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00:04This is the start of my most adventurous and exotic journey yet, but I'm beginning somewhere
00:09that will be familiar to most of us. Today, millions of people visit Venice for her glorious
00:16art and her flamboyant architecture, but everything here comes from the wealth which was gained
00:21by the Venetians when they turned their eyes to the east and started trading along a route
00:26that stretched from here right across to China.
00:32This 7,000-mile journey follows the route of the legendary Silk Road, whose ancient travelers
00:38and traders shaped so much of how we live. These little darlings have made people richer
00:45than a king's ransom. From the unique and surprising traditions of Azerbaijan to the stunning desert
00:54citadels of Central Asia, and the lost civilizations of Iran. I mean, the scale of it! The impact
01:05of the Silk Road is huge.
01:07Holy smoke! It's so hot!
01:10How lovely is this? The air is like silk. It's like being in a jewel box. It's quite extraordinary
01:20to come to this place. It is so remote. But I'm here. This first leg takes us from majestic
01:29Venice through Albania to wealthy Istanbul. They are gold. Gold-plated. Wow. And on to the mysterious
01:37caves of Cappadocia... This is very small. ...and meet the wild shepherds of the remote
01:43highlands of Turkey. Yes, we are too soon, sir. No, thank you.
01:49So, won't you come with me on my Silk Road adventure? On a journey along a road that literally changed
01:57all our lives. Avanti, Matteo! But not too fast.
02:16This extraordinary city, built in the sea by people fleeing their enemies, with sailing and trading in
02:22their blood, grew to have one of the richest and most powerful empires in history. I can remember
02:28coming to Venice for the first time when I was maybe in my late 20s or early 30s and I
02:33couldn't
02:33think why I'd never been here before. It seems to me one of the most important places in the world
02:38to
02:38visit because you can't get your head around it. It's in the sea. This is salt water we're driving on.
02:45It's absolutely astonishing.
02:49Venice became one of the richest and most influential cities in Europe, all because of
02:53the trade that came along the Silk Road. And it's the perfect place to start my adventure.
02:59All over the city you see evidence of other influences coming in. It feels quite different
03:05from other Italian cities. And that's simply because it was one of the end destinations of the Silk Road.
03:11Everything came to Venice. It was reveling and everything new. It grabbed all the new ideas.
03:22A luxurious, shimmering fabric made thousands of miles away in China was one of the most valuable
03:28imports to Venice and was the money-making catalyst that gave the Silk Road its name.
03:35Once there were 30,000 Silk workers in Venice, but these days it's a very exclusive business.
03:41Oh look, Bevilacqua. That's where we're going.
03:45The Bevilacqua family has been involved with Silk for 500 years and today has a client list that
03:52includes the Kremlin, the White House and a plethora of high fashion labels.
03:57Buongiorno. Buongiorno.
03:58Buongiorno.
03:59Buongiorno.
04:00Please come in.
04:01Oh, gracias. Thank you.
04:02A treasure trove.
04:06Here they specialize in some of the finest, most intricate Silk brocades in the world.
04:12Look at this.
04:13And the family owns a priceless archive of over three and a half thousand patterns
04:17that date back to Byzantine times.
04:20Alberto, tell me everything about Silk.
04:24Probably was discovered in China.
04:27Yeah.
04:27And imported in Europe in the 13th century, they say by Marco Polo, yes, yes.
04:34When did they make velvet? Who invented that? When did they make it?
04:39A genius.
04:40A genius.
04:40A genius.
04:41Velvet was produced in Venice from the 14th century.
04:46Venice was very famous in the Renaissance period for the velvet production and also for all fabrics
04:51production. So all merchants came here in Venice to buy the most beautiful fabrics.
04:55I read that there were 6,000 looms in Venice alone.
05:00And we are the only one left now.
05:09Look at all these different colors moving into there.
05:14Bevilacqua's silk brocades are all still made by hand on looms that are hundreds of years old.
05:22Incredibly skillful. The way she cuts with this little cutting machine and then she whips
05:27one of these metal blades out, feeds it in to the other side and then just about four shuttles of
05:33this.
05:35Madalena, is it quite easy to do? Shall I have a go?
05:38No.
05:39Oh, no?
05:40No, because...
05:41You need years and years to learn this, child.
05:43Do you?
05:44Yeah.
05:46I mean, the whole thing is, it's a kind of mystery and you think that the world,
05:50in the old days, every bit of fabric made was made on looms like this.
05:56Gee whiz, respect.
05:59From its first appearance in Europe, silk was highly prized.
06:03Workshops across Venice labored day and night to satisfy the fever for silk.
06:08In those days, it must have seemed like a gift from heaven.
06:11Yeah.
06:13But hand looms like these can only produce around 40 centimetres of fabric a day.
06:17It's so fine, it's almost unbelievable.
06:21How much...
06:23How much does it cost?
06:25A lot.
06:26Yes, around €5,000 per meter.
06:32This may be an ancient craft.
06:34Oh, look at this.
06:36But you still have to exit via the very contemporary gift shop.
06:40So this is handmade, handmade.
06:42What are we talking about?
06:43What kind of money are you going to set me back for this gorgeous thing, Madeleine?
06:46About 1,500.
06:51I'll take five.
06:52I'll take five.
06:53Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo.
07:00Silk, cotton, glass, spices, flowers, medicines, horses, philosophy, architecture.
07:08All these things travelled along the Silk Road.
07:11But not everything it brought was welcome.
07:15Three times the bubonic plague came to Venice via the Silk Road.
07:20In the last attack in 1629, it killed 50,000 people, a third of the city's population.
07:28The Santa Maria de la Salute, which means Saint Mary of good health, was built to give thanks to God
07:34for those who managed to survive the awful ordeal.
07:40Oh, a little narrow alleyway. Look at that. Only as wide as this.
07:45Bit of a whiff here. They always say a bit of a smell.
07:49You want that. You don't want to just have a non-smelling Venice.
07:55It's fitting that this great seafaring nation has a boat as its best-known icon.
08:03Gondolas have been around for over a thousand years, and the wealthy Venetians used them as private limos.
08:09Such was the excess of gaudy decoration in the 16th century that the government decreed they must all be black.
08:17Which is your gondola? Is it over there?
08:19It's over there today. I'm not working, and the gondola is covered for the night.
08:26Yeah. And how many gondoliers are there in Venice?
08:28We are 433.
08:30Exactly. You know that exactly.
08:31Yeah, yeah. It's a fixed number. The government fixed the number of license.
08:34That's all? Yeah.
08:35And is this your uniform?
08:36Yes.
08:37Does everybody wear the same?
08:38All the drivers have to wear their shirt like this, blue and white, red and white.
08:43Or red and white? Yeah.
08:44Do you have a hat?
08:45I have the hat. It's in the boat. We usually live there.
08:48Do you have the... Is that part of the uniform?
08:50Yes, even if most of the gondoliers don't like it too much, because it's really uncomfortable when we wear it.
08:58Gondoliers have a reputation of being lady killers. Everybody adores a gondolier.
09:03Is that true? Are you a lady killer?
09:05I... Oh, me not. For sure, you know, while we are driving the boat, it's easier to meet people,
09:10and sometimes it's easier to be charming and be very fit.
09:14Yeah, most of us, yes.
09:16And we sit there going, ooh, how lovely.
09:21One man whose name is synonymous with the Silk Road is Marco Polo.
09:26When he was just a teenager, his father and uncle, already established traders,
09:30took him on a gap year that would turn into an odyssey through countless countries from Italy to China.
09:39Marco's account would become one of the most important travel documents ever written.
09:45When Marco Polo returned to Venice, 1295, he'd been away for 17 years. He'd left when he was 17.
09:52He'd changed so much that his family couldn't recognise him by his appearance and his language.
09:57He'd forgotten his native Venetian, and he just looked and behaved quite differently.
10:02After all, he'd been staying with Kubla Khan in Xanadu, these legendary names.
10:08And he had, of course, amassed a cache of treasures.
10:12He was the first merchant of Venice.
10:18Marco, his father, and uncle Matteo were made trusted envoys of the mighty 13th century Mongolian
10:24emperor Kubla Khan. They were issued with a special type of passport, a foot-long solid gold bar,
10:32which, aside from weighing them down a tad, guaranteed them safe passage through Khan's vast empire
10:38that stretched all across Asia. During their travels, they would see paper money, gunpowder,
10:44and porcelain for the very first time. Alessandra.
10:48Giovanna, welcome.
10:50Ciao, e grazie, grazie.
10:51Dr. Alessandra Schiavon has unearthed from deep within the Venetian archives
10:56some rarely seen 14th century documents with a remarkable link to the Polo family.
11:04Alessandra, what are these documents here?
11:06Si conserva il testamento dello zio di Marco Polo, Matteo, il quale lascia al nipote prediletto
11:19con il quale ha condiviso il viaggio in Cina, tutti i suoi beni. Tra questi lascia le grandi tavole d
11:28'oro
11:28che ha ricevuto lui e il fratello dal gran Khan.
11:35Alessandra has also uncovered evidence of some surprising artefacts
11:39that were passed down within the family.
11:47Wow.
12:00It may seem odd to see spices listed in a will,
12:03but back then, pepper was known as black gold and was worth a fortune.
12:09These ancient documents have brought the past to life
12:12and they paint a vivid picture of the Silk Road's huge influence.
12:17Alessandra, I'm beginning this long journey to follow some of the routes that the Silk Road took.
12:23It is so thrilling to start our story with Marco Polo because he's a name of such legendary fame.
12:31So you've given me good luck for my journey and I want to thank you very much indeed.
12:43It's always sad to leave a city of such beauty, but it's time to get moving.
12:48Ciao Venezia, ciao Serenissima!
12:53Venice's trading empire was connected by fortified ports.
12:57I'm hopping 600 miles down the Adriatic to one of them, the city of Duris on the coast of Albania.
13:04For 40 years, Albania was a communist dictatorship.
13:08But since breaking free in 1989, its rugged mountains and Mediterranean climate
13:13have been attracting people from all over the world.
13:19This is Duris, which was a Venetian stronghold.
13:22But to tell you the truth, it doesn't look remotely Venetian or even Roman or Italian in any way.
13:28These days, it seems to have been colonised by middle-aged sun worshippers.
13:31But in the past, it was the Greeks, Romans, Ottomans and Germans who tried to take over.
13:37This is good, a bit Roman, a bit gladiatorial.
13:41I've come here on the hunt for an ancient Roman highway that became a vital part of the Silk Road.
13:49This is the Venetian tower. This was built to mark the beginning of the Via Egnatia,
13:55the Roman road which ran all the way to Istanbul.
13:58All I've got to do now is find it.
14:03Ruga Egnatia!
14:06That way to the sea, this inland.
14:11Most of the ancient 600-mile-long Via Egnatia is long gone.
14:15But archaeologist Dr Ols Laffer has a hunch he knows where part of the original road still exists,
14:21just to the east of the town of Elbasan.
14:24So it started off original Roman legions marching along and their eagles on banners
14:29and things like this. Saints came along, crusaders. Roman roads were like modern highways.
14:36Ols has brought us to this narrow gorge, apparently with good reason.
14:41After Roman soldiers were persistently attacked in such places, it became policy to build roads
14:46around them. So he and I are heading for the hills.
14:49Oh my god, are we on the way? Oh, is it here?
14:52Is it here?
14:52Well, we will look for it.
14:54Have you been here before?
14:54No, I haven't been on this section of the Roman road.
14:57We are hunting together.
14:58I think this is like real archaeology happening right now, the two of us.
15:02You lead the way, Ols.
15:04All right.
15:07Ols, can I have your hand?
15:10Oh, shaley slippery.
15:11Yeah?
15:12Don't fall down the gorge and leave me.
15:14Ah, I will not.
15:18What do you think?
15:20We should be very close.
15:22This looks quite good, doesn't it? A bit Roman roady.
15:25You can feel it. You're on a path here. You see?
15:30Is this it? Is this the Roman road?
15:33Yes, this is a section of the road.
15:35Wow. It's not that I'm, you know, a pessimist or anything,
15:40but I'm not sure this is kind of Centurion rock, you know what I mean?
15:43It might be, but it doesn't tell me it is.
15:46Well, if you can hold on for another 15 seconds.
15:51Yeah?
15:52You got the path.
15:53Ols, I can see it now. Now I get it.
15:57Sturdy.
15:58Yeah.
15:59Lots of layers.
16:00Yeah, pretty flat. Pretty good for walking on.
16:03Ols, look on these very stones.
16:04You just have to imagine the carts and the horses and the people traveling on the road.
16:10Yeah.
16:10Now, because Centurion's thigh bone, they were much smaller in those days.
16:14This was the highway linking the eastern part of the Adriatic to Constantinople,
16:22to modern-day Istanbul. It was the road. It has been here for over 2,000 years.
16:27Gee. This is the Via Ignatia. This is part of the Silk Road, apart from being the Roman Road.
16:33This is part of the road that went not only to Constantinople, far beyond.
16:39So coming along here, coming along here, were silks from China and gunpowder and paper.
16:44Connecting the dots, east and west, coming together, on a big road.
16:52Wow.
16:56The Romans were obsessed with silk, so much so that the Senate tried to ban it.
17:01Too much Roman gold was going to China, and the fabric was thought to be far too revealing.
17:08Centuries after the Romans were here, this whole area was part of the Ottoman Empire,
17:12and some stunning physical legacies remain.
17:16This is a classical Ottoman bridge.
17:21I love it here. Albania is so beautiful.
17:25It's so full of richness.
17:27Culture, people, the food, the wine.
17:31Good wine?
17:33Mm-hmm. We should try it.
17:35Don't tell me in your backpack.
17:38There is a bottle.
17:40Did you bring a corkscrew?
17:42I brought everything.
17:45How do I say cheers?
17:47Kuzur.
17:48Kuzur.
17:48Kuzur.
17:57Kuzur.
17:57Leaving Illyria, as Albania was known, the road stretches on through Greece, Macedonia and Turkey,
18:04ending in one of the most important cities in the world.
18:07You are a darling girl.
18:09Welcome to Istanbul.
18:10Thank you, where I'll be offering helpful tips on entertaining to one of the city's richest women.
18:14During dinner parties, you could hire somebody to swim looking absolutely beautiful just down there.
18:27To be continued...
18:30Straddling both Europe and Asia, Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, is where trade routes, cultures and religions have long collided.
18:40Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and the mystical Sufism still practiced by the whirling dervishes, the city is a fabulous mix of
18:48people and beliefs.
18:52For 2,000 years, this city has been throbbing with life, with traders, with merchants, with missionaries, with soldiers, with
19:00everybody rushing through here to buy and sell.
19:03It's now got 19 million people, but even in the old days, everybody in the world came here, from China
19:09bringing their goods for Egypt and Venetians bringing their stuff to come through up to Russia and to India.
19:15But it was always the centre.
19:22Istanbul's Galata district was an ancient trading hub.
19:25In the 13th century, this was the non-Muslim part of the city, where Venetian and Genoese trading colonies were
19:31established.
19:33This is the hardware district. Everywhere you look, there are saws and grips and taps and washers and nuts and
19:40bolts.
19:41And, of course, things made of lead and tin and iron, which were all transported up and down the Silk
19:45Road in the old days.
19:47This is part of the harbour, on the sort of docklands of the harbour, so it's just absolutely thriving, how
19:53it would have been in the old days.
20:04The mighty Bosphorus that connects the Black Sea with the Mediterranean is one of the busiest shipping channels in the
20:11world and is still the lifeblood of the city.
20:14Can you see that beautiful cream house with the red roof?
20:18That's where I'm going.
20:20It's pretty fabulous. I've been invited round to have a look round this very rich woman's house.
20:28Successful traders have always built their lavish houses on the waterfront.
20:31I'm going to meet Demet Sabancı Çetinoğan, whose family is one of Turkey's grandest.
20:38What's my hair like?
20:40With assets believed to be worth between 15 and 25 billion pounds.
20:50Owning one of these houses is a bit like having a Mayfair mansion and could set you back well over
20:55100 million.
20:56Oh, what a gorgeous place to bring somebody to have them just sit and wait.
21:02I didn't really feel like sitting down. There are so many things.
21:06How divine is this?
21:10Hello.
21:11Oh, Demet.
21:12You are a darling girl.
21:14Welcome to Istanbul.
21:15Thank you so much.
21:16You're welcome.
21:17Demet, this is a palace. This is a paradise, isn't it?
21:20How long have you lived here forever?
21:2218 years.
21:2218 years?
21:2318 years.
21:23Oh my gosh. And tell me, Demet, your family has been substantially wealthy for a long time.
21:29In the Sabancı family, we have a private bank, one of the biggest private bank at the moment in Turkey.
21:37Cement factory, oil factory, a clothing factory, so many different lines.
21:44Yes.
21:44We are on business.
21:45Will you show me your beautiful house?
21:48Honestly, I'm so thrilled to be here.
21:50I'm not looking completely brilliant because I came on the ferry.
21:52No, no, no, no, no.
21:54Goodbye, beautiful room.
21:56Demet has also introduced some luxury brands to Turkey, such as Alexander McQueen, Gucci and dear old Harvey Nicks.
22:04This is the Turkish bath area.
22:06This is very original type of toilet.
22:10Yes, how adorable, how beautiful.
22:13Yes, yes.
22:14This is the original Turkish bath.
22:18Do you still use this?
22:20Yes, my husband likes very much.
22:23It could not be lovelier.
22:24These are Ottoman silver mirrors.
22:27They believe that it's an evil eye.
22:30When you turn, you're going to see the mirror.
22:33Oh, isn't that lovely?
22:34After they see themselves, they turn it back.
22:38Sometimes at my age, I would like to keep it like this.
22:42No.
22:42I think you would quite like to keep the mirrors turned to the wall.
22:45Just have a little glimpse and very good lighting.
22:47Yes.
22:47That's marvellous.
22:49When it comes to her dining room, Demet does nothing by halves.
22:53My gosh.
22:54These look gold.
22:55Yes, they are gold.
22:57They are gold?
22:58Gold-plated.
22:59Wow.
22:59And look at those caricatures.
23:01Can you imagine?
23:02She's got a bit of a look of patsy about her, this one.
23:04I've got a little bit of a glass going, hello, darling.
23:08And I adore the subterranean swimming pool.
23:12You could get, during dinner parties, you could hire somebody
23:15to swim looking absolutely beautiful just around there.
23:20If you want to understand the wealth that trade between nations brings,
23:24come to Istanbul.
23:26Thank you so much.
23:28Thank you for coming.
23:29It's brilliant.
23:32Asia is where the Silk Road splits and fragments.
23:35In the centre of Turkey lies the fairytale region of Cappadocia.
23:45This area is famed for its astonishing landscapes,
23:48peppered with thousands of intriguing caves.
23:52And my hotel just happens to be inside one.
23:58Come and look at this.
23:59It's fantastic.
24:00This beautiful, beautiful place.
24:03Rough-cut stone.
24:04These old walls.
24:06This gorgeous bathroom.
24:08Alcoves for putting bags and bits and pieces.
24:10How about that?
24:12Look how, how well it converts into modern living.
24:15Into not only modern living, but extremely classy modern living.
24:20And then through here, look, this dressing room, this is a real little cave here.
24:26My gosh, I wonder what went on in these rooms all those years ago.
24:29What would they have used this one for?
24:32Then out into this fantastic terrace, look at this view.
24:38What a landscape.
24:4360 million years ago, volcanic ash rained down on Cappadocia,
24:47and over millennia, nature has formed these extraordinary rock formations.
24:54A short drive southeast of my hotel lies the little-known Keselig Monastery,
24:58which looks like some kind of termite mound.
25:05Little place, look at this.
25:07Oh, it's so sad and shabby.
25:10The interior of this tiny monastery is at first sight defaced and vandalized.
25:16Graffiti all over the place.
25:18But looking more carefully, there seem to be faint Christian figures staring back.
25:24I can see pictures, I can see paintings.
25:27Turkey is now a predominantly Muslim country, but 2,000 years ago,
25:31St Paul traveled through here, and Cappadocia converted to Christianity.
25:35There are stories up here, I can't quite see what they are.
25:39And then a mass of people here.
25:41Is it the Last Supper? What's going on?
25:43That must have been Christ with his face chipped off, chipped off.
25:49Oh, I wish these hadn't been destroyed.
25:51Hello. Welcome to Monastery.
25:55Oh. My name is Jabir.
25:57Jabir and Johanna.
25:59Jabir Khoshkuna grew up playing amongst the ruins of the monastery,
26:02and for generations his family have been the unofficial guardians of the site.
26:07What are the... Yes, explaining. Can you tell me?
26:10Yes. The black is from smoke.
26:12Yes, a long time ago, wintertime, very cold.
26:15Of course. People come in here, fires of black, church.
26:18Of course they do.
26:19Jabir, will you show me in here? Yes.
26:21Will you describe, is this the Last Supper?
26:24Last Supper here, sorry. Last Supper.
26:27That's the Last Supper. How did you learn all this? Where did you learn it? At school?
26:44So you took it all in, and you remembered it all.
26:48Tell me, why are the faces?
26:50Here.
26:51What happened?
26:54I was assuming that the defacing of these images was done by non-Christians,
26:58destroying something that was against their beliefs.
27:01But Jabir has learned of another fascinating explanation.
27:04I don't know.
27:27Gosh! Wow!
27:32Just ten minutes down the road, hidden in a high valley,
27:36I'm told there's one of the greatest jewels of Cappadocia,
27:38in what used to be a pigeon loft.
27:46Oh, look at these paintings!
27:50This is majestic, absolutely every inch of it painting.
27:55Bright and fresh, and all the details which I couldn't see
27:59in the other little church.
28:01This is the dark church,
28:03and it took a decade of painstaking cleaning
28:06to restore it to its present-day splendour.
28:09Look at this.
28:11So we've got a lovely angel here holding out his hands
28:14onto more angels, touching them on the head, going,
28:16there we are. Nativity.
28:20So as ever, I'm making all this up as I go along
28:23with the faintest grasp of my Christian upbringing
28:27at a wonderful convent where they told us all this.
28:31I was sharpening my pencil at the back of the class
28:33and drawing pictures of Elvis Presley.
28:36But it did go in a bit.
28:40Cappadocia has more wonders to reveal.
28:43A labyrinthine underground city has just been discovered,
28:45and I'm going to explore it.
28:48This is extraordinary.
28:59Cappadocia's fairytale landscape looks like nothing on Earth,
29:02no matter which way you look at it.
29:04But below ground, archaeologists are still uncovering its secrets.
29:10Beneath the city of Nev Sahir,
29:13they've recently discovered an intricate subterranean network of chambers
29:17where it's believed Silk Road traders once took shelter.
29:20It's being hailed as one of Turkey's most important archaeological finds in decades.
29:26And I've been granted exclusive access.
29:30Hi, I'm Joanna.
29:32Head archaeologist, Sameh, is going to show me around.
29:36This is extraordinary.
29:43This is extraordinary.
29:58Look at this, I mean, it goes back and back.
30:01There's a place that has a connection between the horses and the horses.
30:07So, the animals are here at night until morning.
30:12So, this is where the horses would have been tethered, is it?
30:14And they would have eaten from here?
30:16Yeah.
30:16You can see that's worn slightly from a rope.
30:18Somebody tying a horse or a camel or a mule, I guess.
30:23My gosh!
30:25They'd have been so cool in here.
30:27Such a restful place.
30:28Can you imagine all the horses as you're going past?
30:36Sameh believes this multilayered underground city could date back as far as the 3rd century.
30:42And the archaeologists are still working out what many of the rooms were used for.
30:47This is a very high place to be a living room.
30:52Gosh!
30:52It's a very high place to be used as a depot.
30:57It's a very high place to be used as a depot.
30:59Subterranean living was not uncommon in Cappadocia.
31:03Look in here.
31:05Up to 20,000 people could live below ground like a human ant colony.
31:10Partly to keep cool, but crucially for protection from their enemies.
31:14Here is a lock closed.
31:19Yes.
31:20There is a rock with a hexade.
31:24Yeah.
31:25You just roll the stone across.
31:28And it would just go!
31:29Yeah, you...
31:32So this was absolutely secure.
31:36It would be like...
31:37It would actually be like the Bank of England here.
31:40No way in.
31:43Once safely behind their solid rock security door,
31:46inhabitants could flee through the network of tunnels.
31:49So not down that lovely, brightly lit, rather huge tunnel,
31:53but this slightly...
31:56..mlightly smaller tunnel.
31:58Ooh, it's getting cooler now.
32:00Yeah.
32:01Golly, you couldn't take much.
32:03If it were making your escape, you could just take...
32:06..just literally your toothbrush, I think,
32:08as you rushed away down this little corridor.
32:10And your dog, who could follow patiently behind you.
32:14Possibly children, you know, that sort of thing.
32:19It's got even smaller here, quite small around the foot.
32:22Look, this is very small.
32:26Oh, sunlight!
32:27I never thought I'd be so pleased to see the sunlight.
32:32Oh, this has been so wonderful.
32:35Teshekiriderem, you've been so kind.
32:37She did.
32:38I'm really thrilled.
32:41Cappadocia is fascinating, but it's time to get back on the road.
32:45The dogs bark, the caravan moves on.
32:48I've got a train to catch tonight,
32:50a luxury that ancient Silk Road travellers didn't have.
32:55Back then, they were on foot with pack animals carrying heavy loads.
33:02In order to stay safe and secure overnight,
33:05medieval-style motels sprung up all along the route to Persia.
33:10These were known as caravanserai.
33:12Look at this entrance.
33:16Gorgeous Islamic architecture.
33:18This huge, great doorway.
33:21And a vast courtyard.
33:27Look at this place!
33:31The scale of this is just extraordinary,
33:33and to think that they built these about every 30 miles,
33:36so that you were completely safe.
33:38You just had to do a 30-mile journey and then collapse again,
33:41relax, eat, drink, get your animals fed and taken care of.
33:45Maybe do a bit of trading here.
33:47Who knows?
33:47Move on to it.
33:48Look how graceful this door is.
33:52Wow.
33:53The merchants could all hunker down here,
33:55and the animals would all be tethered,
33:58and there'd be straw and grass around
34:00and a great deal of munching and grunting.
34:03These were so important.
34:06Big steps.
34:08I wonder why they made them so big.
34:10I think it's because they said,
34:11we've got some blocks left.
34:13Shall we just make the stairs with these?
34:14And they said, it's a bit high.
34:15And they said, yeah, but people can manage it.
34:18There.
34:20A sweet little tiny mosque.
34:23Look how tiny it is.
34:26Beautiful work around there.
34:28It's tiny, so I think you probably nipped in here
34:30and said your prayers.
34:32I pretty much nipped out again.
34:36If you listen, you can hear cars,
34:38because this is on the main road.
34:41And it was the main road then.
34:42This was one of the principal routes of the Silk Road,
34:45going through Anatolia.
34:49This is the very road that travels east of the city of Kayseri,
34:53where we're due to catch the midnight train.
34:56The 14-hour journey ahead will transport us over 500 miles
35:00through the night all the way to the very east of Turkey.
35:03So I'm keen to find my bed.
35:06Is this one?
35:09Christ, I'll never get on.
35:10Can you help me?
35:12Oh, to Shikeri, darling.
35:13Thank you so much.
35:15Oh, it's heavy, isn't it?
35:18Wonderful.
35:22That's wonderful.
35:24Thank you so much.
35:26People coming to look at me through the window.
35:27Hi.
35:28Two nice men.
35:29Very nice.
35:33Ooh, we're off.
35:41Look at that, isn't it divine?
35:43There's something so exciting about travelling by train at night time.
35:49Whenever I get given little free things like this,
35:52or filled away toothbrushes,
35:53I keep them for occasions just such as this.
36:02That's the end of that.
36:05Slippers off.
36:06Facing outwards.
36:07Bad dreams don't walk in.
36:09Good night.
36:11Sleep tight.
36:22After a few hours sleep on the train,
36:24I awake to a heart-stopping Elysian morning,
36:28and with a ravenous hunger.
36:34I am so longing for the breakfast.
36:36I don't know when it will come.
36:38When you've ordered something,
36:39you begin to just look forward to it.
36:41Your mind focuses on it,
36:43and it's not coming.
36:48Pardon?
36:49These people are really feasting.
36:57I love a long train journey.
36:58This is a long one,
36:59about 14 hours, I think.
37:01So you might as well relax.
37:02Pardon?
37:04Pardon?
37:07Well...
37:07I'll take it, dearie.
37:09Look at this little feast.
37:11It's got beautiful tomatoes, walnuts, apricots.
37:23Last night, we boarded the train in the city of Kayseri,
37:26and it's taking us east,
37:28passing alongside the great Euphrates River,
37:31all the way to the city of Kars,
37:33near the border with Armenia and Georgia.
37:40They're just keeping up with the train.
37:41Isn't it lovely?
37:50They're just keeping up with the train.
37:51But instead of going straight to the border,
37:53the beauty of the mountains to the north of Kars,
37:56with their acres of unspoilt alpine meadows,
37:59causes us to sidetrack.
38:03140 years ago,
38:05these hills also impressed a visiting Swiss cheesemaker,
38:09who recognized the potential in these high summer pastures
38:12and started the locals making a gruyere
38:15to rival anything found in Switzerland.
38:18The village of Bogatepe's reputation for quality fromage
38:23has grown ever since.
38:28Chadas Koculu is a fifth-generation master cheesemaker.
38:33He's going to show me how to make this unique Turkish cheese
38:36and, I'm afraid, challenge my look for today.
38:40I spent ages in the morning trying to look nice
38:41and then, honestly...
38:45Oh, this is actually quite chic.
38:47Pretty much loving that.
38:49Is that OK?
38:50Yeah, tamam.
38:53As an avid cheese fancier, this has got me champing at the bit.
38:57Look at this!
38:58Look at this!
38:59Is this milk, cheese?
39:00Yeah.
39:01Milk.
39:01OK.
39:02You sit really close.
39:04You can feel it spattering onto your face.
39:06This is fresh, fresh milk.
39:09Cheese-making is common across this area,
39:11but Turkish gruyere requires a specific technique.
39:17After rennet has been added to the milk, it's heated and then cut.
39:22Oh, superior craftsmanship.
39:25Ooh, ooh, ooh.
39:27Can I do this side?
39:28Can I try?
39:29Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.
39:32Rawr!
39:32Then it's mixed up with dust pans.
39:35Oh, look, look, look!
39:37Casual behaviour.
39:39Then thrashed with these funny-looking things.
39:42If I came and worked in a cheese factory,
39:44because I love cheese, I could get a really fit torso
39:48and I'd have very good arms.
39:49Can I see your arm?
39:55Very, very good.
39:56I'll show you mine later.
40:02The way they handle it,
40:04it's like handling a really fat toddler
40:06trying to put it in a squish chair or something.
40:09The curds are all gathered up and squashed into a giant press.
40:12Lovely.
40:14And then taken below,
40:16where over five months the magic begins to form.
40:20Ooh-hoo-hoo!
40:23The smell in here is...
40:25Isn't that beautiful?
40:26The smell of bacteria are created.
40:28They are now working to add a flavor to the peynir.
40:33Oh, look, we're gonna spear in.
40:36Yay!
40:39That's about as good as anything I've ever eaten in my life.
40:44Ever.
40:48These magnificent rounds of cheese
40:50will roll their way back down the Silk Road
40:52and sell for £500 each in Istanbul or beyond.
40:57I just adore cheese.
40:59If I didn't love cheese so much, I'd be so thin.
41:02People would go,
41:03who is that unbelievably thin old woman?
41:05But because I eat cheese, they go,
41:08oh, there's Joanna moving about again.
41:12And that's because I eat cheese.
41:13Would I give it up?
41:14No.
41:18Towards the end of my first leg of the journey,
41:20we travel up over the mountains towards the Georgian border.
41:29We're at about 7,000, 7,500 feet.
41:32So the air is thin and clear and beautiful.
41:36And the snow comes early here, maybe October,
41:39and it stays for as long as five months.
41:45But really looking out at this incredible landscape,
41:50which just dappled with clouds,
41:53oh, it's magic.
42:00Every year, families of herders bring their flocks up
42:03from the Black Sea coast to summer on high pastures.
42:07From the sea to the mountains is a journey of just over 100 miles,
42:11but it still takes nearly a month.
42:14Is this us?
42:18How lovely.
42:26How lovely to see you.
42:29Look, hello, little one.
42:31I don't think I was expecting quite so many gorgeous children.
42:34Masses of them.
42:40Everyone here is ethnically Hemshin,
42:42a people originally from neighboring Armenia
42:45who converted from Christianity to Islam centuries ago.
42:59It's a typical Silk Road story
43:01of migration and religious conversion.
43:06Hello, sugars.
43:07I'm kind of down here.
43:09Beautiful.
43:10Is that a jumper?
43:11I love it.
43:12Is this going to be for you?
43:15It's for you.
43:15It's for you.
43:16If I stay long enough, if you knit fast enough,
43:18I shall have that off you, treasure.
43:20It's beautiful.
43:22Ismael, put your water in, Ismael.
43:24Hakan is the head of the family
43:26and in charge of 600 sheep, 200 goats
43:30and just a few of these little ones.
43:34What month of the year do you come up here, Hakan,
43:36and when do you leave?
43:57They're milking two at a time, which is rather good.
44:00Those of them being milked, I think it looks brilliant.
44:03I think it's so difficult.
44:10No, thank you.
44:14Do I want to try milk? Suddenly, no.
44:20Hakan, how is this lifestyle for your family?
44:24The children seem so happy. Is it good up here?
44:27It's so good.
44:29The children are so beautiful, because they are always good.
44:32They can't be life, life, life, life, country, or anything.
44:37No, children are good, because children are good.
44:43Hakan and his family have made me feel so welcome.
44:46But sadly, I must go.
44:51It's so difficult leaving a place you've fallen in love with,
44:53and I've fallen in love with this, the wild hillsides of Turkey.
44:57Then I fell in love with Venice.
44:58I fell in love with Albania as we traveled through.
45:01But on this road, there are still so many more places to see.
45:07Contemplating my journey so far,
45:09and dreaming about the miles that lie ahead,
45:12I recall a line from Colin Thuberon's book,
45:15In the Shadow of the Silk Road.
45:17Yet to follow the Silk Road is to follow a ghost.
45:21It flows through the heart of Asia, but it has officially vanished,
45:26leaving behind it the pattern of its restlessness.
45:29Counterfeit borders, unmapped peoples.
45:32The road forks and wanders wherever you are.
45:35It is not a single way, but many.
45:38A web of choices.
45:42Next week, the road will take me over the border into stunning Georgia.
45:47Luckily, I'm not driving us back through the river.
45:49A country steeped in Silk Road history.
45:52Just extraordinary.
45:55I'll cross the majestic Caucasus Mountains.
45:57This is so beautiful.
46:00And experience the fusion of ancient and modern in booming Azerbaijan.
46:05Look at this!
46:07Yes!
46:37I'm going to click on it.
46:37You know, Ieftia, my father,