Strolling the Silk Road in Samarkand
After meeting our friends in Istanbul at the end of October, our plan was to spend November in Egypt attending a month-long organized (and paid for!) world school hub. This had been the very first thing we scheduled when we decided to travel the world. However, after the October 7th Hamas attack, with Israel’s imminent invasion of Gaza, going to Egypt just did not seem right, practically or emotionally.
We resigned ourselves once again to scrambling our plans. Since our next destination after Egypt was going to be Japan, we decided to head east. Having earlier abandoned our planned trip to Georgia, could this be a chance to still spend some time in an ex-Soviet republic? After seemingly interminable wavering between Baku (where I often visited in my childhood), Yerevan, Tbilisi, and somewhere in Uzbekistan, we eventually settled on the latter.
For those of our age with Soviet roots, Uzbekistan is first and foremost the land of plov. For our grandparents’ generation, Tashkent is the city that took in millions of people running away from the Nazis in the second world war. I’m embarrassed to say that since 2016, whenever I hear “Uzbekistan,” I inevitably think of Herman Cain’s infamous faux pas, god rest his soul. For those outside the Soviet world, though, Uzbekistan is known as one of the key regions of the ancient Silk Road. Samarkand, for example, served as the center of Timurlane’s empire (one of the largest in the pre-modern world) and is filled with unique relics from that era. Plus, our friend Anya is from Uzbekistan - so it wins!
Macron: yet another moment of serendipity
Although Samarkand’s historical monuments were the highlight of our stay, our first impression of Samarkand was of an unexpected moment of serendipity:
Right after accidentally hitting upon Turkey’s 100 year anniversary celebration the week before, we somehow crossed paths with President Macron during his visit to Samarkand. How did we know he was coming? The day after we arrived, we were puzzled to see platoons of old women hurriedly planting flowers all along our (rightfully bare for the winter) street.
An odd thing to do in November, we thought. But the hotel manager clarified it all - apparently Macron was coming to visit in 2 days. Indeed, it turned out our visit coincided with Macron’s charm offensive to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan! And… he was coming to a building one block away from us.
So over the course of the next two days, we watched as our two cross-streets were increasingly beautified with fresh flowers, fresh street markings, new crosswalks, and hand washed houses. Every fallen leaf was swept off the street, as soon as it fell, with oversized twig brooms by a squad of waiting grandmas.
Naturally, these streets were now too clean for cars, so the road was blocked off
On the fateful day, an endless amount of policemen and presidential guards lined the streets, looking perfectly inconspicuous (really, we are just ordinary people in dark clothing, standing still on one spot for hours, holding unlit cigarettes, periodically lifting our phones to our ears, doing nothing particular or conspicuous)
With the crosswalk freshly painted and other preparations complete, a newly erected screen trumpeted the eternal brotherhood of France and Uzbekistan.
Disappointingly, we never saw his actual caravan — he likely drove through while we were having shashlik, oh well.
Our first night
We arrived in Samarkand in the evening and were concerned by the polluted air and empty streets in our neighborhood. But that impression was quickly dispelled by Naeem, who welcomed us to our hotel.
Checking in to Cinzano Complex, we were greeted by the friendliest and most generous man ever. He was already smiling with relief when we walked in because Masha didn’t get his messages on booking.com and he was worried about us
This was basically him
And when he found out we were from California, he instantly became our BFF. It turned out he has a grandson studying in LA, and lives there for half of the year. So, for the rest of our stay he would shower us with all kinds of treats. It didn’t hurt that we were almost the only guests in the whole hotel, so that at our three course breakfasts we felt like kings (or at least mid-level nobility):
For dinner, Naeem recommended a restaurant around the corner. If it gets loud inside, he said, you can sit outside or at the edge of the room. Puzzled, we simply nodded. Turns out, our sleepy neighborhood hosted a full on wedding/party banquet hall!
But unlike similar restaurants in the US, some of the food was exquisite and the price was right. I had no idea you could get such flavor out of a salad that’s mostly mushrooms and onions
And for a full on feast, we spent about $25 total. Naturally, we had to come back
Registan
Now, for the main attraction
Registan — Samarkand’s (and thus Timur’s empire’s) central square — is framed by three madrasahs (Islamic schools), and is truly a unique sight. Having just come from Turkey, we were very well acquainted with mosques, but the Persian style of architecture here was quite different. First, the square itself, with the three intricately decorated facades, is a magnet for the camera
Here you also have a chance to marvel at the local transport technology for welcoming rugs
and the latest in broom styles, as they are wielded by a squad of old ladies to keep the square pristine in the face of marauding tourists
Then you can explore each of the three Madrasah courtyards, today filled with local craft shops where your tour guide will be happy to bring you. This was the only place we encountered genuinely expensive things in Uzbekistan, but nevertheless managed to find a deal on some small ceramics, after Alya wowed the owner with her puzzle-reassembly skills (he wanted to keep her as a mosaic-maker apprentice)
But perhaps the most impressive was the prayer hall in the Tilla Kari madrasah, decorated with incredible finely detailed work in deep blue and gold
But wait, there’s more! At night, the view is entirely different with gorgeous lighting
Moreover, there’s an amazing light show done right on the face of the central madrasah! As it turns out, though, it only last 10 min and starts at 9pm sharp. So don’t be late like us, or you’ll have to watch it on Youtube, which is far less impressive
I’m glad that it was only much later that I learned that all the surface work was redone in the Soviet period, and that 100 years ago it looked like this :(. Still beautiful.
Timur’s mausoleum
The second impressive must-stop-site in Samarkand is Timur’s mausoleum, which he initially built for his prematurely deceased grandson and heir apparent, but where he is also currently buried. An architectural inspiration for the later-built Taj Mahal (which was built by Shah Jahan, a descendant of Timurlan), the eyes struggle to accept what they are seeing
Compared to Turkey, the mosques in Samarkand were characterized by more prominent and elaborate stalactite/honeycomb elements. We learned these symbolize the cave where legend says Muhammad received his first revelations and must be present in any mosque in some form.
With the main cultural sites under our belt, we had two more important tasks in Samarkand
First, no visit to an Asian city can be complete without a stop at a bazaar. Samarkand’s main bazaar is remarkable for its vast array of food — produce and meats, as well as prepared food. This display of melons stopped me in my tracks
The bazaar even has another historic mosque next to it in case you want to squeeze in more sight-seeing while shopping
Second, while Masha came to Uzbekistan for the Silk Road history, as mentioned above, I was here for the plov. Luckily, we made friends with a young cafe proprietor of Hleb House. He not only invited Alya to visit his school’s Halloween celebration (picture a super happy child with an orange balloon here!) but also guided us to the source of the true plov in Samarkand: Mahalla Osh (ignore the strangely low rating on google maps)
Towards the end of lunch, the kettle runs low
The result spoke for itself
Although locals claimed that Samarkand plov was substantially different and better from that elsewhere in Uzbekistan, my untrained palate did not detect much difference from the Tashkent version later on. They were both delicious!
And then, fully sated after three pretty awesome days in historic Samarkand, we left to experience ordinary life in Uzbekistan in Tashkent
