Samarkand

Made it to Samarkand - another ancient city on the Silk Road and one of the oldest inhabited cities in Central Asia. As we got off the train, it became apparent that Samarkand was a lot bigger than Bukhara, and that the ancient monuments had been mixed in with new roads and buildings. We spent our first day here visiting Siyob Bazaar, Hazrat Khizr Mosque and Shah-i-Zinda complex.

The next few days were busy! We woke up bright and early to go for a wander around the nearby monuments and parks before they filled up with tourists. After breakfast back at our guesthouse, we visited a couple of bakeries to see how famous Samarkand bread is made. You can get this bread throughout Uzbekistan, as well as in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, but Samarkand bread is meant to be the best. A good loaf of Samarkand bread is dense, with a golden crust and can last 10 days without going off. The bakery we visited operates 24/7, with staff working continuously on 8-hour shifts. Some of the bakers were young boys (kneading the dough) and others were 30 years old with 7 kids! We watched as they prepped dough into wheels, stuck them into the tandoor oven and retrieved them when they were ready. They were incredibly fast and efficient, even though it looked like really hard work. We enjoyed watching the bakers stick the bread to the walls of the tandoor oven, as they had almost half their bodies in the oven (and feet in the air) as they reached for the lowest walls of the oven. It looked like a full body workout! After watching the bread baking and trying some freshly baked bread, we headed back to our accom.

In the evening, we visited the Registan, which is the heart of ancient Samarkand and is a famous public square enclosed by three madrassahs. We went around 4pm, which was perfect timing to visit the madrassahs and watch as the buildings glowed during golden hour. We paid to watch a folk music show - but as usual, there wasn't a lot of information as to what it actually was and it was all in Uzbek. It ended up being a 45min show/musical about (we think) life in a traditional Uzbek village. There was a scene about marriage, a baby, some dancing and then an old man. At the end of the show, Cass was dragged up on stage with other audience members to dance. After the show, we went back to the square to see the Registan lit up which was magical to see.Читать далее