More Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Oct 2019
Oct 16, 2019
After the nice time at the Samarkand Restaurant on the first night of our visit to Uzbekistan, we spent the next few days checking out the amazing places of historical importance in Samarkand.
But first, a little bit about Samarkand; to put things into perspective. From Wikipedia; Samarkand, is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the oldest continuously inhabited area in Central Asia from since the Old Stone Age. It is believed that Samarkand was founded between the 8th and 7th centuries BC. After being ruled by the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, the city was conquered by Alexander the Great in 329 BCE, and classic Greek culture was introduced. The city was ruled by a succession of Iranian and Turkic rulers before/during/after the Islamic Era; when after the Arab conquest of Iran, the armies of the Umayyad Caliphate under Qutayba ibn Muslim captured the city from the Turks c. 710 CE. During this period, Samarkand was a diverse religious community and was home to a number of religions, including Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Manichaeism, Judaism, and Nestorian Christianity, with most of the population following Zoroastrianism. Qutayba established an Arab garrison and Arab governmental administration in the city, its Zoroastrian fire temples were razed, and a mosque was built. Much of the city’s population converted to Islam. Throughout the reigns of many Muslim governing powers, numerous mosques, madrasahs, and mausoleums were built in the city. As a long-term result, Samarkand became a center of Islamic scholarly study.
The Abbasid/Samanids were overthrown by the Karakhanids around 1000. Over the next 200 years, Samarkand were ruled by a succession of Turkic tribes and held it until the Turkic Khaganate collapsed due to wars with the Chinese Tang Dynasty after which, the city became a protectorate of the ruling Tang dynasty.
The Mongols under Genghis Khan captured Samarkand in 1220 and held it until 1370; when it was ruled by Timur (Tamerlane), the founder and ruler of the Timurid Empire, who made Samarkand his capital. Over the next 35 years, he rebuilt most of the city and populated it with great artisans and craftsmen from across the empire. Timur gained a reputation as a patron of the arts, in contrast with the ruthlessness he showed his enemies, he demonstrated mercy toward towards those with special artistic abilities. The lives of artists, craftsmen, and architects were spared so that they could improve and beautify Timur’s capital.
During the Silk Road times, Marco Polo recorded his journey along the Silk Road in the late 13th century (The Travels of Marco Polo), described Samarkand as “a very large and splendid city…”The strategic location of Samarkand along the Silk Road was instrumental in its growth and contributed to its excellence in science, arts etc. Ibn Battuta, a renowned Muslim Berber-Moroccan scholar who visited in 1333, called Samarkand “one of the greatest and finest of cities, and most perfect of them in beauty.”
From the 1500’s, Samarkand was ruled by the Khanate of Bukhara, where the sciences, arts, architecture and astronomy continued to flourish. Then Uzbekistan and Samarkand came under Russian/Soviet rule until Uzbekistan gained independence in Aug, 1991.
Today, Samarkand is the capital of Samarqand Region and one of the largest cities of Uzbekistan. In 2001, UNESCO added the city to its World Heritage List as Samarkand – Crossroads of Cultures.
We started exploring Samarkand first by getting a taxi (called by hotel) to visit the Registan, which is what Samarkand is most famous for
The Registan was the heart of the ancient city of Samarkand. The name means “sandy place” or “desert” in Persian. It was a public square of commerce, where people gathered to hear royal proclamations, and a place of public executions. It is framed by three madrases (Islamic schools) of distinctive Islamic architecture, built in the mid 1400’s. One of the madrassas was also a mosque. The square was regarded as the hub of the Timurid Renaissance, where the Timurid empire revived the arts and sciences after the gradual downturn of the Islamic Golden Age in the Middle East. Today, the square and a lot of historical sites of Samarkand and other places in Uzbekistan have been carefully revived by the Uzbek government so tourism is a huge attraction and great source of income.
The place is simply magnificent and breathtakingly beautiful; we spent some time sitting here and admiring the architecture and people watching, before going inside for an entrance fee which was not cheap.
Below are other views inside the Madrassas and the Registan square; we came here a couple of times as it was so beautiful
Video of the Registan square
Video of the inside of the Sher-Dor Madrasah
Multiple young couples were also here to take wedding photos
The only thing I did not like about the Registan was that inside each Madrassah, they had multiple shops selling local goods, handicrafts and trinkets to tourists; which kind of took the charm away from these magnificent historical structures so well restored. But I guess they need to make money from the tourists.
One day, we went to nearby Siyob Bazaar to check it out.
This turned out to be a place for mostly tourists; but in the back, we could see a busier market so we headed that way, where we found a great local place to eat. Some scenes along the way
The art of serving Plov
At the back of the Siyob Bazaar was the local market; the kind we like. So we went there to check it out; scenes below from the market
We withdrew some $200 from the ATM; the exchange rate was about 10,000 Uzbek Som to 1 US$. The $200 got me Uzbek 2,108,000 Som; and for the second time in my life, I was once again a millionaire (First time was when we visited Vietnam). Did we feel any different? 🙂
By this time, we had figured out that we could simply flag down a taxi on the road and hop in and get off along the main road anywhere for 5,000 Uzbek Som (US$0.50); these were shared taxi’s, and we started taking these and they were very good and useful and much faster than calling for a taxi; in addition to having conversations with local regulars.
One evening, we were recommended by Farkhad, the hotel manager, to try Karimbek’s restaurant, for dinner. We went there and it was a nice place, but not nearly as busy or as nice as the Samarkand restaurant from the 1st night.
Friendly locals got Dilshad up to Dance at Karimbek restaurant
Samarkand has many historically restored sites; we checked out a few of them below; what we believed were the most impressive
The Shah-i-Zinda (meaning the living king) necropolis is an ancient burial site from the 11th to 19th centuries; with very elaborate structures housing the remains of the elite class of the time; some images below
We had an excellent time in Samarkand; but after 3 great days here, it was time to move to Bukhara next
Our journey so far
Pingback: Silk Road 26: Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Oct 2019 - Ali Karim Travelog Asia
Hahaha – Amazing Ali. Great job as always. Very professional, very well written, great pictures, and lots of fun. How many miles (kilometers) have you traveled so far?
Thanks Iqbal; appreciate the feedback.
So far, we have clocked 2,300kms on the journey from Bishkek till Samarkand.
More still to come as we continue touring Uzbekistan 🙂
Thank You
Wow – wonderful pics and what memories….You are indeed blessed…. Amin
Thanks Amin; yes; we are indeed blessed and thank God every day
Pingback: Silk Road 28: Bukhara, Oct 2019 - Ali Karim Travelog Asia
Memorable pictures
Thanks
Hi Ali and Dilshad – again a very interesting and informative write up on your travels to Samarkand and the Registan .Public square. I think the AK Award for Architecture ceremony in 1992 was there.
I noticed something interesting in the picture of the Pomegranate (Daram or Anar fruit) display. They were displayed on boxes that were used to pack Bananas. Are bananas grown locally in that part of the world or are they imported?? Anyway notice one of the boxes was from Dole company – Premium Bananas. Looks like the American Corporate tentacled extend all over the Globe!! The variety of fruits and vegetables and foods on display was amazing. I do not think anyone goes hungry in that part of the world.
Thanks Zahir, for the feedback. The banana’s in Dushanbe were imported from Ecuador, and I suspect it is the same in Uzbekistan. Some were from Dole, good observation.
Thanks again
Ali/Dilshad…Love taking my journeys through your eyes.. excellent photography and I truly enjoyed the detailed descriptions of these remote areas and the Residents.
Thank you for my fine virtual journey.
So glad you are enjoying journeying with us; appreciate the feedback 🙂
Fabulous pics. as usual……
Bravo.
Benita
Thanks for the encouragement Benita
Thank you so much for sharing! Very historical and very informative. Shukrh you are blessed.
Please keep safe and healthy.
Thanks.
Shamim.
Thanks Shamim.
Yes, we are indeed blessed and thank god every day
Appreciate your feedback
Very colourful pictures and videos, people seems to be very friendly, do they speak or understand English, how did you communicated with them, were Hotels decent and
reasonably price….
Thanks for the feedback Shams.
To answer your questions:
– most people did not speak English; but they were all friendly and helpful
– how did we communicate? sign language and pointing to things we needed; not as difficult as one would imagine. Places we wanted to go to were written down on paper for us by our hotel manager in Russian, so easy to point to where we wanted to get to.
– Hotels; yes, they were reasonably priced and reasonably decent; we paid about $55/night including breakfast, for a 2 star place. Not bad.
Let me know if you have more questions
Wonderful; enjoyed the journey with you!!!
Thanks for joining us in this journey 🙂
Thanks for sharing! Great pictures.
Love to Dilshad.
Love, Light & Cheers
Muslim Harji
Thanks for the feedback Muslim.
What a beautiful place. Love the Registan. The local market sounds great. Love the use of prams.
Very friendly people that let you take pictures with them-try that here!!!
Yes, indeed, it was a beautiful place; with many friendly people.
Thanks for the feedback
Dear Ali. Thank you very much. You really did it. Pictures are so beautiful. City seems to be so picturesque.
Very friendly people.
Thank you Mr Walji; appreciate the feedback, and so happy that you enjoyed the journey with us.
Very nice!
Thanks for sharing! Very lucky couple.
Thanks Amir & Roshan; yes, we are indeed blessed
Beautiful architecture! Is it mosaic tiles?
Hi Clay, yes it is mostly Mosaic Tiles, though there are larger tiles present as well. But majority was mosaic.
Beautiful Ali!!! I enjoy seeing the wonderful places and people that you have experienced during your travels.
Thanks Ken; appreciate the feedback.
Beautiful and very colourful post. Loved it, Nailla
Thanks so much for the feedback Nailla; so glad you enjoyed it.