera, and I haven’t even begun to organize them for viewing as I catch up on everything I backlogged for two weeks. But definitely check my website for some photos and details!

So, as good as it is to be back home, I can’t help but start to plan the next adventures. Or maybe to plan 50 ways to new adventures.

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius is available for purchase at all bookseller outlets. Limited signed copies are available here. The book is also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. If you read the book, please leave a review and/or rating.

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David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.