In Turkey, I saw my first caravanserai. It was built in the time of the Seljuks, but the caravanserais in Johanna’s time would have been similar. High, thick walls all the way around–you can see why it looked like safety to Wu Li.
There was running water by way of a fountain in the central courtyard. Lodging for people and beasts were built into the walls.
Stables for camels, horses, donkeys. Plenty of room for even a large caravan.
And in the lodging for people, indoor plumbing. Water would have run through the trough to clear the waste.
Efficient and healthy, although with my delicate twenty-first century nose I could only imagine the smell.
Which I will be signing at 2pm on December 2nd
at the Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Click here to pre-order.
Chatter By the Shores of the Middle Sea Everything Under the Heavens Silk and Song The Land Beyond