Samarkand

Took our first Uzbek train in the morning from Tashkent to Samarkand. Sold out on the fast trains (the upside is that Uzbek trains are great; downside is that everyone uses them, so they sell out quickly) but we had an easy 3.5 hours on the train and got to Samarkand for lunchtime. After loving Tashkent for being an immensely relaxed and cosmopolitan city (a lot more developed than anywhere in Kyrgyzstan) the trend continues - Samarkand is an easy, clean and calm place to be so made for a very chilled journey and arrival.

That's partly because it's much more of a tourist city and in the centre a very tidy and prim boulevard has been run right through the city between the main sights - though there are gates through the wall to the rest of the city and the Jewish quarter which makes for good wandering.

As for most of Samarkand, it's famous for its Islamic and Timurid architecture but having not done too much research before we got there, it did elicit genuine gasps and frequent dazed reveries over several days of wandering around (mostly from Elli, though even Chris was impressed by some of it, which is saying something). Just the scale of pattern, colour and delight in endless tilework was a constant visual feast.

Add to that a lot of feasting at the market, enjoying of many of the classic Uzbek courtyards with cool shading from the sun (which isn't too hot anyway, thank god we're here in September) and a lot of fantastic shashlik and we have had a top time in Samarkand.

We ended up staying 5 days, partly because it was nice, partly because we wanted the rest, and partly because we spent a lot of time anxiously waiting for Elli's Tajikistan visa after throwing lots of arbitrary money at the consulate. Thankfully it arrived just in time so no need for rapid replanning of the next stop...Read more