My second day-long truck jump began at 9am on Sun 18MAY. A 350km journey to Samarkand via Shakhrisabz and the Takhtakaracha mountain pass in a private aircon, 7-seater Chevrolet Orlando LT. Every second car is a Chevrolet in Uzbekistan since there is a huge factory near Tashkent that makes them in Uzbekistan. It was good to have Resenty and William alongside again. The truck left just before us to make an 8hr direct drive to Samarkand. Our driver Hussein made a quick exit from the city but we slowed down due to a new extension being built for the road to Shakhrisabz. Why Shakhrisabz ? Glad you aksed !!!
Shakhrisabz (Pop 223,800, Elev 622m), pronounced “shukri-batz”, was one of Central Asia’s most ancient cities. It was founded more than 2,700 years ago and formed a part of the Achaemenid Empire or Persia from the 6th to 4th centuries BC. This once ancient capital is famous for two people. The first is Amir Temur (1323 – 1405), a Turkic-Mongol Army General who was born and raised here and was so successful in gaining territory that he became King. The second is Alexander The Great, who chose to spend his winters here and met his wife Roxanna in the area around 328–327 BC. This is why Shakhrisabz was worth a visit.
Most of our 4.5hr drive to Shakhrisabz was over the Kyzylkum Desert. Flat. Hot. Dusty. Yellow. 200m elevation. The first 2hrs of it on broken road, which is the reason for the new extension being built alongside. We saw the occasional wheat field and passed a huge LPG Plant. There is heaps of underground gas in the Kyzylkum Desert. We made a couple of stops with a failed attempt at ordering samsa which is the famous Uzbek pastry with mince and onion in it. We arrived in Shakhrisabz at 2pm and entered a manicured park complex with many ancient buildings in it dating back to the 14th Century AD. We walked the entire 3km length of the complex seeing the following structures: Ak-Saray Palace, Amir Temur (Tamerlan) Statue, Culture Palace, Medrase Chubin, Medrese Kobi Hammam, Sardoba, Dorut Tivolat Majmuasi (Mosque Complex), Dorus Saodat Complex (Mausoleum of Tamir Father & Son with Mosque). The highlight was easily the Ak-Saray Palace – two huge chunks are left complete with blue-yellow mosaic tiling. We made it back to the car parked at the other end of the complex in 70min and left at 330pm. I even filmed some music and dancing at a wedding reception held in one of the grand halls in the complex.
Next stop was the Takhtakaracha mountain pass about 20km away with another 70km to our Samarkand hotel. The day topped out at 30C and we slowly climbed through flat agricultural land. We managed to find some fresh samsas and they were simply delicious and filling – more like Cornish Pasties. Another famous fast food is SASHLIK which is a whole meat lamb kebab (not gyros but chunks of meat). It was not long until a large yellow mountain range appeared and we really started to climb. We stopped at 1,362m to take in the valley we had left behind. A short moment later and we reach the top of the pass at 1,559m. All along the top are many open-air restaurants featuring huge open balconies and their speciality is lamb cooked in a tandoor. Not because there are Indians here but because of a cooking style left behind by the Mongols. Survived to this day.
Samarkand is only 55km from the top and an easy downhill drive. We pulled into our hotel at 6pm. I dumped my stuff and procured a great hot local meal from a huge local café/restaurant just next door. This hotel also had the fastest internet to date – 5G at almost 200mbps – impressive – my service in Bondi is 20mbps !!! Our hotel is located in the centre with the huge green domes of the madrasas in view. The annual Bread Festival was on but I gave it a miss since there is no music or dancing and I preferred to invest the time in sleep for an early run tomorrow.
Samarkand (Pop 585,232, Elev 720) is the third-largest city in Uzbekistan and among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central Asia. Though there is no direct evidence of when Samarkand was founded, several theories propose that it was founded between the 8th and 7th centuries BC. Prospering from its location on the Silk Road between China, Persia and Europe, Samarkand was one of the largest cities in Central Asia for long periods of time and part of many Persian Dynasties. The city was conquered by Alexander the Great in 329 BC, who spent much time here. After his death, the city was ruled by a succession of Iranian and Turkic rulers until it was conquered by the Mongols under Genghis Khan in 1220. The city is noted as a centre of Islamic scholarly study and the birthplace of the Timurid Renaissance. The city has carefully preserved the traditions of ancient crafts: embroidery, goldwork, silk weaving, copper engraving, ceramics, wood carving, and wood painting. In 2001, UNESCO added the city to its World Heritage List as Samarkand – Crossroads of Cultures. Modern Samarkand is divided into two parts: the old city, which includes historical monuments, shops, and old private houses; and the new city, which was developed during the days of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union and includes administrative buildings along with cultural centres and educational institutions.
I slept in a bit given the 700m elevation and extra cool morning at a later hour. By 10am I was ready to explore the wonders of Samarkand. It is spread out like Bukhara with no walled city but dozens of huge mosques and madrasas (Islamic places of learning). It was a long day that covered almost 10km on foot. I visited the following attractions: Islam Karimov Park & Statue, Sherdor Park, The Registran (3 Famous UNESCO Madrasas: Sherdor, Tilla Kori & Ulughbek), Park of Poets (Monument to Uzbek Musicians & Poets), Marco Polo Square, Ruhabad Mausoleum, Rukhabad Mosque, Gur-e Amir Temur Mausoleum, Hazrat-Hizr Complex, Shah-i-Zinda Cemetery, Ancient Hammam Ruins.
The stand-out highlight for me was the 3 giant Madrasas of Registran Square. Each one has a gigantic façade on the Square with a large courtyard behind the main gate of the façade. The mosaic tiling and detail are outstanding. The interior of the Sherdor Madrasa is to die for – gold leaf everywhere. These three structures were definitely the climax of our journey to Khiva, Bukhara and now Samarkand as if each one added to the glory of the one before it. The runner up was the mausoleum of the famous General come King “AMIR TEMUR” whose home town and palace I had seen in Shakhrisabz yesterday – this completed the story. There were also many Greek patterns and tiling left over from Alexander The Great but not enough dedication to Marco Polo who made these ancient cities so well known to Europe. From the last attraction I walked directly to the local wine shop and market that the hotel had suggested to stock up on my solo journey to the capital Tashkent the next day. I even found a butcher shop where the main man sliced a 400g lean piece of rump directly from the cows hanging carcass !!! The hotel had a huge kitchen that we could use so I cooked up my first steak in the Stans at a mere $7.50AUD !!! Washed down with local Uzbek wine prepared me for the next day.
Wait to you see the Madrasas of Samarkand…
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