Turkmenbashi
Turkmenbashi is one of the cities of Turkmenistan, which is located on the coast of the Caspian Sea. The city has the largest international sea port in Turkmenistan and one of the largest oil refineries in the country.
The city, founded on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, was born in 1716, when Prince Bekovich-Cherkassky built fortifications at the mouth of the Uzboy. The fortification was protected by a moat and a rampart, the garrison numbered 1,000 men. Later, in 1869, under the leadership of Nikolay Stoletov, the fortifications turned into a developed fort, called Krasnovodsk.
Over time, the fort became a large city, which was the capital of the Transcaspian region before the construction of Ashgabat. In the 1880s, when the Trans-Caspian Railway was built, the city became an important traffic artery.
Turkmebashi is located in the west of the country, 520 kilometers from Ashgabat. The city is located on the shores of the Caspian Sea and has a ferry crossing 306 kilometers long, which connects it with the Azerbaijani city of Baku. The climate is desert subtropical, the average air temperature in summer reaches +28 degrees, and in winter it rarely drops below +3 degrees. More than 75 thousand people live on the territory of the city.
Not far from the city, the popular seaside resort Avaza is located; in 1998, the team of Jacques-Yves Cousteau stopped on the ship Alsion in the port of Turkmenbashy. The city has an international airport; one of the most beautiful railway stations in Central Asia, designed by Alexey Benois; the stadium and two churches, as well as here you can see the musical-laser show of sea fountains.
In the vicinity of Turkmenbashy is the Hazar State Reserve (formerly called Hasan-Kuli and Krasnovodsky Reserve). The reserve area is about 2700 square kilometers. The Khazar State Reserve is divided into three parts - the Khazar, which combines a number of bays and a buffer zone; Ogurjaly, consisting of the island of the same name with an area of about 45 square kilometers and its water area; and also, Esenguly. In the reserve grow about 660 species of fungi and plants, dozens of invertebrate and vertebrate animals live here.