Saraishyk

Saraishyk, the little Sarai, stood on the Ural river as a city of the Golden Horde from the thirteenth century, a crossing point and trading centre on the route between the Volga and Central Asia, with mosques, baths, a coin mint and a water supply system, and several khans were buried here. It was destroyed in the sixteenth century and the Ural has since eaten a large part of the site, taking the riverbank and much of the city with it. What remains is an excavated area, a bank revetment built to stop further loss, a museum with finds including coins and ceramics, and a modern memorial pantheon commemorating the rulers buried at the site. The setting is flat riverside steppe.

What to look for

• The excavation area - the exposed remains of the medieval city.
• The river bank - the revetment built against continued erosion.
• The museum - the coins, ceramics and finds from the site.
• The memorial pantheon - the modern monument to the buried khans.

When to go

May to June and September to October for the weather. Summer on the lower Ural is hot and mosquito-ridden, and winter severe. The museum keeps daytime hours and may close on Mondays.

What to expect

A large part of the city has been lost to the river and what survives is fragmentary. The pantheon is a modern construction, not a historic monument. Interpretation is in Kazakh and Russian. Mosquitoes near the river are severe in summer.

Nearby

Atyrau lies south; the Caspian is beyond it.