TASHKENT

9th - 11th Apr 2025

The Uzbek National Flag

After a much needed kip following my tiring journey I set off at mid-day on a wander around the city. Tashkent, the Capital of Uzbekistan, another stop-over on the 'Silk Road', is a large, well spread out modern city with some very wide (8 lane) main streets and often hectic traffic. It is the largest city in Central Asia with a population of over 3 million. Much of the signage is in Roman script (as opposed to Cyrillic) and the name of Tashkent is spelt locally 'Toshkent'.

Below: Rather a poor map the city....but the best I can come up with. Click on to enlarge. It highlights some of the significant places I visited.

Left: I first stopped off at a delightful restaurant, Shohona, near my hotel which, as I discovered, is not particularly conveniently located and well to the east of the main part of town. I enjoyed a bowl of stew and glass of lager here. All the staff were immaculately dressed and most helpful as, I found, were all the people who served you in this city. I also discovered that virtually all establishments appeared to be sponsored by Coca Cola!

Right: As with this place I called in at in another part of town. 

I visited a bank to get some local currency. They use the Uzbek 'Soum' (UZS) and there are, most confusingly, about 17,300 UZS to the Pound Sterling! So many 'zeros' on the bank notes, from 500,000 down to 1000, that it certainly confused me. They also had 100, 50 and 20 'soum' coins (shrapnel!)

I was to use the city Metro system (left) which was clean and efficient and very cheap. It consists of four lines namely the red, blue, green and yellow. A single ticket to anywhere on the system cost 3000 UZS (approx 15 UK pence!).

The metro became absolutely packed at  rush hours, and you had to fight your way on and off. There was no 'etiquette'  of waiting for passengers to disembark before people barged their way on. I got stuck on board on one occasion and missed my stop. I learnt always to stand near a door at the busy times. Right: Passengers waiting for a train at a relatively quiet period.

Before I discovered the Metro, I used a Yandex-Go taxi, ordered by the hotel, to take me to the main railway station (there are two) at the southern side of the city. Yandex taxis are amazing. They turn up very quickly and with a pre-arranged fee, are well driven and very cheap; like Uber but more efficient and cheaper! The 2 mile? journey cost about £1. Interestingly, seat belts in taxis (as with private cars I suspect) are fitted but seldom, if ever, used. I never met a taxi driver wearing one. So I didn't either!

Above: The main station is a very grand building with a booking office to one side. I was advised to buy ongoing tickets early as you have to have a pre-booked seat and the trains often become fully booked up (as I later discovered) especially in the present 'tourist season'. I think tour companies make many 'block' bookings. There are two types of train; the normal 'slower' models and the 'fast' modern 'bullet' variety known as Afrofiyov. I never managed to book a seat on an 'Afrofiyov'! Anyway, I managed to buy a ticket for my next ongoing journey in 5 days time. As with all transport 'hubs' in this part of the world, you have to pass through a security office (with X-ray machines) to enter the main station building.

Right: Near the station is a Railway Museum which, out of curiosity and because I happened to be there, I visited. It contains many old steam trains and carriages. I counted 24! Most of them were quite similar and covered a vast area of rail and platform.

Left: One such train....and I won't bother to show you the other 23. I am not a 'trainspotter'.

I think I was the only visitor at the time.

You can climb on board them. Right: This is the 'flight-deck' on one of the steam trains. I didn't see any notices or boards giving details of these trains...I think you needed to have a conducted tour, so I was none the wiser as to how old they were or what they were.

On walking back up Shevchenko Street from the station I found a remarkably pleasant 'Oirish Bear', called, unremarkably, 'The Irish Pub'. As I discovered, pubs and bars are not a common feature in this city. Many hostelries are 'alcohol free'. Very healthy I'm sure.

This pub was, on most occasions, very crowded and the pleasant seating outside was often fully 'reserved'. On this rare occasion it was almost empty. As described previously the 'Stans' locals are obsessed by English Premier League football (they can't understand why I am not) and English football clubs' flags and banners were strewn around inside the bar. It became a regular watering-hole for me! The cost of a decent fillet steak and veg plus .5ltr beer came to about £9. Remarkably good value if you ask me!

Left: I found this old chap sitting on a wall nearby. He wasn't very chatty.

Right: The statue of Amir Timur (Tamerlane) and his horse from which, notoriously, someone had cut off an important 'appendage', in the central square and gardens named after him. Tamerlane features widely in these parts having ruled, rather brutally, a vast area of Central Asia in the 14th century. He gets a bad press in Western Democracies, but they seem almost to revere him in this part of the world. Perhaps we need a Tamerlane in UK? He would sort out the trivia which seems to divide us!

Left: The plaque on the statue. "Strength in Justice"? With Tamerlane it was "Strength by cutting off the head of anyone who disagrees with me"!

Right: The impressive Senate Building, I think, or it could be another Government building, on the north side of the Square.

Left: Nearby the enormous, and probably very pricey, Uzbekistan Hotel. I went in to have a look and a glass of wine. It is very smart inside.

Right: A cute little statue outside the hotel. There are so many statues all over the towns in this part of the world. I couldn't help but think that if we had the same in UK many of them would invite troublemakers to 'adorn' them with unwelcome graffiti, or worse.

That will do for the time being. Much more to see in 'Toshkent'!