Uzbekistan - Samarkand

Samarkand! If one city is synonymous with the Silk Road, it's this one.  The name evokes images of camels, spices and vast deserts. Of men in colourful robes and of gold and riches. Of caravanserais and beautiful horses. We couldn't wait to experience it for ourselves.

The border crossing was very easy, as was finding a vehicle to take us the 50-minute drive to Samarkand. John went to a toilet at the border which he had to pay about 50 cents for. The woman handed back his change, minus about 20% of it. Uzbekistan money has lots of zeros and she figured he wouldn't notice. John pointed out her 'mistake' and, without any apology, she handed him some more money only it was still about 10% short.  Finally, after pointing it out again, he got all his change back. After spending nearly six weeks in the 'Stans and not experiencing any sort of ripoff, it was quite disappointing. We wondered if this might be an indication of what the country would be like.

The mountains virtually stopped at the Tajikistan border, and I had it in my mind that we would drive through the desert, but the busy road was lined with towns the entire way. 

As we approached Samarkand, I saw this sign. The name looks even better spelled this way, lol.

A beauty salon sign. Hmm, that's tempting - not!

As we drove into the centre of Samarkand, our driver casually said 'Registan' and pointed to the right. To our amazement, right beside the road stood The Registan, one of the world's most amazing pieces of Islamic architecture. I couldn't believe how big it all was. I'll come back to it later. 

We arrived at our hotel early. There was nobody at reception, so we rang the bell. We waited. We went looking for someone. We poked around rooms. We couldn't call anyone as I didn't have a sim card yet and we didn't have a password for the wifi. Finally, half an hour later and well after the time I had told the manager we would be there, we found a cleaner who got the guy.  There was no apology or explanation for why he wasn't there when we told him we would be arriving. 

He then showed us to our room. We had asked for a quiet room. He gave us a room that opened into the reception area. Which part of 'quiet' did he not understand? The room was tiny and had no external window. The only window opened into the reception area. No other room was available. It was spotlessly clean though. 

We were so disappointed. Our last room had been pretty rough, and we had been dreaming of a comfortable bed in a nice room.

Having just come down from the mountains, it was quite hot for us. We also hadn't had internet for a few days, so we stayed locked in our four walls with no external window catching up on things with the aircon going.

In the areas of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan that we visited, there were almost no historic buildings. We were soon to learn though that Uzbekistan was the opposite. Despite cities being razed by invader after invader, someone seemed to always rebuild and there are now entire cities full of ancient buildings, and many, like The Registan, are fully restored.

However, with the amazing buildings came an incredible number of tourists. Busload after busload wandered the streets following guide carrying flags. It was all a bit of a shock after where we'd been.

First stop that evening was The Registan. The Registan is actually a group of buildings that date from the 1400s and 1600s. They have been restored and remain the finest examples of Islamic architecture in the world.

They were huge! I never envisaged that they would be that big. Three medrasas, old schools, stood on three sides of a square. Each one was a mass of arches, huge entries and colourful tiles. It was so amazing that it was hard to absorb it all.

We came back here a few times in the coming days. 

Each medrasa was a bit different to the others.

Each main entry consisted of a stunning set of wooden doors in a humungous arch decorated with so many tiles it makes me dizzy to think about it. The tiled effects were stunning!

Inside each door was a square courtyard. The walls were two storeys high and lined with decorated rooms. These were the cells, or bedrooms, where students lived while they studied here. Again, the tile work was amazing.

We felt our experience was significantly lessened by the fact that most of these cells now contained tourist shops. Many had craftsmen in them, which is good, however they were really only there to sell to tourists.

Some tiling details.

Not all archways contained doors. Some seemed to be purely decorative. Again, the detail in the tiling was amazing!

The underneath of the domes were sensational! Unfortunately, they were small rooms and were so crowded with tourists that it was hard to get a good look. I came back another time and it was much better.

Two Aussies a long way from home.

The buildings were lit up at night.

There was a sound and light show each night. The colours were lovely, but it was all in Uzbek, so we didn't understand a word.

While we waited for the light show to start, two young girls started chatting to us. They were studying English and French at university and wanted to talk. We had a really good time with them. I think they wanted to marry John, lol. They're only human.

We went to a Korean restaurant for dinner on our first night and after a while a girl approached us and said, "Remember me?" It was the Vietnamese girl we had met two weeks before on a hike in Jyrgalan in Kyrgyzstan! She seemed to be doing a similar itinerary to us.

I discovered a new drink - pineapple juice and local vodka!

Over the three days we had here, we explored as many sites as we could.

The Registan is the most famous collection of historic buildings in Samarkand, but it was Shah-I Zinda that I was most looking forward to. This collection of ancient mausoleums is decorated every bit as extravagantly as the medrasas of The Registan, however I felt that they would be very atmospheric. We arrived early to beat the crowds but found that the Instagrammer crowds had thought the same thing. They had coordinated their clothes to suit the buildings. They sat posing for photos - not one or two photos but 10 or 20. They made others wait while they changed poses or waved silk shawls so they fluttered in the breeze. Oh for God's sake!

As a result, it was almost impossible to get a photo without other people in it as the mausoleums were packed tightly together. Regardless, the place was wonderful.

Men are supposed to have covered legs and John's long shorts weren't considered to be long enough so he, like many others, had to wear a wrap. The funny thing was that he now coordinated with the buildings! John the Instagrammer!

I tried so many times to get this shot without people in it but failed.

Each mausoleum held the body (beneath the ground) of a wealthy person. Each one was decorated in a different style and with different tile colours. One was even thought to be the tomb of Timur's wet nurse! Timur was a famous conqueror.

Through each doorway was a domed room.

Some were plain, some were fancy, but all were beautiful.

Details of some of the tiles.

Some arched doorways just seemed to lead to other areas. They were just as striking as the mausoleums.

Waiting for Miss Instagrammer to finish her poses.

We also bumped into a Kiwi family we had met at the Nomad Games. The wife and I were talking about the Instagrammers and she made the comment, "Don't they realise these are tombs?" Good point!

At the entrance was what looked to us like a mosque. The underneath of the roof was amazing!

Nearby was the Hazrat Hizr Mosque. It was really beautiful. Few people were there and it was lovely and quiet.

Uzbekistan's first president was buried beneath this tomb.

Beautifully decorated niches lined the prayer area.

View across to Bibi Khanym Mosque which shows how huge these buildings are.

We walked through the market looking for food as we had left too early to have breakfast at our hotel, however it wasn't really a place to get breakfast food.

The market was huge but it was way too neat and tidy and didn't feel like a real market. It mostly sold things for tourists but also the usual fruit, veg and spices.

Many tourists buy the local hats. 

The Bibi Khanym Mosque was almost as huge as The Registan. Its design was so grand that, at the time of its construction in the 14th century, architects didn't have the knowledge to design it properly and it started to collapse not long after it was completed. An earthquake in 1897 completed the destruction and what we see today has been completely rebuilt.

I love its fluted dome. I haven't seen this in any other countries before.

Some parts are still damaged.

Photos of what was left before they started rebuilding. It's hard to imagine how they worked out what it originally looked like!

Between sites, we wandered through backroads. It's amazing what we see sometimes!

I love the manhole covers!

There are shaslik shops everywhere. You can choose between beef, chicken, vegetables and sometimes trout. One particular shop stood out though with its shasliks of fat! Mmmm, tempting. Not!

These day beds are commonly used.

The Gur-i Amir Mausoleum was another sensational building. Sometimes we have trouble knowing what's a mausoleum, a mosque or a medrasa. They can all look very similar!

The main part of the mausoleum had been reconstructed, however a large chunk of it was still in ruins which was more atmospheric in some ways.

That night we went to a plov restaurant for dinner and it happened to be near the mausoleum. It looked amazing at night!

An almost-full moon rose behind it.

The buildings in Samarkand were incredible. There were so many amazing places that they all became a bit of a blur after a while though.

After three days we were once again happy to leave our accommodation. We would be catching a train to Bukhara, our first train trip overseas for years, and we were hoping our next hotel had a good room.

Fingers crossed!

Heather and John