Samarkand

26 August 2012

This weekend I travelled the golden road to Samarkand from Tashkent.

It is actually a pretty good tarmacked road through mainly flat steppe land. Never the less the overriding impression is one of open golden sandy land with crops struggling to grow in the sun baked areas by the road side. The shared taxi dropped me off on the outskirts of the sprawling town of Samarkand and my first views were not the majestic buildings I'd envisaged.

Walking towards the town, I stopped to visit the remains of an old observatory. Here I got the first introduction to the wealth of scientific and mathematical expertise that existed in this town at its prime in the 14th century and the beautifully ornate blue tiled medrasses. The next place I stopped at was the Shah-I-zinda complex, an amazing avenue of tiled and domed mausoleums.  This is where I started to get a real sense of the incredible artwork and craftsmanship that this silk road town is so famous for. It was overwhelming to see so much detailed design of such antiquity in one place. I walked on and began to see the range of roof tops where turquoise domes, tall tiled towers and detailed facades sit amongst the roofs of the town's houses. The famous registan, sits in the centre of the town and is fantastic. The tile work is stunning and the design of the medrasses conjures up clear pictures of bustling life which would have dominated these inner court yards in the past. Now there are many stalls selling tourist souveniers.

As a key tourist centre in Uzbekistan, there is no wonder that developments have enclosed the main historical sights with pedestrian ways, smart shops and gardens. However, to get a real sense of the town you have to walk down the backstreets into the old town. I stayed in a new guest house in this area and was able to experience some of this. I plan to spend some more time in Samarkand over the next few weeks as there is so much to learn about this important centre on the silk road.