| Mennonite Great Trek Along the Silk Road |
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May 25 - June 9, 2008 
With tour leaders John Sharp and Ed Epp
Mennonites have a rich history on the Silk Road. Mennonite entrepreneurs owned trading camels
and operated businesses that utilized the trading routes. In the 1880’s two
groups of Mennonites embarked on the “Great Trek” along the Silk
Road, seeking religious freedom and new beginnings. Along the way,
these Mennonites interacted with local people, receiving hospitality. Come along with Tour Magination and explore this rich part of Mennonite history!
The tour will begin in Ukraine
where the Great Trek originated. Fly to Tashkent
and take a side trip to the Talas
Valley where the Abraham
Peters group of Mennonites remained. Then, following the ancient Silk Road,
follow overland the Claas Epp Mennonite group history through the ancient Silk
Road cities of Samarkand and Bukhara, ending up at Khiva. Visit the
Mennonite graveyard and Mennonite-built palace in Khiva.
Along the way experience
the hospitality of the present-day people of the region. Be amazed at the well
preserved historical sites. Shop in the markets of the current Silk Road. Study the history with John Sharp, Mennonite historian
from Kansas. Sunday & Monday, May 25 & 26 The tour departs from JFK International Airport, New York City, on Sunday evening for Kiev, Ukraine. We will arrive early morning in Frankfurt, Germany and will connect on to Kiev. After arriving, we will have a city tour of Kiev including St. Sophia Cathedral and St. Michael’s Cathedral. Then it’s on to the hotel for a good night’s rest.  Visiting roots in Ukraine Today’s tour takes us to St. Vladmir Cathedral, Kiev’s Perchersk Lavra and the Museum of World War II. At 5:20 p.m., we will board an overnight train to Zaporozhye where the story of the Great Trek in the 1800’s began. Our train arrives in Zaporozhye around 8:00 a.m. Wednesday morning and we will be transferred to our hotel for breakfast. Mennonites from Prussia came to settle in this region in 1789. A tour of the city includes a visit to the island of Chortitza, the cemetery and a boat trip around the island. We hope to have a conversation with MCC staff and fellowship with members of the Zaporozhye Mennonite Church. Thursday & Friday, May 29 & 30 Mennonites from Prussia came to the Molotschna Region beginning in 1803. We will tour through some of the former Mennonite villages and visit churches, including Petershagen, and institutions in the administrative centers of Halbstadt, Gnadenfeld, and Waldheim from which the third Great Trek wagon train departed, and other villages as time permits. Friday we will depart from Zaporozhye and begin our journey by air to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, via Kiev. Saturday, May 31 When the larger Molotschna group under the leadership of Abraham Peters split from Claas Epp’s group at Tashkent, the Peters group went 150 miles northeast of Tashkent and settled at Aulie-Ata in the Talas Valley. Today we will travel to the Talas Valley in Kazakhstan to see where the Peters group settled. Sunday & Monday, June 1 & 2 We will travel by bus to Samarkand, one of the world’s oldest cities and Uzbekistan’s second largest city. You will be impressed with the beauty and splendor of the monuments and architecture. Visits are planned to the Hodja Daniyar Mausoleum, Hazrati Khizr Mosque and Rukhabad Mausoleum. We will have another day on Monday for more sightseeing in this ancient city as we visit Registan Square with three madrassahs, Bibi Khanum Mosque and Siab Bazaar, Shakhi Zinda Necropolis of Temurids, Ulugbek Observatory and Afrosiyab. Lodging in Samarkand for two nights. Tuesday & Wednesday, June 3 & 4  Mosque in Samarkand Thursday & Friday, June 5 & 6 Today’s adventure is an all-day bus ride through the Kyzi-Kum Desert. Can you imagine doing this journey by wagon train as the Great Trek Mennonites did? We will stay in Khiva for three nights. We will go to Ak Metchet on Friday, the ultimate destination of Claas Epp and his followers and where they lived from 1884 to 1935. We will learn about Epp’s journey and his epiphany, and see the site where they settled (no buildings remaining). Saturday, June 7 Khiva was a place of protection for the Mennonites. In Khiva, we will visit the Old City and see sites of the “Old Silk Road”: Stone Palace Kunya Ark, Djuma Mosque and Nurullabai Palace, where Mennonite wood craftsmen were asked to install multi-colored parquet floors. We will also see a Mennonite cemetery. Sunday & Monday, June 8 & 9 Today we will start our journey homeward by flying from Khiva/Urgench to Tashkent where we will have our farewell dinner and stay for the night. Then on Monday, we will fly from Tashkent via Moscow and Frankfurt to Chicago and leave the Old Silk Road where our ancestors once traveled. For further information on the Great Trek of 1880-1884 ,Ed Epp suggests this article by Jesse Nathan published in the Fall 2007 issue of Mennonite Life. Your Tour Leaders: John Sharp, of Hesston, Kansas, who is our storyteller on the tour, is a history professor at Hesston College who enjoys writing and has a passion for the Anabaptist story. John also served as a pastor for fifteen years in Kansas and Pennsylvania. Ed Epp’s work in international development with MCC and MEDA along with his interests, experience and travels to Islamic countries has prepared him well for the interaction between the Mennonites and Islamic people you will meet along the Silk Road. As our newest team member at TM he will provide assistance with the logistics of the tour. For further information regarding the complete tour fare, please This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it . We would be happy to be of assistance. |
