The caravanserai that is still waiting

The caravanserai sits beside the old road, a few kilometres from the motorway everyone uses now. Its gateway is still tall, but no caravan passes under it any more. Only the wind comes, and now and then a shepherd sheltering his flock from the sun.

The rooms are set around a square courtyard. On the wall of one, someone wrote a name in charcoal a hundred years ago, with a date that is half rubbed away. I stood there wondering where that traveller was going, what they were carrying, and whether they ever arrived.

One stage, one day's walk#

Caravanserais were built a day's journey apart, close enough for camels and people to reach the next gate by sunset without collapsing. The Silk Road was not only a trade route; it was a string of doors like this one, each taking someone in for the night.

As I left I turned back to look at the gateway once more. In the evening light it still seemed to be waiting for the sound of a camel bell in the distance.