7 and 8 June – Samarkand (Uzbekistan)

The journey from Bukhara to Samarkand was along the route of the original Silk Road. Alongside the road were orchards of mulberry, apple, cherry and apricot kept watered by canals fed from the major rivers nearby. Along the way we stopped at an old caravanasi, the stopping place for the camel trains taking goods from East to West and back. The merchants would stop here, sell their wares or buy new ones, then retrace their journey to sell the new items again. It was not normal for merchants to travel the whole road, they went from caravanasi to caravanasi buying and selling, generally covering a short distance compared to the length of the whole Silk Road.

The remaining wall of the caravanasi. very little remains of the buildings behind, almost a small town.

The entrance to the caravanasi

The City Hotel was our resting place for two nights and having arrived late in the afternoon of the first day I went walking again only intending to visit the mosques and mausoleums near hotel. This I did but when walking back to the hotel I looked behind me and could see some minarets in the distance. Around I turned with the result that I found the Registon, the old word for the town or city centre, where there were three huge and beautiful madrasas now not used for prayer. I stayed there for the sunset, then for the light display at dark, then had a meal in a Russian restaurant to return to the hotel six hours after I left for a short walk, or so I thought, tired but happy.

Views of the Amur Timur Mausoleum

Samarkand city has plenty of green spaces, large trees and many fountains, a lot of which are lit up at night. At least here the cars stop when I want to cross the road, and as the other say, it’s all to my being a grey haired revered old gentleman.

Views of the Registon

Colours changing at sunset

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The minaret is bent as are some others

Views inside the madrasas

The roof of the exhibition of the Ulugbek Observatory built in 1424 to 1428 and which was considered to be one of the most Observatories of the Middle ages. The original observatory can still be seen on the outskirts of Samarkand.

The Registon at night

The following day we went with the guide, Mirza (who had joined us at the Western border and is to stay until we cross the Eastern border into Kyrgyzstan) and visited the Registon again. We also went past the Bibi Yonin Madrassa, but not go inside, then to the Necropolis and Shakhi Zinda Burial Vault. This has eleven mausoleums where royalty and nobles are buried with very narrow medieval streets built in the 14th and 15th century. The walls are tiled with blue majolica tiles, These are tin glazed pottery decorated in bright colours on a white background, here predominantly blue. While in the complex an older lady handed me a bag of fresh bread for no unknown reason. It was a gift, no payment required.

Majolica tiles

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Views inside the complex

The Necropolis