After an early breakfast in Tashkent and a short taxi ride, we were at the main railway station for our ride to Samarkand. We had expected a long wait at security for baggage checks but after the bags were x-rayed we were waved through. The Sharq, is an old Russian train but it was very comfortable with aeroplane styled seats and tray tables. Half the seats faced one forwards and the others back so there were four TV screens for the passengers to watch some local TV drama. Part way through a group complained about the sound being turned down and another group wanted it turned up. We were not allowed to photograph at the station or the train.
Out the window we could see a few towns with huge factories for storing grains. Some of the areas were lush from the irrigation while others had broken irrigation channels and looked very sandy and dry.
The four hour ride went quickly. When we arrived we zigzagged our way through the taxi mafia until we found a quiet taxi driver who quoted us half the rate the mafia did. They bunch up in the gateway and hassle you as a group. I can see how some tourists will just accept the overpriced offers for some peace. John had spent some time on line looking at blogs and articles about Samarkand so he could work out what was reasonable. The station was quite a way from the old city.
The B & B was in a quiet lane near the mausoleum of Amir Timur. It was a three storied wooden building with an open central area and lots of colourful wall hangings and carpets. Our room had two single beds and a bathroom with hot water pipes under the tiles so it dried out quickly after every shower. The aircon was efficient but the wifi was annoying to use as they had a different code for each device which you got on slivers of paper.
The breakfast however was wonderful with rock and watermelon, grapes and nectarines, three kinds of cheeses, salami, bread and jam, and rice or oat porridge. It was so nice not to have eggs every morning.
After some research on Tripadvisor we found a restaurant a few minutes walk away. It had a large outdoor area, a covered gazebo area and an indoor area with a dress code. The menu was huge and the food really lovely with beef and veal with cream and mushroom dishes. We have not seen anything like these dishes anywhere before in Central Asia. It also had local draught beer and it became our favourite restaurant for our whole stay until we found it closed one night and we had to find somewhere else to eat.
Everyday loads of buses and tourists would arrive to visit the Gur E Amir mausoleum. It contains the graves of the Uzbek hero Amir Timur, who died in 1405, his two sons and two grandsons. Tourists would return in the evenings to photograph the place its different moods. The local families would sit around the walls with their children to eat ice cream and cool off before bed.
Inside
At night
There were signs all over the city advertising the Sharq Taronalari Classical Oriental Music Festival to be held over several days at the famous Registan. The city was busy being painted, weeded, washed and repaved in time for the event. We had been told by other travellers that the Registan was closed as groups rehearsed for the event. It was frustratingly difficult to find out if tickets were available and when the Registan would be open to the public to visit. On the website there was no information about buying tickets. The festival was a competition with four prize groups and the grand prize was for $10,000US, with 31 countries participating including a group from Australia. One afternoon we saw streets blocked off and hundreds of police and plain clothed officials. We could not walk on the main streets and had to walk through back lanes in residential neighbourhoods. Black bullet proof cars sped through the streets taking the president and five other Republican state presidents to the festival.
There was a big screen on the corner opposite an intersection and we could see some of the presentations. Sadly there was no sound so we could not hear any of the music. When the camera showed some of the audience, they looked quite bored. It seems the show was for the elite. It ran for six days and the winners were a group from Azerbaijan. We later met a French couple who were offered tickets by a guard at the Registan. They were told to wait and were ushered to the front row VIP seats on the day after the president left.
Once the president had left, the Registan was open to the public from 11-4 when it once again closed for more rehearsals. The temperatures in the day are getting quite hot above 33 degrees by early afternoon. The Registan contains three madrases, educational institutions, the world's oldest. The rooms were used for classrooms and dormitories. Chingis Khan destroyed older ones. The buildings were rebuilt in Soviet times. In the public space royal proclamations and executions were held. On our visit it was set up with speakers, props and lighting from the festival.
The beautiful gold fluted ceiling
Beside our favourite restaurant was a small stadium where rehearsals were being held every evening for the Independence Day celebrations on September 1st. We met a group of ballet dancers after their practice run and they were very excited to be in the celebrations. We could hear marching music for the soldiers as well as traditional songs.
One day we caught a local bus to the huge Siob bazaar in an older part of the town. A few elderly people sat on the footpaths begging from bazaar visitors. A new stainless steel walkway was being installed over the four lane road below and we were not allowed to cross so had to ignore the whistles from the police as we skipped through the grass verges past the trademen cutting paving to reach the road to the Afriosab Museum. On the other side was the Hazrat-Hizr mosque which was built in the 8th century but burnt to the ground by Chengis Khan. It was rebuilt in 1854 and then restored by a wealthy Bukharan in 1990s. It was closed to visitors as it was being titivated for the anniversary of the previous prime minister's passing.
The Afrosiab museum houses treasures unearthed during excavations in 1965. The most interesting was a 7th century fresco showing the Sogdian King Varkhouman receiving ranks of foreign dignitaries astride camels, horses and an elephant. There was also an excellent film made by the French animating the fresco figures to show what they would have been doing at the time.
On our way back from the museum we could not ignore the police again and they sent us off through the cemetery to get back to the bazaar. A lot of the modern headstones have beautifully etched portraits of the deceased. There were lots of quite dark-skinned women and children in the cemetery washing down the marbled graves for money. Part of the cemetery was for Jewish graves. There are about 50 Jewish residents in Samarkand, with numbers decreasing all the time.
We were impressed with all the medals this man had.
A newly paved and well laid out walkway area led us to the Bibi Khanym mausoleum and mosque which was pretty busy with tourists photographing them from all angles. Lots of new souvenir shops lined the walk way and continued on to pass by the Registan. A lot of money has been spent on developing the area for tourism.
Some of the detail on the Bibi Khanym mosque
The evening before the Independence Day celebrations saw some of the streets by the rehearsal stadium closed and swarming with soldiers. We also heard from a Polish couple who had read on their Polish news that there had been about 3700 people arrested in Urgench, in the west of the country. It seemed they were held for 'walking aimlessly' at night. One poor man had been told by his doctor that he needed to walk more as he had heart disease. He found it too hot during the day so walked at night and got locked up. Apparently, the local police were a bit anxious prior to the celebrations and unlawfully arrested these people. He was later charged with having no ID on him. We religiously carry our passports and registration slips from our accommodation but as yet have never been asked for them.
Next stop further along the Silk Road - Bukhara ,Uzbekistan
Out the window we could see a few towns with huge factories for storing grains. Some of the areas were lush from the irrigation while others had broken irrigation channels and looked very sandy and dry.
The four hour ride went quickly. When we arrived we zigzagged our way through the taxi mafia until we found a quiet taxi driver who quoted us half the rate the mafia did. They bunch up in the gateway and hassle you as a group. I can see how some tourists will just accept the overpriced offers for some peace. John had spent some time on line looking at blogs and articles about Samarkand so he could work out what was reasonable. The station was quite a way from the old city.
The B & B was in a quiet lane near the mausoleum of Amir Timur. It was a three storied wooden building with an open central area and lots of colourful wall hangings and carpets. Our room had two single beds and a bathroom with hot water pipes under the tiles so it dried out quickly after every shower. The aircon was efficient but the wifi was annoying to use as they had a different code for each device which you got on slivers of paper.
The breakfast however was wonderful with rock and watermelon, grapes and nectarines, three kinds of cheeses, salami, bread and jam, and rice or oat porridge. It was so nice not to have eggs every morning.
After some research on Tripadvisor we found a restaurant a few minutes walk away. It had a large outdoor area, a covered gazebo area and an indoor area with a dress code. The menu was huge and the food really lovely with beef and veal with cream and mushroom dishes. We have not seen anything like these dishes anywhere before in Central Asia. It also had local draught beer and it became our favourite restaurant for our whole stay until we found it closed one night and we had to find somewhere else to eat.
Everyday loads of buses and tourists would arrive to visit the Gur E Amir mausoleum. It contains the graves of the Uzbek hero Amir Timur, who died in 1405, his two sons and two grandsons. Tourists would return in the evenings to photograph the place its different moods. The local families would sit around the walls with their children to eat ice cream and cool off before bed.
Amir Temur Mausoleum
Inside
At night
There were signs all over the city advertising the Sharq Taronalari Classical Oriental Music Festival to be held over several days at the famous Registan. The city was busy being painted, weeded, washed and repaved in time for the event. We had been told by other travellers that the Registan was closed as groups rehearsed for the event. It was frustratingly difficult to find out if tickets were available and when the Registan would be open to the public to visit. On the website there was no information about buying tickets. The festival was a competition with four prize groups and the grand prize was for $10,000US, with 31 countries participating including a group from Australia. One afternoon we saw streets blocked off and hundreds of police and plain clothed officials. We could not walk on the main streets and had to walk through back lanes in residential neighbourhoods. Black bullet proof cars sped through the streets taking the president and five other Republican state presidents to the festival.
There was a big screen on the corner opposite an intersection and we could see some of the presentations. Sadly there was no sound so we could not hear any of the music. When the camera showed some of the audience, they looked quite bored. It seems the show was for the elite. It ran for six days and the winners were a group from Azerbaijan. We later met a French couple who were offered tickets by a guard at the Registan. They were told to wait and were ushered to the front row VIP seats on the day after the president left.
Once the president had left, the Registan was open to the public from 11-4 when it once again closed for more rehearsals. The temperatures in the day are getting quite hot above 33 degrees by early afternoon. The Registan contains three madrases, educational institutions, the world's oldest. The rooms were used for classrooms and dormitories. Chingis Khan destroyed older ones. The buildings were rebuilt in Soviet times. In the public space royal proclamations and executions were held. On our visit it was set up with speakers, props and lighting from the festival.
Beside our favourite restaurant was a small stadium where rehearsals were being held every evening for the Independence Day celebrations on September 1st. We met a group of ballet dancers after their practice run and they were very excited to be in the celebrations. We could hear marching music for the soldiers as well as traditional songs.
One day we caught a local bus to the huge Siob bazaar in an older part of the town. A few elderly people sat on the footpaths begging from bazaar visitors. A new stainless steel walkway was being installed over the four lane road below and we were not allowed to cross so had to ignore the whistles from the police as we skipped through the grass verges past the trademen cutting paving to reach the road to the Afriosab Museum. On the other side was the Hazrat-Hizr mosque which was built in the 8th century but burnt to the ground by Chengis Khan. It was rebuilt in 1854 and then restored by a wealthy Bukharan in 1990s. It was closed to visitors as it was being titivated for the anniversary of the previous prime minister's passing.
The Afrosiab museum houses treasures unearthed during excavations in 1965. The most interesting was a 7th century fresco showing the Sogdian King Varkhouman receiving ranks of foreign dignitaries astride camels, horses and an elephant. There was also an excellent film made by the French animating the fresco figures to show what they would have been doing at the time.
On our way back from the museum we could not ignore the police again and they sent us off through the cemetery to get back to the bazaar. A lot of the modern headstones have beautifully etched portraits of the deceased. There were lots of quite dark-skinned women and children in the cemetery washing down the marbled graves for money. Part of the cemetery was for Jewish graves. There are about 50 Jewish residents in Samarkand, with numbers decreasing all the time.
We were impressed with all the medals this man had.A newly paved and well laid out walkway area led us to the Bibi Khanym mausoleum and mosque which was pretty busy with tourists photographing them from all angles. Lots of new souvenir shops lined the walk way and continued on to pass by the Registan. A lot of money has been spent on developing the area for tourism.
Some of the detail on the Bibi Khanym mosqueNext stop further along the Silk Road - Bukhara ,Uzbekistan
