SAMARKAND OR BUST

 13th - 18th Apr 2025

On south-west along the 'Silk Road' route by train to Samarkand; the 'normal' train, not the fast 'Afrosyob' bullet version (all booked up as always). It left on time at 8.40am, a 15 carriage long train, and was a comfortable enough 3.5hr trip, with all seats seemingly taken. There was a drinks and snack service through the carriages. The scenery was pancake flat grassland with some snow-capped mountains far to the south. We stopped at two stations, Gulistan and Gillax, before arriving at Samarkand at 12.05pm.

On arrival at the station I did something which I should have done much earlier, had I been wiser and found a sales outlet. There was a prominent desk here selling E-sim cards for phones, cheaply. I bought one. How the system was installed is a mystery to me. Anyway, it was a great help enabling WiFi coverage on my i-phone everywhere in Uzbekistan. 

Knowing the possible problems securing a seat on these trains I also bought a ticket for my ongoing journey a few days hence.

Right: I had checked in to a cheap and very cheerful hotel, the Dilshoda, which, as it turned out, was well located. The 'management' spoke excellent English and were extremely charming and helpful. They even sold beer and provided a good breakfast service.

A very basic map of central Samarkand. My hotel bottom centre

Left: Next door to the hotel was the Gur-e-Amir mausoleum. This is the final resting place of Amir Timur (Tamerlane) and his sons and a few other honchos. He had not expected to be buried here because he wanted to be buried in his home town of Shakhrisabz.

Right: Mr Tamerlane's portrait.

Left: His sepulchre; the brown one in the centre, although I suspect his bones are held in a vault well below.

Right: His statue at the north end of the large boulevard nearby. As mentioned before, Tamerlane is considered a murderous brute by most western countries, but he is revered in this part of the world. I suppose he did own the place (and it was a vast area, bigger than Europe by far) in the 14th century.

Left: A slight exaggeration perhaps, but there were a lot of tourists around the place. I bumped into a group from Scotland! "Och aye the noo".

Right: One of the main attractions; the three 'madrassas' surrounding the square off the main Registan Avenue. These were built between the 15th and 17th centuries. A 'madrassa' (different spellings) is a Muslim 'university' normally attached to a mosque. They have been, in most cases, brilliantly restored (most during the Soviet occupation) to their former glory.

Left: Some of the mosaic work is very impressive.......

Right: The madrassa courtyards are surrounded by small rooms which were either used as classrooms or accommodation. They now mostly house souvenir shops. There were souvenir shops and stalls 'en masse' around town....more about that later.

Left: A diorama of a group of 'professors' in discussion. They were particularly keen on mathematics, theology, philosophy........

Right: ......and astronomy. A 'noted' 15th century astronomer here, Ulugbek, built a large observatory at the north end of the town. He also specialised in trigonometry and 'spherical geometry', I read.....whatever that is. I suspect they were well ahead of what we had in the West at that period.

Left: Ambitious and colourful balloon sellers in the square.

Right: Talking of souvenirs shops and stalls, you may have noticed in the photos that I am wearing one of these...bought for about £3 at one of these stalls, so as to 'blend in' with the locals. They are typical Uzbek headwear called 'doppis'. Quite good to carry around because they fold up flat. The decoration on them are symbols which mean something, apparently. I was told that on my hat they feature a foetus in a womb with birth and death symbols....!

I was to be in Samarkand for rather longer than originally intended (train booking restrictions)...and so much more to come from here. A lot of the tourist attractions centre around mosques, mausoleums, madrassas and minarets. To be honest, once you've seen one you've seen them all (however beautifully decorated and restored). You can become somewhat 'mosqued out' pretty quickly.

I was now on the lookout for a decent pub!

So, having checked out what I could on the internet and with locals, I was disappointed to find that there appears to be no 'Oirish Bear' in Samarkand. The only large city (other than in India and Pakistan) that I have been to without at least one! 

I set off to explore with a list of few likely addresses of bars/hostelries. Most were located in the 'Russian Town' area (west of the Old 'Uzbek' Town....enlarge poor map above to identify). This area was constructed in the Soviet days and features many wide, impeccably clean boulevards and smart, upmarket shops well up to Western standard. One place I had identified was 'Beer City' which sounded promising. It was a long walk and all those I had noted down were either closed or just not there! Beer City was deserted and derelict. I found one 'bar' open on the 3rd floor of a smart hotel, but not my scene. Most disappointing. This city appears to be bereft of 'friendly' watering holes dispensing ale (ie. pubs). There are plenty of good cafés and restaurants.

Left: On my wanderings I passed many parks and grassy areas which were all beautifully maintained. There always appeared to be someone working in them, tending and weeding. Impressive (by UK standards!).

I have seen little sign of beggars in all these 'Stan' cities so far. There were a few sitting in the underpasses in Bishkek and Tashkent, but until this (right) I had seen none here. This little girl (aged about 5, I guess) was sitting begging all alone next to a busy street with no adult looking after her anywhere in sight. A rather sorry, and unusual, sight.

Left: Another curious, to me, fashion was the predominance of ladies (not, incidentally, men) of a certain age, sporting full sets of gold teeth. It was very common. I'm not sure if their gnashers were 'real' gold, but if so they are walking bullion vaults. It was not easy to get a photo of these as you can appreciate....but this one is typical.

Right: Another city seemingly sponsored by Coca-Cola! Even some of the 'tourist' signposts had Coca-Cola adverts on them. There were in fact very few street signs, which did not help navigation, but those few were written in Roman script which helped. Three languages are spoken here; Uzbek, Tajik (a Persian derivative) and Russian. Plus a smattering of English, sometimes good, in the hotels/restaurants etc.

Left: At last I managed to find a decent 'pub'. Maybe the only one in Town? In fact  just off the main 'Registan', and not far from my hotel. It is called 'Sam's Craft Pub' and serves a selection of beers and lagers plus a good food menu. It became my 'oasis' when in need of refreshment. Useful info if you ever visit Samarkand.....

Back at the hotel in the courtyard I met a group of tourists from Cardiff; an amusing bunch. "Yakky da!". 

Much more to come from this fascinating city........you will be overjoyed to learn. 😵