Introducing Samarkand
No name is so evocative of the Silk Road as Samarkand. For most people it has the mythical resonance of Atlantis, fixed in the Western popular imagination by poets and playwrights of bygone eras, few of whom saw the city in the flesh.
Advertisement
From the air your eye locks onto the domes and minarets, and on the ground the sublime, larger-than-life monuments of Timur, the technicolour bazaar and the city’s long, rich history, indeed work some kind of magic. Surrounding these islands of majesty, modern Samarkand sprawls across acres of Soviet-built buildings, parks and broad avenues used by buzzing Daewoo taxis.
You can visit most of Samarkand’s high-profile attractions in two or three days. If you’re short on time, at least see the Registan, Guri Amir, Bibi-Khanym Mosque and Shah-i-Zinda.
Note that the people of Samarkand, Bukhara and southeastern Uzbekistan don’t speak Uzbek but an Uzbek-laced Tajik (Farsi). Some members of the ethnic Tajik minority wish Stalin had made the area part of Tajikistan, but the issue is complicated by ethnic Uzbek city folk who speak Tajik.
Last updated: Jun 3, 2009
Thorn Tree forum discussion
Recent posts
-
RE: Travelling by Taxi or Train and how many days in each city...
by joolz2 12 September 2011
You could do: 1 day Khiva 1 day tour of desert forts 1 day travelling to Burkhara 1 day Burkhara 1 day travelling to Samarkand/touring…
-
Re: Uzbekistan beyond the obvious?
by daniviyana 10 September 2011
Hi, Urgut market close to Samarkand is really worth to see. You can make a trip by Taxi or Marschroutka from Samarkand. Surchandarya…
-
RE: 1 week Uzbekistan
by joolz2 09 September 2011
Easy. You can get trains between Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara. Should be manageable to get to those places in a week.
