Our time in Uzbekistan is going to be a bit of a whistle-stop tour as we have an immovable date at the Russian border on November 16th. So, for a change, we’re going to behave like proper tourists and only stop off at the 3 or 4 places you’re meant to stop at when in Uzbekistan.
First up is the ancient city of Samarkand.
Founded somewhere around 5BC, it steadily became an important crossroad on the silk route. By the 14th century Samarkand was quite the metropolis and many large medressas and mosques were built. Despite the region’s geological instability (think earthquakes!) and years as a part of the Soviet Union, many of the structures have survived to this very day.
Roof detail, Ulugbek Medressa
Samarkand
Sher Dor Medressa
Samarkand
Sher Dor Medressa
Samarkand
4 old ladies hanging out
Samarkand
Tilla-Kari Medressa
Samarkand
Sher Dor Medressa
Samarkand
Inside Sher Dor Medressa
Samarkand
A family playing dress-up, Sher Dor Medressa
Samarkand
Tilla-Kari Medressa
Samarkand
The bazaar
Samarkand
The less touristy side of Samarkant. The sky filled with dust as the afternoon wore on and the light became quite strange.
Samarkand
For lust of knowing what should not be known
We make the Golden Journey to Samarkand
Looks absolutely amazing…..embarrassingly, have only just really cottoned on to this blog….have spent a contented Sunday morning in bed catching up, like looking at a movie on fast forward……koyaanisqasti!
X
We had to look the quote up on Google – we’re complete philistines, I’m afraid.
Glad you’re enjoying the blog!
We’ll be back for a few weeks in January, so might see you both!