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Joanna Lumley's Silk Road Adventure Season 1 Episodes
Season 1 Episode Guide
4 Episodes 2018 - 2018
Episode 1
Venice, Albania and Turkey
Lumley starts a modern journey along (a version of) the Ancient Silk Road from its European destination, the grand dogal port of Venice, where silk and many oriental goods arrived, paid with silver and various European produce. It's also the (disputed) home of the Polo family, whose legendary Marco's (even more disputed) biographical journey kick-started many stories, legends and sometimes surviving presumptions on the East, the the Mongol empire of Kublai Khan which they visited. Next over the Balkans, focusing on surviving tracts of the Roman army road Via Egnatia in Albania, to the immensely rich metropolis Constantinople, now Istanbul, still a key pin in intercontinental trade. Finally trough some of the routes crossing Asia Minor (now Anatolia), visiting the unique cave patrimony of Cappadocia and more authentic pastoral mountain regions, where the herdsmen culture still survives all the way to Georgia.
Episode 2
Georgia and Azerbaijan
The journey follows a northern version of the Silk Road, from Black Sea to Caspian, trough Transcaucasia. First Lumley is impressed by mostly Christian Georgia, a country which suffered greatly from (civil) war by Russian doing after the dismembering of the Soviet union, but finds in the capital Tiblisi who vibrantly it preserved its identity trough culture, such as sword dancing, although many historic buildings were destroyed. In the countryside we taste its great diversity of isolated regions, such as Svanetia, which even boasts its unique blend of Orthodox and pagan religion, and the wine, with 800 years of unique tradition of vinification in buried pottery, countless grape varieties and innovation. Next Sunni ex-Soviet Azerbaijan, which has an equally rich history of khanates but struck rich petroleum, turning capital Baku into a showcase of extravagant architecture.
Episode 3
Iran
Joanna gets last minute approval to visit Iran. She travels from Tehran to Persepolis.
Episode 4
Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan
Barred from entry in China, Lumley's silk road ends in two Central Asian ex-Soviet republics. First Uzbekistan, starting at the generically-modern capital Tashkent, then several silk road cities, with culmination at Samarkand, the glamorous seat and mausoleum of conqueror Tamerlane who massacred some 17 million while amassing treasure and artists to build it. Also great admiration for the mysterious, almost forgotten Sogdians, a key people o the route, with a peculiar culture and even cranial deformation to be physically distinct. Finally Kyrgyzstan, with its extremely modern capital Bishkek, obsessed with 'facially similar' K-pop. The countryside is idyllic, traditional eagle hunting spectacular.