Kellen Smetana
Apart from the ever hospitable Uzbek people and the novelty of spotting more camels, I wasn’t really excited about any aspect of the route from Tashkent to the Caspian Sea except the trifecta of Silk Road cities. Lonely Planet paints a pretty clear picture of the subject, “if Central Asia had a Hall of Fame of cities, Uzbekistan would have the top three entries: Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva.” Initially I was going to pass by all three, then I thought I had better at least explore Samarkand. With Cory on board I pulled in Bukhara. “But you’ve got to see Khiva,” was Theo’s matter of fact point when we were looking at maps. Fair enough.
Wow. I can confirm in this instance Lonely Planet was spot on with their analysis; the history and grandeur of these cities is unbelievable. Their power rose and fell with the prominence of the Silk Road. Incredible wealth, ruthless khans, 19th century Great Game Empire maneuvering between Britain and Russia: great history reads for anyone interested. Bukhara, 5,000 miles away from Mongolia, was once burnt to the ground by Genghis Khan himself. Khiva was the last major Central Asian city to hold out against Soviet expansion. Centuries earlier, Amir Timur (Tamerlane), the great Central Asian Emperor, declared Samarkand his capital. “If you have doubts in our might and power,” he said, “look at our monuments.” Needless to say, the photo albums from here (when I actually have time to post them), will be spectacular.
Apart from the ever hospitable Uzbek people and the novelty of spotting more camels, I wasn’t really excited about any aspect of the route from Tashkent to the Caspian Sea except the trifecta of Silk Road cities. Lonely Planet paints a pretty clear picture of the subject, “if Central Asia had a Hall of Fame of cities, Uzbekistan would have the top three entries: Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva.” Initially I was going to pass by all three, then I thought I had better at least explore Samarkand. With Cory on board I pulled in Bukhara. “But you’ve got to see Khiva,” was Theo’s matter of fact point when we were looking at maps. Fair enough.
Wow. I can confirm in this instance Lonely Planet was spot on with their analysis; the history and grandeur of these cities is unbelievable. Their power rose and fell with the prominence of the Silk Road. Incredible wealth, ruthless khans, 19th century Great Game Empire maneuvering between Britain and Russia: great history reads for anyone interested. Bukhara, 5,000 miles away from Mongolia, was once burnt to the ground by Genghis Khan himself. Khiva was the last major Central Asian city to hold out against Soviet expansion. Centuries earlier, Amir Timur (Tamerlane), the great Central Asian Emperor, declared Samarkand his capital. “If you have doubts in our might and power,” he said, “look at our monuments.” Needless to say, the photo albums from here (when I actually have time to post them), will be spectacular.
Silk Road grandeur
We spent a day exploring the best of each of these cities. Samarkand was the first city we hit from Tashkent. Highlights include massive mosques, avenues of colorful mausoleums, and a Registan square closed in by three huge madrassas.
Avenue of mausoleums
Gosh, if only Samarkand had bigger doors...
Whoa! Maybe a size Medium would suffice
We had heard from other travelers that it was possible to bribe policemen to let you up into a Registan minaret (the highest point in the city) to watch the sunrise over Samarkand. That took about 90 seconds to arrange and was worth every “dirty” penny.
Sunrise over Samarkand
One evening there Cory and Theo had just turned in to bed. I was finishing up on the computer when I heard what sounded like a percussion parade marching through the street. The guesthouse owner told me it was an Uzbek wedding and motioned to join in. A few of us from the guesthouse joined the march until we reached the groom’s home. He got out of the car and carried his bride upstairs amidst the uproar of the crowd, then immediately came back to the street to join the massive dance party that had erupted. Kids continued to filter into the street, we spent some time “chatting” (taking shots) with the Uzbek men, and I even managed to get my mug center frame in the wedding video as I joined the dance. It was tons of fun and the party continued long after I left.
It's a party in the Uz.Bek.Stan.
The next stop on our route was Bukhara. As you read from Cory’s post we had the ill-fortune of food sickness along the way and so it was not as pleasant a visit. Even so, Bukhara was another wonderful city: towering minarets, central pools, more madrassas, and an old central city with a warren of winding streets and alleys that hasn’t changed much in a hundred years.
Lyabi-Hauz plaza
Old town Bukhara
Here too we found you could bribe guards for access to hilltop ruins behind one of the old forts that offered a stunning panorama of the city.
Amazing views
Travelers we met in Samarkand (where it was 95-100 degrees everyday) exclaimed how cold it was there compared to Bukhara and Khiva. We stayed at a lovely guesthouse in Bukhara and joined our hosts sleeping on the roof, as it was much cooler than any of the rooms. I tried to gain some extra sleep in the mornings to combat the food illness, but by 5am the sun started creeping above the shadows of the buildings like a slow-moving lava flow. By 6:30 we were all curled up and sweaty, hiding under the two foot shadow offered by the few bricks on the roof. There will be plenty more about riding a bicycle in these conditions next post.
A bit of shade at Medina's Guesthouse
The craziest thing we saw in Bukhara was not from any Uzbeks but rather from a group of French tourists. We were exploring the streets when we stopped by the grand Kalon Minaret to catch some of the French tour guide’s explanation of its history. A few minutes later we heard a hair-raising scream from one of the women, who we realized had just been bitten on her toe by a fly. “Oh, no cause for alarm,” I thought, as this had happened to us literally 100 times in the last two days; the guide even offered up some cold water to cool the sting. But her husband proved to be the quickest and smartest on hand. He knew that the best remedy was to light a cigarette and put it out on her toe… This he proceeded to do, with actually less yelping from the woman than the initial fly bite. Her toe swelled up like it had been smashed with a hammer and I had to turn my back to the group to hide my laughter. Some old wives tales die hard.
Our last of the trifecta was the great city of Khiva. I wasn’t expecting much as I had heard it called a museum-city and had read that sometime in the near past it was completely deserted. I thought we would ride through the desert to find some half-surviving walls of an old town covered with sand dunes. This was not the case. People live in Khiva again and the “museum-city,” the walled old city, is an amazingly well-preserved complex of palaces, madrassas, and old mosques. It was awesome exploring this city and its bazaars; there was no bribery here, though we did manage to haggle the entrance ticket down from $21 to $4.
Our last of the trifecta was the great city of Khiva. I wasn’t expecting much as I had heard it called a museum-city and had read that sometime in the near past it was completely deserted. I thought we would ride through the desert to find some half-surviving walls of an old town covered with sand dunes. This was not the case. People live in Khiva again and the “museum-city,” the walled old city, is an amazingly well-preserved complex of palaces, madrassas, and old mosques. It was awesome exploring this city and its bazaars; there was no bribery here, though we did manage to haggle the entrance ticket down from $21 to $4.
Mighty Khiva
Madrassa
The new Khan of Khiva
The trifecta of Silk Road cities were wonderful to see, places I would have never thought to visit before embarking on this trip. And as you will see in the next post, they proved to be our only respite from weeks riding through the brutal Uzbek desert.
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