Joanna Lumley on her adventures along the Silk Road
Ahead of her new ITV series, the actress shares highlights from her journey.
An ancient network of trade routes connecting east with west, the Silk Road has fascinated travellers for centuries. A new four-part ITV series follows actress Joanna Lumley as she makes the epic 7,000-mile journey from Venice to Kyrgyzstan, visiting Albania, Turkey, Georgia, Iran, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan along the way.
Joanna Lumley in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul
The series was filmed over three trips – the longest stint being a month, which Lumley admits is quite unusual.
“None of us wanted to do a month,” she admits, “but suddenly Iran said, ‘You can come and film here,’ so we had to skid to a halt, turn around on our tracks and go straight off.”
Joanna Lumley at Bevilacqua Weavers in Venice
In spite of the unexpected length of time spent away from home, she describes the adventure as “sensational”.
Below are some of her highlights from the trip – as well as ways you recreate it. “I couldn’t have loved it more,” she says.
Surprised by Uzbekistan
Entrance portal to the Gur-e-Amir mausoleum in Samarkand
“I just thought, ‘What can it really be like?’ It sounds as though it will be a few old stones on a street and a dusty camel and an old something. But it’s the most sophisticated place, with boulevards, tree-lined streets, opera houses, great architecture. It’s a fabulous and beautiful place. So all my preconceptions [were] dashed.”
Longing for Iran
Azadi monument in Tehran
“My family has always travelled. The furthest west any of us was born was my father in Lahore, which is now in Pakistan but was part of India back then. But my mother’s parents travelled all the way across to Persia. My grandmother said of all the countries in the world she would like to live in, having travelled so much, it would be Persia. So I couldn’t wait to get to Iran.”
Falling for Georgia
The mountains of Georgia
“The mountains, the clean air, the emptiness… the wines! We had to go to Tbilisi, the capital, and I thought, ‘Oh, I would much rather be up in the mountains’, but Tbilisi is gold. Please go there if you can. I hope lots of people will go to Georgia, because it really is easy to get to. You don’t have to take much trouble – you can fly there and no visa is needed. It’s a totally brilliant country, and it’s far away and adventurous.”
Joanna Lumley’s Silk Road Adventure airs on ITV from Wednesday, September 12 at 9pm.
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