Talas

Talas is a small, green city in northwestern Kyrgyzstan and the administrative centre of Talas Region. It lies in the Talas Valley along the Talas River at about 1,200 metres, with the snow-capped Talas Alatau range rising to the south. The city has a calm, traditional atmosphere and is best known as the spiritual homeland of the Manas epic, the world's longest oral poem.

The town was founded in 1877 by East Slavic settlers as the village of Dmitrievka and later became the city of Talas. Its history reaches much further back: the nearby site of the 751 AD Battle of Talas, between Abbasid and Tang Chinese forces, is considered a turning point that helped bring papermaking to the Islamic world.

Talas's central landmark is Manas Ordo, a historical park and museum built around the 14th-century mausoleum of the legendary Kyrgyz hero Manas. Visitors come to see the kümböz, the museum's epic manuscripts and artefacts, and sometimes to hear a manaschi recite passages of the Manas epic. The Besh-Tash valley and national park, with hiking trails and alpine meadows, lie just to the south, while the Kirov Reservoir offers a quieter day trip.

Around the city, the bazaar is the commercial and social heart, selling local honey, dried yogurt balls known as kurut and orchard apple juice. Talas honey is highly regarded across Kyrgyzstan, and the surrounding region remains an agricultural centre for beans, grain, potatoes and livestock.

Talas suits travellers seeking Manas heritage, mountain hiking, horseback riding and genuine nomadic culture, and it also serves as the regional hub for administration and agricultural business. Because it is one of Kyrgyzstan's least-visited regions, it offers an uncrowded, more traditional side of the country.