ASIA Archives - Wanderwiles

Tblisi, Georgia, a city of contrasts

We arrived in Tblisi on a short Azerbaijan Airlines flight from Baku. The Tblisi International Airport is not big and we quickly collected our luggage and summoned a Bolt car. We ended up using Bolt several times in Tblisi, always with very reasonable prices and typically short wait times. We knew prior to our arrival in Tblisi that massive protests had been going on in the city over objections to a proposed anti-free-journalism law. I messaged our hotel from the Baku airport to verify that the street our hotel was on (the same avenue on which the Georgian Parliament sits) was still open. Thankfully, the hotel confirmed that it was so I could reassure our Bolt driver who at first told me the road was closed.

The entrance to Alma Boutique Hotel is not impressive. From the graffiti outside, to renovation tarp and pile of old books and furniture sitting next to the somewhat alarming elevator things are a bit grim. But, once the elevator opened on the 3rd floor, we found ourselves in a fully renovated, clean and fresh-smelling one-floor hotel. The nice lady at the desk spoke good English and quickly settled us into a spacious bedroom with high ceilings and a balcony overlooking Rustaveli Avenue and the Opera and Ballet Theater of Tblisi across the avenue. The contrast between crumbling elegance and modern updates came to typify Tblisi in our minds. Tblisi is a far cry from Baku’s petroleum-fueled opulence, but it’s fascinating and beautiful in its own way. Six nights in the city including two day trips to see more of Georgia flew by. I’ll cover day trips separately and stick to Tblisi itself in this post.

Tblisi is a mixed bag: crumbling old buildings, street dogs, graffiti… elegance and flowers.

Founded in the 5th century, Tblisi, the capital of Georgia and its largest city with a population of over 1 million people, sits on the Kura River. Although I’ll use “Kura,” our first day-trip guide preferred its Georgian name, Mt’k’vari, and blamed the Russians for changing the name. The Kura flows from Turkey through Georgia to Azerbaijan so our guide’s attitude and focus on Russia may have reflected the anti-Russian sentiment evident to us in a sizeable portion of the Tblisi population. We saw this sentiment expressed in the nightly mass protests against a new “transparency” law similar to one used by Putin to stifle journalists in Russia and in a clear preference for English over Russian of many Georgians we encountered, particularly the younger generation. Random conversations with locals who heard our American-accented English reinforced the impression and we found people to be friendly, welcoming and helpful. Still, it’s a complicated situation, especially with substantial numbers of both Ukranian war refugees and Russians opposed to the war now residing in Georgia, and I won’t pretend to make any broad judgments based on our travels as tourists.

Protests viewed from our hotel balcony. Fortunately, things settled down at a reasonable hour and the hotel’s double-glazed windows did a great job. We slept well every night.

From a tourism perspective, there’s a variety of things to explore in Tblisi. Just walking along Rustaveli Avenue toward Liberty Square from our hotel took us past many top sights and museums: the Opera and Ballet Theater of Tblisi, Parliament, the National Galerie, the Georgia Museum of Fine Arts, the Georgian National Museum. We wandered the length of the avenue in both directions, admiring both the intentional sights as well as taking in daytime evidence of the massive nighttime protests: scattered clusters of protesters with the Georgian or European Union flags tied around their shoulders, lots of political graffiti, and police, water cannon trucks, and the occasional ominous-looking black- or camo-clad “security” people. Favorite refreshment stops included a old-style Georgian restaurant, a cool wine bar and restaurant in an art gallery setting, a stylish café in an Old Town theater, a small Thai restaurant, and (of course) a craft beer bar. [See “Practical info” below for details.]

The Clock Tower in Old Tblisi next door to Gabriadze Cafe with one of the ubiquitous street dogs of Tblisi (Yellow tags in the dogs’ ears indicate they’ve been spayed or neutered and vaccinated. Dogs are everywhere in Tblisi and treated well by the locals. We always saw them approach for treats or petting with tails wagging, confident people meant good things.)

Gazing across Rustaveli Avenue from our balcony, we could see the Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tblisi perched on a hill and lit at night. After the sights of Rustaveli Avenue, we hopped a cheap Bolt ride to the cathedral. Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tblisi exceeded expectations. Descending multiple levels, the cathedral is deceptively larger on the inside than it appears from the outside. We browsed the artwork and relics on the soaring main level, then descended to the spacious lower levels to admire reception and conference areas and yet more artwork there. I purchased a pretty Georgian cross pendant and chain for a amazingly low price from a lady downstairs before heading outside to admire the cathedral grounds.

A small chapel sits to one side of the cathedral. Roses bloomed in hedge-rimmed grassy areas surrounding the wide paved spaces around the cathedral while birds sand in the aftermath of a passing rain. Wide steps lead past a bell tower and fountains to connect an arched entrance to the grounds and the cathedral. Wandering downhill from the cathedral back towards the Kura, we walked past quaint old buildings and the sharply-contrasting colonnaded and glass-domed State Palace of Ceremonies (the former residence of the President of Georgia) which overlooks the city.

Another day, we took the Tblisi Funicular to Mtatsminda Park, a hilltop amusement park overlooking the city. The funicular is 10GEL, but entry to the pretty park is free and the views over Tblisi are great. [See lead photo.] In addition to rides and games, the park offers pretty green spaces, play areas and food and drink booths and casual restaurants with outdoor seating. From Mtatsminda Park, we caught our longest Bolt ride along winding mountain roads down to one of the oldest parts of the city, Abanotubani.

Abanotubani with its ancient domes covering underground baths reminded us of Baku’s old town and bears witness to the Islamic influences in Tblisi and its place along the Silk Road. Flowing from a waterfall at one end, a creek sparkles below picturesque tan brick buildings and a beautiful bathhouse facade of blue, green, white and tan tiles and minarets reminiscent of Uzbekistan. We opted not to book time in a bath, but plenty appeared available. Cafés and hotels boast painted wooden balconies overlooking the creek in its little valley. We enjoyed a delicious lunch on one of those balconies at Restaurant Usakhelouri overlooking the bath domes and creek. We watched as two bridal parties arrived below in vintage cars to take photos in the scenic spot.

Sated and with leftovers packed up to go, we left Abanotubani to cross the Kura River to Metekhi Virgin Mary Assumption Church. The church and a large equestrian statue of King Vakhtang Gorgasali, the founder of Tblisi, perch on a cliff above the Kura River. Small tour boats ran back and forth along the cliff and under the bridge as we admired the view. We joined a small gathering inside the church to watch the baptism of an adorable but less-than-enthused infant in his father’s arms.

Metekhi Virgin Mary Assumption Church and the statue of
King Vakhtang Gorgasali above the Kura River

Across a wide circle known as Europe Square on the same side of the Kura as the church, the Mother of Georgia Tramway (cable car carries) people up to yet another mountain-side destination, the Mother of Georgia statue. On a sunny Saturday, a long line of people waited to take the ride.

Europe Square with the Peace Bridge, tramway, and Rike Park beyond

Beyond the tramway, Rike Park sits along the river next to the Peace Bridge with its glass and metal curves. Rike Park is also home to the Rike Music Theater and Exhibition Center. The Center’s intriguing architecture of more swooping metal and glass is in the shape of two tubes with bulbous bases and open ends which form a large V. These openings reminded me of the gaping mouths of giant space worms. My apologies if that’s not the impression the architect(s) hoped for.

The domed State Palace of Ceremonies above the tubes of
the Rike Music Theater and Exhibition Center viewed from across the river

We enjoyed other walks around Tblisi among the sometimes charming and sometimes dilapidated buildings that were often both. Winding streets and those ornate painted wooden balconies lured us around the next corner. Imposing modern buildings like the huge city hall and the Rikes Park buildings are a startling contrast. All in all, we found Tblisi to be a fascinating city with pleasantly cheap prices. Alternating days in the city with day trips into the surrounding country turned out to be perfect and we both felt our six nights in Tblisi was just right.

Practical info:

Alma Boutique Hotel was a great base for us. We paid a GEL 1,313.76 (currently $468.36) for six nights, including tax, but no breakfast. Coffee and a coffee pot and a small refrigerator were provided in our room and there are several coffee/pastry shops nearby where breakfast fare cost a pittance. We breakfasted at a small table and chairs we moved between our balcony and the large bedroom as weather dictated.

Bolt was definitely the way to get around in Tblisi. Even if taxis were waiting (which they always were across the street from our hotel), we would use the Bolt app and so not have to worry about cash or pricing surprises. (I did read that it was best to keep the app open until the end of the ride to protect against the remote chance of an attempt at overcharging.) Often, the Bolt car was among the taxis or was a minute or less away. We had zero problems and encountered only clean cars and good drivers.

Favorite restaurants included:
Restaurant Margalita [1 Mitropan Laghidze St, Tbilisi 0108] serves classic Georgian fare just around the corner from our hotel in a space brimming with random vintage pieces and tables sporting mismatched tablecloths. We dined there twice and they gave us a discount when we presented a business card from Alma Boutique Hotel.

Salobie Bia [Rustaveli Theater, 17 Shota Rustaveli Ave, Tbilisi 0108] offers “simple Georgian food” and Georgian wines in a cool art gallery setting next to a theater.

Gabriadze Cafe [13 Ioane Shavteli St, Tbilisi 0105] in an old theater is pretty special with an artsy interior and a wall of windows facing the 6th century Anchiskhati Basilica. The cafe also offers outdoor seating next door to the iconic Clock Tower in old town.

Restaurant Usakhelouri [17/19 Abano St. in the Abanotubani district of Tblisi] provided good lunch food and a great view from a balcony overlooking the old baths. The interior is sleek and casually elegant.

Charm Thai [13 Arsena St, Tbilisi, Georgia] was twice a tasty break from Georgian food. Small, but good food and friendly service which can get a bit slow as we discovered when we returned on a crowded evening.

We tasted Georgian craft beer in tiny, graffiti-covered Process Craft Beer Bar [19 Merab Kostava St, Tbilisi 0108]. There are other craft beer locations in Old Tblisi (further south), but with Georgia such a wine-making country, we opted to focus on wine rather than beer. See my post on our day on the wine route for more on Georgian wine.

Azerbaijan: Mud volcanoes, a burning hillside and more

Our guide, Hasan, arrived at our Baku hotel promptly at 9am to start a day tour of the Absheron Peninsula on which the Azerbaijani capital sits and the cultural and historic preserve of Gobustan with its prehistoric carvings. We headed southwest out of Baku driving almost a hour to Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape where we joined a cluster of cars and buses awaiting the park’s 10am opening. Skipping the park museum for the time being, we bypassed most of our fellow visitors and went straight to the rock art.

Massive rocks that defy the term “boulder” cover the hillside. Natural shelters and crevices used to funnel wild cattle into hunters’ traps dot the hillside and are covered with ancient art reflecting life long ago: Hunters and wild bulls, boar, birds, wildlife of many kinds, caravans of camels and their drivers. Percussion instruments of long raised stones still resonate when struck with smaller stones, an ancient method of communication. Circular carvings in the stone ground caught water and blood from butchered prey. Beyond this ancient stone habitation, flat marshes stretch to the Caspian Sea in the distance. Hasan did a good job explaining it all and the museum provided a final overview before it was time to moved on to another highlight of our day, the mud volcanoes.

Hasan called ahead to arrange our meet-up with our Lada driver on the side of a paved road. Hasan rode shotgun, chatting away in Azeri with our driver, while David and I took the back seat. I’ve read that there are mud volcanoes in the area that are now reachable by a typical rental car sedan, but the road we took absolutely required something more than your average street car. We quickly left paved road, barreling across a barren wasteland, throwing up a cloud of dust and dodging the dust of other vehicles making the same trek. About mid-way, the “road” narrowed to a single lane across what looked to be a rainwater pond. Our path was so deeply rutted that it took a couple of tries for the hardy Lada 4×4 to make it past one particularly steep dip. Yeah, a street sedan would not work for this.

We arrived to a field of “mud volcanoes,” mounds of dried dark mud created by methane gas bubbling up through liquid mud. Surprisingly, the mud is cool to the touch, cooler even than the air around us. Climbing atop one mound, we dipped our fingers in to a particularly active small mud pool that was creating huge bubbles.

Exploring the field, we climbed other “volcanoes,” some barely active, some oozing long rivers of mud; one was on fire. It’s a fascinating landscape. Mud volcanoes exist in other parts of the world, but more than half of them (some 400) are in Azerbaijan.

Heading back towards Baku after the mud volcanoes, we stopped to visit the Bibi-Heybat Mosque. Originally built in the 13th century, destroyed by the Russians in 1936, then rebuilt in the 1990s the mosque’s Arabic exterior encloses a Persian- and Azerbaijani-influenced interior.

We were more than ready for lunch by the time we returned to central Baku for a simple lunch of Azerbaijani cuisine after which we continued on through Baku to head north and then east to Yanardag “Fire Mountain.” Hasan bypassed a line at the ticket counter to buy our tickets before we headed on to view the side of a low bare hill in perpetual flames. Bleacher-style seats leading down from a small museum formed a semi-circle around a broad paved patio in front of the burning area. The place was fairly empty with small clusters of tourists standing in front of the fire enjoying the warmth in an increasingly chilly wind. The fire is natural, another effect of the seeping methane in the area. Ancient Zoroastrians considered the area sacred, a belief that led them to found Baku.

Yanardag

A short drive from Yanardag, we arrived at our last stop, Ateshgah of Baku, a former Zoroastrian fire temple. The temple occupies the center of a pentagonal courtyard surrounded by a former caravansarai and monks’ quarters. The fire temple itself is a small stone structure with open arches on each of its four sides. An “eternal” flame fueled by naturally occurring gas once burned on an altar at its center. The monks’ quarters and caravansarai, a way-station or inn for caravans moving along the Silk Road, provided natural gas fire pits in each room courtesy of the unique geologic makeup of the region. Most of the cells now contain vignettes, artifacts and life-size dummies portraying life in the complex over the ages.

Ateshgah of Baku, a Zoroastrian fire temple

After a full day, we were pleasantly tired and ready to head back to our hotel in Baku. Retracing our route back past the ultra-modern Heydar Aliyev Centre in Baku with its curving white walls and imposing size provided a final treat.

Practical info:
Many tour companies and guides offer similar itineraries of this popular day trip to Absheron and Gobustan. After browsing offerings on Viator and Tripadvisor, I discovered a confusing array of potential extras. Reviews of trips to the mud volcanoes frequently mentioned an extra charge for a Lada to carry visitors across rough terrain to the mud volcanoes, entry fees or lunch were or weren’t included, etc. And there were group and private tours available. I decided to message our hotel to see if they had a recommendation for a private tour. They did, but when I contacted that company with the specific questions my research had raised, I found they charged extra for a transfer to the mud volcanoes and suggested a $50 lunch which sounded ridiculously high for Azerbaijan. I opted instead to email Baku City Tours, a top-rated tour company on Tripadvisor. They responded promptly, answered all my questions about their “Full day Gobustan & Absheron Tour” clearly, didn’t charge extra for a Lada 4×4, and quoted a firm and reasonable price for lunch. Baku City Tours WhatsApped me the evening before our tour to confirm pick-up and our driver, Hasan, messaged me as well. All in all, I was very satisfied with Baku City Tours.

Surprising Baku, Azerbaijan

View of the Maiden Tower and Caspian Sea from Xanliq Restaurant in Old Baku

We landed at the Baku airport around 7:30pm local time on Azerbaijan Airlines. We were 30 minutes or so late due to a delay leaving CDG, but the 5h50 flight was pleasant enough with a hot meal served. The sun set just prior to our taxi ride into town which allowed us to enjoy the light show provided by the many high-rise buildings that lined the broad road, the hi-tech display reminiscent of a recent overnight in Doha. In the distance, I finally caught sight of those “flame towers” that so caught my eye in the photograph of Baku that led me to plan this trip. [An overview of this 12-night Caucasus trip is in my previous post.]

Turning off the modern thoroughfare, our driver stopped at a guard post where a boom was raised to allow us into Icheri Sheher (“Old City”), a different world of winding cobbled streets, wooden balconies and stone buildings. Removed from lighted high-rises, Seven Rooms Boutique Hotel nestles into the heart of ancient Baku. This pretty hotel in a great location offered us a comfortable 3rd floor room with a huge bed and marble bathroom and an included breakfast in a glass-walled upstairs space adjoining a rooftop terrace with spectacular views of the city and the Caspian Sea.

Views of Baku from the rooftop terrace of our hotel

With no time to explore our first night, we were up and off after breakfast the next morning. A two-minute walk from our hotel past street-level stone domes of ancient underground baths, we arrived at the 12th century “Maiden Tower,” a UNESCO Heritage Monument. [left, in the lead photo above] The Maiden Tower may have been originally built by Zoroastrian fire worshipers, early founders of Baku who were drawn to the region by its seeping natural gas that fuels both human- and nature-originating fires. Later modifications incorporated the tower into medieval defensive walls. The tower has eight interior stories that now house historic displays. A central hole, open to the bottom floor, runs through them all. A rooftop deck offers great views of Baku and the Caspian Sea. The maiden tower is an iconic emblem of the city and the country, featured on Azerbaijan currency and (so I read) official letterheads.

From the maiden tower, we walked cobbled streets to the Juma Mosque, a beautifully restored and active mosque dating to the 1300’s and possibly built originally on the site of an ancient fire temple. Only five minutes or so from the Juma Mosque, the Palace of the Shirvanshahs, a 15th century UNESCO Heritage monument, commands the old town. The Shirvanshahs ruled Shirvan (part of present-day Azerbaijan that includes Baku) from 861 to 1538 making them one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the Islamic world. A 15th century Shirvanshah moved his capital to Baku and began construction on the original palace. On a gorgeous Saturday, the palace was popular with groups of school children on field trips whom we dodged to explore the palace on our own. The former residential second floor is closed to the public, but there are a maze of rooms with historic displays to see on the ground floor and the palace grounds contain the Shirvanshah’s mosque and mausoleum, burial vaults and remnants of a bath house.

We got our first real taste of Azerbaijani cuisine at a late lunch near the palace, sitting outside at café Xanliq while a truly talented musician played music on a local string instrument and big samovars puffed steam into the air. We enjoyed chicken and chestnuts in a rich, tangy pomegranate sauce, beef chunks cooked with dried apricots, chestnuts and chickpeas, rice pilaf, sparkling water and a shared baklava dessert. Delicious. And all that for 35.64 dram or about $21. If only we could bring these prices back home to Paris!

Left to right: beef with dried apricots, sultanas and chestnuts; rice pilar; and, chicken and chestnuts in pomegranate sauce

Refreshed and refueled, we continued our ramble through the old town, periodically turning down a cobbled street to be greeted by the strange juxtaposition of the ultra-modern flame towers appearing in the distance beyond the maze-like Islamic medina of Icheri Sheher.

We exited through a beautiful gate in the crenelated walls to check out the large and very modern glass geometric shape that is the Icheri Sheher métro station. It’s a striking structure with a large covered entrance designed to look like an Azerbaijani carpet. We ducked in to check out the interior and a free photography exhibit on display, but were not ready to actually ride the subway anywhere. Major sights still awaited us within walking distance.

From top, counterclockwise: Icheri Sheher Métro Station; photo exhibit inside
the métro station with the walls of the Old City through the windows;
and, an elegant pedestrian underpass beneath Neftchilar Avenue

The Caspian Sea waterfront promenades of Baku with long wide parks and ultra modern buildings on either end impressed me. Modern Baku is the product of vast petroleum wealth. Architectural works of art, high-end cars on the boulevards, majestic Soviet-era metro and underground pedestrian tunnels for crossing those wide roads. There’s a nouveau riche, over-the-top aspect to much of it, but there’s also an undeniable grandeur. It’s an immaculately clean city, too, and its cafes, parks and shopping areas bustle with life.

The massive Deniz Mall with its wings reminiscent of the Sydney Opera House dominates the southern end of the Baku National Seaside Park. Nearby near the canals of “Mini Venice,” a long building shaped like a rolled up rug houses the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum. Strolling the length of the waterfront, there’s a yacht club, fountains, music playing from speakers, a viewing tower, historic photographs lining a walkway, benches flowers, eateries and shopping. With the sunning shining and a mildly cool May, we found it all delightful.

Other parts of the city just outside the walls of Icheri Sheher boast wide paved plazas and avenues, streets lined with cafés and restaurants, shopping malls, hotels, a vibrant mix of commercial activity. Architecture reflects both Middle Eastern and European influences. High-end shops bearing the names of familiar luxury designers and some not so familiar to us give testament to the petroleum riches that have poured into Azerbaijan.

Baku so exceeded my expectations that I wish we’d had that extra day we lost due to a canceled flight just to wander the city some more. But we had plans for a day outside the city. My next post takes us beyond Baku to mud volcanoes, an ancient cave settlement with prehistoric drawings, a naturally burning hillside and a Zorastrian fire temple.

Flame Towers lit up like flames (only one of their displays) viewed from near the Maiden Tower

Practical stuff:

The local language is Azerbaijani/Azeri and Russian is a common second language, but we found enough people who spoke enough English to never have any problems. Google Translate was a big help (although it can’t do audible Azeri) and T-Mobile kept us connected. We felt very comfortable and safe exploring the city on our own. Every city has its sketchy parts of town and I’m sure Baku has its, but we were never anywhere far from the main sights so saw nothing remotely concerning.

I booked Seven Rooms Boutique Hotel on Booking.com via the Topcashback portal which was offering 6% cash back at Booking.com at the time.

We enjoyed our meals in Baku. Best Place Restaurant & Music Bar is just steps from Seven Rooms Boutique Hotel. While there was live jazz going on downstairs, we opted for a quiet dinner in a surprisingly elegant dining room upstairs where music by Frank Sinatra and other greats of that era played from a mock gramophone. For our final night, we dined on traditional Azerbaijani food on the second-floor terrace of the Museum Inn Terrace & Restaurant with a beautiful sunset view of the nearby Maiden Tower and the Caspian Sea beyond.

Our Azerbaijan Airlines flight from Paris to Baku was operated by Heston Airlines. The plane was fine, but a bit older and had no charge ports at the seats. Meal service was a bit odd as the crew kept bringing two meals at a time from the galley. The food was typical economy class fare served with Azerbaijani wine and beer as well as non-alcoholic drinks. We saw no reason to fly business on this flight as it was only 5+ hours long and we did not want to sleep. This turned out to be a good choice as there was very little to distinguish business seats from economy.

We flew Azerbaijan Airlines again from Baku to Tblisi, Georgia. This was an extremely punctual short flight. Shout out to Azerbaijan Airlines for going over and above on this one: David forgot a small backpack in the airport lounge near our departure gate in Baku. Amazingly, Azerbaijan Airlines customer service at Tblisi arranged to have someone in Baku go to the lounge, pick up the backpack and put it on the next flight. Then, someone collected it and put it in Tblisi airport lost-and-found where we were able to pick it up the following day. Bravo!

We ended up not needing to ride the Baku Métro, but we checked out the ticket machines anyway and discovered that despite claims that the machines operate in Azerbaijani, Russian and English, that just isn’t so. There’s some initial English, but then all goes to Azerbaijani/Azeri and is pretty much unusable for us English-speakers.

We saw quite a few Bolt cars in Baku, but we didn’t use them. I initially let our hotel arrange a transfer because we were arriving at night and the hotel is small and in the restricted old town area. (40 dram or about $23.50 for a roughly 40 min. ride) I thought we’d use Bolt to go back the the airport, but after reading online of some problems with Bolt driver scams in Baku, I opted to again have the hotel call a ride and I paid them directly. It probably would have been cheaper with Bolt, but this way, I was sure of the ride and the price.

A Photo of Baku leads to 12 Nights in the Caucasus

This photo is my own, but similar to the one that originally caught my attention.

I can’t say how many times an interesting photo has caught my eye and led me to plan yet another trip, but Baku, Azerbaijan, was definitely one of those times. I don’t even remember where I first saw that intriguing image of a classic Islamic medina (“old town”) with three flame-shaped skyscrapers looming in the background, but I do know I started researching straight away. Baku. Even the name was unfamiliar and intriguing. Azerbaijan I knew nothing about. “The Caucasus” for me was a region usually in the news because of some conflict involving Russia and/or Turkey. I clearly needed to know more.

Having traveled Uzbekistan last September, I was interested in seeing more of the old Silk Road. A quick search showed non-stop flights to Baku from Paris (our current home) on Azerbaijan Airlines. This was a new airline for me so merited a little more research even though I’m usually reassured by EU safety standards for airlines servicing the European Union. Reviews looked good, the timing was reasonable, the price was fair.

I originally pondered making this a short, one-city visit, but naturally looked at what was nearby as well. Researching Baku put the Caucasus in general on my radar screen and that meant Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia and part of Russia. Current international relations and the war in Ukraine meant Russia was off the table, and I’d traveled in Russia before anyway. Tblisi, Georgia, is a short flight away from Baku, once again on Azerbaijan Airlines. That sounded promising and a Scotsman we’d met in Uzbekistan gave it a thumbs-up. The more I read about Tblisi and Georgia, the more appealing the whole country became and Tblisi became a definite follow-up to Baku.

Armenia came into focus when I realized there were day tours to some Armenian monasteries from Tblisi. If you could do a day tour, could we maybe combine a day tour with a transfer all the way to Yerevan, the capital of Armenia? We could! And Transavia offered reasonably-priced non-stop flights back to Paris from Yerevan. Better and better.

However, research also led to more info about the recent war between Azerbaijan and Armenia. A cease-fire was signed last November, so things seemed to be settling down. But still… And there were posts about problems getting into Armenia with an Azerbaijani stamp in a passport, but they were not very recent. Hmm. I read some more and decided to go for it. I had a plan: 4 nights in Baku (with 1 day tour), 6 nights in Tblisi (with 2 day tours spaced between free days in Tblisi), and 3 nights in Yerevan. I chose highly-rated boutique hotels in Baku (in the old town) and Tblisi (across from the opera on the main avenue) and a luxury hotel in Yerevan for a final hurrah paid for entirely with hotel points. I booked the iconic day tour from Baku directly with the tour operator: “mud volcanoes”, an ancient dwelling place full of cave drawings, a Zoroastrian temple, and “Fire Mountain” where natural gas burned perpetually on a hillside. I booked the day tours from Tblisi via Viator: monasteries, the historic old capital and cathedral, Stalin’s childhood home, a cave city one day; and, a great day wine tasting and cooking on Georgia’s preeminent wine route.

The only hiccup in my plans came weeks in advance when Azerbaijan Airlines canceled our Thursday flight, offering to re-booked us on the same flight on Friday. It was a disappointing loss of one day in Baku, but not a big deal. The hotel changed our booking and deducted the cost of a night, we still had a great time both on the tour and exploring on our own, and while we would have enjoyed the extra day, we hit all my Baku must-sees in the time we had.

The trip itself was fun and a learning experience. We witnessed mass pro-democracy demonstrations nightly in Tblisi passing under our balcony, were obliged to re-route due to an Armenia-Azerbaijan border dispute, and heard both sides of clashes that have marked the history of the region. Now that I’ve set the scene for our Caucasus adventure, I’ll write about each destination in separate posts. There’s much to share!

May 2024

Tashkent, Uzbekistan’s modern capital

Fountains of the State Museum of the Temurids in Tashkent

Our high-speed train from Samarkand to Tashkent had us arriving in the Uzbek capital city in the evening. After driving down wide modern boulevards, we were a little surprised to find our hotel located on what appeared to be a residential street. The hotel itself was nice, though, and a short walk to a major road and the Russian embassy. When our city guide, Marifat, arrived the next day, we discovered that the hotel was also a short drive to many of the main sights as well as conveniently located to the airport.

Our first touristy stops in Tashkent were at the Khast Imam complex (16-20century), billed as “the spiritual heart of Tashkent” followed by Barak Khan madrassa which has one of the oldest extant copies of the Quran. Both of these were beautiful, particularly the large mosque of the Khast Imam complex, but they were similar to the Five M’s [mosques, minarets, madrassas mausoleums and markets] we’d seen across Uzbekistan.

In borrowed modest attire with Marifat in the lovely Khast Imam mosque

At this last stage of our Uzbekistan travels, I found myself intrigued by the differences Tashkent offered from the other places we’d visited. Tashkent suffered extensive earthquake damage in the past and has been largely rebuilt. This makes for a more modern city than other stops on our journey. The huge domes of the Chorsu bazaar were a step beyond any market we’d seen.

Descending from the bazaar into one of the spectacular Soviet-era metro stops was a real treat. For about 10 cents apiece, we rode the métro to the Cosmonauts stop, decorated entirely in a space theme with art honoring the first cosmonauts and even the Apollo-Soyuz handshake mission from 1975. The subway cars themselves were mostly vintage but, as in Moscow, the stations are really magnificent.

Exiting the Cosmonauts métro stop, we rendezvoused with our driver near the circular domed glass Interpol building. Our next stop was the Amaliy San’at Muzeyi (Applied Art Museum) of Tashkent housed in a beautifully tiled former mansion. We enjoyed the displays of fabrics, suzani, carpets, musical instruments, furniture and ceramics. The rest of our tour involved a drive down wide boulevards past the vast Independence Square the State Museum of the Timurids, Amir Timur Square and other gleaming modern buildings. David and I made note of interesting places to return on our own later, but first we were hungry! We’d postponed lunch to finish our tour, but now we asked Marifat to recommend somewhere to eat and asked her to join us.

The Uzbek restaurant Marifat originally recommended in an upscale strip center was completely full, but we spotted a Chinese restaurant, Dimsum Bamboo, a few doors down. The change in cuisine sounded great to us and Marifat was intrigued. We had a great time visiting with Marifat whom we found charming. She shared her worries about a new job with a Canadian tour company that was set to start in a couple of days. The job was a huge deal to her and would entail being in charge of her first big group and a two-country trip. All had been well until she’d gotten a call the night before from her new employer questioning whether she was ready for the job and asking her to take yet another test. Marifat also shared more personal issues and the challenges for a young single woman in her country wanting to make her own way. We felt no doubt she’d succeed in whatever she tried and told her so. We’ve stayed in touch since our return and have rejoiced with her as her new job has gone well and she’s gotten rave reviews from people in her tours.

After a quick refresh and rest in our hotel, we used the Yandex Go* app to summon a ride and headed back to Amir Timur Square to do a little exploring on our own. We wandered the square, then crossed the street to admire the Timurid museum before heading back through the square to “Broadway” a pedestrian street we’d noticed when with Marifat and our driver. Broadway turned out to have more of a carnival vibe than we expected. We joined families, couples and groups of friends strolling between booths of games and fair food. *[Note: Marifat recommended Yandex Go and I’d read about it before leaving, but didn’t find the right app. It’s important to search “Yandex Go” not just “Yandex” when looking for this app on Google Playstore. There are lots of apps with the name Yandex. What we used is Yandex Go which has a simple icon with a rectangular yellow bar on the top and two equal squares on the bottom, one white and one black. Alternatively, use the above link and choose the download option from the dropdown menu. Yandex Go works like Uber or Lyft, but we paid cash rather than loading a credit card. Rides were plentiful and very cheap.]

Exploring Tashkent on our own. From top left: Amir Timur Square, State Museum of the Temurids, Broadway, Independence Square fountains, festive street lights, Memorial Square

We decided to use Google Maps to find our way back to Independence Square, a made our way past a large police station where lines of uniformed police gathered in formation for some sort of ceremony. With the sun dropping low, we passed an enormous new Hyatt, turning to walk along a wide, colorfully-lit boulevard past a concert hall and a haunting memorial square with a large statue of a grieving figure bent towards an eternal flame.

White Chevrolets make up the majority of Uzbek automobiles

We finally reached Independence Square just as evening was falling. A basin of fountains separates Sharaf Rashidaf Avenue from the vast square which boasts a wide colonnade the center of which is crowned by a sculptured stork atop a globe. Beyond that in a park stands a bronze-colored globe which replaces a statue of Lenin.

With daylight disappearing, we used the Yandex Go app again to hail a car to take us back to the strip center where we’d lunched with Marifat. This time the restaurant she’d recommended, Afsona, had a table available and we enjoyed a topnotch final Uzbek dinner.

Samarkand, Uzbekistan

Back in Samarkand after our day in Shahrisabz, our first stop continued the Timur theme of the day before with a visit to his mausoleum. Our guide, Amin, was stuck in traffic, so driver Umid got our tickets and told us to wander on our own inside and that Amin would find us when he arrived. We didn’t mind the time alone as we knew about the site already both from the audiobook on Timur I’d been listening to and from what we’d learned the day before. During his lifetime, Emir Timur planned his tomb to be Shahrisabz. He died in 1405 on an aborted invasion of China. The mountain passes to Shahrisabz were closed due to snow at the time and Timur was buried in Samarkand in this mausoleum, originally intended by him for his grandson and heir who predeceased him.

The Timur Mausoleum and its 64-ribbed dome

A fluted dome, boasting 64 ribs representing the age to which Mohammed lived (63, by western counting, plus 9 months of gestation) tops the octagonal mausoleum. In the ornate central chamber decorated with kilograms of gold, a dark green jade headstone marks the burial site of Timur which is actually located in a crypt directly underneath the main chamber. The jade stone had formerly been an altar in the Chinese emperor’s palace and then the throne of Duwa, a descendant of Genghis Khan. It is surrounded by tombstones of Timur’s younger two sons and two of his grandsons as well as Timur’s spiritual teacher.

The gold encrusted chamber that houses the Timur’s tombstone

When Amin arrived, he told us that a Soviet archaeologist opened the tomb and removed Timur’s remains for analysis in 1941, two days before Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. Word spread that the tomb was cursed, and a legend arose about cryptic warnings supposedly inscribed on the tomb and inside the sarcophagus cursing anyone who disturbed the ruler’s rest. Stalin either believed in the curse, or at least wasn’t taking any chances, and ordered Timur be reburied. Emir Timur was reburied with full Islamic burial rites in December 1942, about a month before the Soviet victory at Stalingrad. In the 1970’s the Soviets began restoration of the greatly deteriorated mausoleum, apparently intending to keep on the good side of the dead Emir.

Another interesting bit of history is displayed in the courtyard of the Timur Mausoleum: a large stone vat used by Timur’s soldiers. Before heading off on one of their almost constant military campaigns, the vat was filled with pomegranate juice. Each soldier would then drink a cup of juice. On the army’s return, each soldier would again drink a cup of juice from the refilled vat. The number of casualties would then be calculated based on the difference in the amount of juice left in the vat. The more juice left by the returning troops, the more men had been lost in battle.

Our next stop was the heart of ancient Samarkand, a gorgeous, sweeping public square known as The Registan. [lead photo above] The Registan is bracketed by three former madrassas each with distinctive Islamic architecture and design. The buildings now house a museum, shops and small tea houses, and a mausoleum. Interestingly, a tombstone in the plaza itself is not that of a ruler or imam, but of a butcher. A wealthy butcher agreed to supply meat to the builders of The Registan asking only that he be allowed to be buried there, probably not expecting it would take nine years. He kept his end of the bargain, though, and got his promised reward.

Amin suggest we come back to The Registan in the evening around 9pm for a sound and light show. We made it our last night in Samarkand. After several false starts, we were treated to some frenetic lights and a gaudy light show. We didn’t stay till the end. In my personal opinion, The Registan looked much lovelier in its normal nighttime lights before the show began. Nevertheless, the show was undoubtedly popular.

I prefer the regular nighttime lights on the Registan.

Our hotel in Samarkand, Zilol Baxt, stands among high-end international boutiques at the head of a long narrow park occupying the center of wide University Boulevard. A large seated statue of Timur commands the opposite end of the boulevard park. Fountains lit at night and scattered statues ornament the tree-lined path in between. University buildings flank this narrow park. There are newer, posher hotels now in Samarkand including large international chains, but Zilol Baxt was clearly something special in its day and it still retains a bit of period swank and boasts an attentive staff with someone always ready to swing open the wide front door.

I’d asked Zokir* to book a nicer restaurant with “local flair” for our first night in Samarkand for my birthday dinner. Not only did he book a restaurant, Samarkand Restaurant, but he commandeered Umid to drive us there which meant Umid had to leave his own family on his younger daughter’s birthday to drive back into the city. I felt terrible about that and we sent him back home after he dropped us off since a Google Maps search showed our hotel was only a 20 minute walk away. Samarkand Restaurant turned out not to be at all what I’d imagined. [*I worked with Zokir at Silk Road Destinations to plan and organize this trip. For details see my first Uzbekistan post.]

We entered into an ornate marble-floored entryway with a soaring ceiling and crystal chandeliers, through a large, equally elegant dining area packed with wedding celebrants in elaborate dress eating and dancing under colored lights to blaring music. (Big glitzy wedding venues, bridal couples posing for photos, and wedding dress shops abound in Samarkand where weddings are clearly big business.) From the flashy wedding party room, we climbed stairs to discover a kitschy rustic Russian dining room with wooden beams, log cabin walls and an eclectic decor featuring old radios. Hmm.

Samarkand Restaurant and its interesting variety

Groups of locals and tourists sat at mostly larger tables, but we were led to a 4-top and presented with a menu of Uzbek and Russian dishes (happily containing photographs since there was no English). When we asked for a bill, we learned our meal was paid for, a final birthday surprise from Zokir and Silk Road Destinations.

On another night in Samarkand, we decided to try something other than Uzbek food of which we’d had a lot. I’d spotted a photo on Tripadvisor of a plate full of grilled vegetables and sliced chicken breast and the idea of a lighter meal was irresistible. This led us to La Esmeralda a short distance from our hotel. La Esmeralda focuses on fancy coffee (with edible personalized selfie photos in the foam) and pastries which it touted on a television screen near our table, entertaining if a little out of place in the upscale dining area. The owner is clearly ambitious about expanding and very into self-promotion, appearing frequently on the television loop and in a painting hung prominently in the restaurant. Our fancy western dinner for two came out to a whopping-for-Uzbekistan 160,000 sum (a little over $13US). The food was good, not great, but still an enjoyable change of pace from our beef/lamb/plov/samsa/bread/tomato-and-cucumber salad diet of the previous week.

A fascinating stop in Samarkand is the Ulugbek Observatory founded by Timur’s grandson Ulugbek, a brilliant astronomer and mathematician. The observatory was destroyed long ago in an earthquake, but a portion of it was excavated giving a glimpse at what was once a huge sextant. A circular terrace marks the outline of the former observatory. Using the observatory, Ulug Bek and his scientists were able to calculate many astronomical events with amazing precision. A small museum also sits on the property as well as a large statue of Ulugbek.

Remains of a giant sextant at the Ulugbek Observatory

Konigil village with its ancient paper factory and other handicrafts turned out to be beautiful and more than we anticipated. A stream ran through a lush green property with scattered wooden buildings, turning waterwheels that powered wood pulping machines and a large grinding device that extracted cotton and other oils. Craftsmen and women demonstrated their skills and answered our questions via Amin. Paper goods went beyond the expected to include colorful paper clothing, purses, wallets and more.

Konigil Village: paper making, paper clothes, ceramic figurines and oil press

We enjoyed the Siab Bazaar, the oldest continuously-operating bazaar in Samarkand, where a dazzling variety of goods was on offer: produce, spices, clothes, nuts, live plants, ornate knives and more. We bought pomegranate juice, pressed for us as we watched, and saffron from a friendly vendor who spoke surprisingly good English.

The enormous Shahi Zinda Complex of mausoleums and ritual buildings stands next to the bazaar. The complex was begun in the 11th century and was built over eight centuries. Legend says a cousin of Mohammed was buried there hundreds of years before construction of the current complex began.

Samarkand has so much to see that our time there flew by. We had a final lunch with Amin and Umid at a favorite spot of Umid’s where we lounged on a topchan enjoying Uzbek staples while a man sang.

Enjoying the music while we wait to order lunch

After lunch, we visited the Afrosaib Museum which displays artifacts including wonderful wall paintings from an ancient settlement of the same name. The excavated ruins of Afrosaid sprawl across a hill beside the museum and date from 9-8 B.C. to 7-8 A.D. We had time for a stop at the tomb of Saint Daniel (or at least part of him, as Timur brought back spoils of war which included a portion of relics said to belong to the saint). After a surprisingly full day, Umid dropped us off in the afternoon at the modern Samarkand train station. We had to pass through security, which included a luggage scan, before entering the stylish station. Our high-speed train arrived promptly for the 2h 10m ride to our last stop in Uzbekistan, the capital, Tashkent.

Samarkand Train Station and the very nice high-speed train

Samarkand to Shahrisabz, Uzbekistan

The ruins of Timur’s “White Palace,” Ak-Saray

Formerly known as Kesh or Kish (“heart-pleasing”) and “the Green City” and more than 2,700 years ago, Shahrisabz is one of Central Asia’s most ancient cities. Zokir at Silk Road Destinations had arranged for our first full day “in Samarkand” to be spent on a daytrip to Shahrisabz. Despite the lure of mystic Samarkand, I wasn’t disappointed. I’d been listening to an audiobook biography of Timur (a/k/a Tamerlane) during our travels and this trip to his birthplace and original capital intrigued me. We know about Ghengis Khan in the west, but we don’t learn much (if anything, at least in American schools) about Timur who ranked with Alexander the Great in conquests. Timur ruled a vast empire stretching from modern-day India to Iran to Russia with its heart in Uzbekistan. Never defeated, he is a figure of national pride in modern Uzbekistan despite the bloodthirsty methods and ruthlessness of his times. He killed or enslaved millions, demanding surrender and fealty and dealing mercilessly with those who opposed him.

Our driver Umid drove us and our guide, Amin, south out of Samarkand. We stopped at a small roadside parking lot with a big billboard for a 1973 German movie called “Apachilar” (Apache) which was filmed on the rocky hillside just above us. A few souvenir stalls offered snacks and trinkets reflecting the movie. Distinctive rock formations mark the area, particularly a large one with a heart-shaped opening that featured in the film and is now covered in graffiti and visited by Uzbek lovers of the movie. Umid and Amin seemed a little disappointed that we’d never seen the movie, apparently not thinking that Americans are more likely to watch American westerns filmed in, well, the American West. We climbed up to the signature rock to admire sweeping views of the hazy valley ahead, declining the offer to pose for photos of a gap-toothed faux Apache in straight black wig and fake buckskins. Apparently, roadside kitsch is a thing the world over.

We passed over low mountains to get to Shahrisabz, pausing at a high point for a dramatic view towards the city before continuing on. Manicured grounds and wide walkways lead to the main site, the ruins of Timur’s spectacular Ak-Saray Palace. [top photo above] Although once covered in colorful tiles and topped by blue domes, it was also known as the “White Palace” because of the way it looked in the moonlight to caravans approaching. Construction of the White Palace began in 1380. Only remnants of its gigantic 72 meter gate-towers survive, parts still adorned with intricate blue, white and gold tiles. Above the entry of Ak-Saray are words meaning: “If you challenge our power – look at our buildings!” The message, the ruins and the large statue of Timur nearby called to mind Shelley’s poem Ozymandius.

We walked through the gates and palace ruins to the Timur statue, down a wide walkway flanked by more garden greenery towards the mausoleum Timur had built for his eldest son. Beyond the greenery on either side, large empty hotels and restaurants lined the way. The Uzbek government had been so excited to promote a Timur-focused Shahrisabz as a tourist destination and UNESCO-designated history site that they razed a two-kilometer, 70-hectare swath of medieval residences that once surrounded the palace ruins and were also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The destruction began in 2014 and continued despite some attempts to stop hotel construction. The modern construction replacing the medieval “mahalla” districts including the broad boulevard, parking lot and long plaza were described by UNESCO as a “modern theme park with tourist kiosks.”

A bridal couple at the Timur statue on a portion of the wide green area that now replaces the old medieval mahalla districts

Clearly the “if we build it, they will come” attitude of the Uzbek government did not pan out. It was sad to see that the destruction of a historical area resulted only in empty buildings and scattered vendors with few customers in sight. The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), an intergovernmental organization to promote development, trade and investment opportunities in Asia, has selected Shakhrisabz as its tourism capital for 2024, so maybe that will help boost business.

En route to the mausoleum, we dropped into the gallery of Aziz Akhmedov, artist and historical architect. For his thesis, he created a masterpiece model of the White Palace with intricately placed miniature tiles to mimic the work and research he has done on the real palace. He proudly told us about his years of study of Ak-Saray, pointing out the details of his maquette. Many of his paintings adorned the walls and we ended up buying one depicting a caravan camped at night outside a city.

Aziz Akhmedov’s model of the White Palace gates in their prime

The Hazrat-i Imam mausoleum complex contains the Dorus-Saodat, the tomb Timur had built for his eldest and favorite son, Jehangir, who died in battle in his twenties. When his second son, Umar Shaikh, also died young before the tomb of his half-brother was complete, Timur planned to buy Umar Shaikh there as well but the location of his actual interment is lost to time. The small adjacent mosque is said to house the tomb of a revered 8th century imam, too, and was busy with worshippers on the Friday we visited.

Behind the Hazrat-i Imam is a bunker with a door leading to a small underground chamber, discovered by archaeologists in 1943. One stone grave occupies most of the space and inscriptions indicate that it was intended for Timur, but he was buried in Samarkand. When opened by the archaeologists, this tomb was found to contain two unidentified corpses.

From Hazrat-I Imam, we walked back across the wide green space leading to the White Palace, past a wide pool and between long hedges of lush green and purple basil. Women gardeners were trimming the hedges and the smell of basil filled the air. Basil is used to flavor ayran, a popular drink made from sour milk, spring water and herbs, and sold from carts in the area. Our guide, Amin, assured us the drink is refreshing and cooling on a warm day, but we passed on sampling it. As we approached the large Kok Gumbaz Mosque / Dorut Tilovat Complex we could hear the singing of prayers. This “Friday mosque” was bustling with worshippers who overflowed the mosque to fill a large terrace. The mosque, capped by a large blue dome, was built in 1437 by Ulugh Beg (Timur’s grandson and a great astronomer and mathematician) in honor of his father. Behind the Kok Gumbaz Mosque is a lovely tiled mausoleum built by Ulugh Beg as well, but never used for burials.

Beyond the pool are basil hedges lining the walkway to Kok Gumbaz Mosque/Dorut Tilovat

Just as we finished up our time in Shahrisabz, services at the mosque let out and it was a traffic free-for-all (of mostly white Chevrolet sedans) in the parking lot. Amin managed to coordinate by phone with Umid who had been waiting for us and we jumped in as soon as he pulled up to avoid provoking more horn blasts in the melee.

Even though it was already early afternoon, we all agreed that it made no sense to try and fight the after-mosque hordes for a spot at a restaurant in town and Umid had a place in mind back up in the mountains anyway. We enjoyed a leisurely meal lounging on a mountainside topchan, the fresh mountain breeze a welcome respite from the heat in Shahrisabz.

Afterwards, Umid drove us to another such spot he’d shown us video of days before. This restaurant was a little more downmarket than our lunch spot, but still pleasant and absolutely packed with diners. Umid told us the restaurant cooked 100 lambs per day, 200/day on holidays! The lamb carcasses are butchered on site and marinated overnight with local pine and spices, then cooked four at a time in big clay tandoor ovens. The lambs are hung on hooks in the woodfired ovens, which are then covered with cloth and packed with dirt. Once again, it seemed Umid had friends everywhere. He took us behind the scenes to watch the cooking, pulling off a crusty piece of meat for us to try. It was delicious! When he suggested we buy some to takeaway for a meal in our hotel room with one of my birthday wines, we jumped on the idea.

Tandoor ovens covered with cloth and packed with soil while the lambs cook

While we waited for our order, we walked up to a dining deck and saw lots of topchans there and at other levels down the mountainside, full of diners or people napping between meals. Umid said this place was well known and people from Samarkand liked to spend the day here, arriving for breakfast and never leaving, just lounging an sleeping on a topchan until it was time for another meal. Judging by what we saw, he got this bit of local information absolutely right.

An Uzbek yurt camp and desert stops along the way

I woke up the last morning in our Bukhara hotel thinking that I’d be sleeping in a yurt that night and hoping I wouldn’t regret having chosen this little adventure. I’d been told there was the possibility that we’d have to share the yurt with another couple. Not great. And what about cleanliness? Vermin? Heat? I knew it got cold at night, but the closest weather forecast I could find showed warm daytime temps and there certainly wasn’t going to be air conditioning. Oh well, we were committed and it would probably be fun, right?

With these concerns in mind, we asked Umid to leave an hour later than our originally planned 9am and to take his time getting us to the yurt camp. We had some stops to make along the way, and it was a long drive into the desert.

Our first stop was at Rabiti Malik, a brick cistern reservoir dating from the 11th century, one of many such domed structures that were constructed at various points along the Silk Road. Water still collected in a deep spot inside. Darting across the highway, we checked out a caravanserai, a place where caravans could shelter for the night. As with most of the historical sites we visited in Uzbekistan, much restoration had been done on both the cistern and caravanserai.

About 2.5 hours from Bukhara, we arrived in Nurata where we enjoyed one of those ample Uzbek meals while lounging on a cushioned topchan, a raised platform with a low table in the center. Afterwards, Umid dropped us off to explore the remains of Alexander the Great’s Nur Fortress and the Chashma Mosque complex and its “miracle” fish situated below it. Perched atop a hill, the fortress dates to the 4th century BC and is probably the oldest surviving ruins in Uzbekistan. It’s now very eroded, looking much like a sandcastle obliterated by a wave.

The Chashma Mosque complex consists of a large main mosque, a smaller mosque and a few other even smaller buildings set on a paved courtyard. A deep pool behind the smaller mosque feeds into a narrow paved canal where we watched men filling large jugs with water. The pool and canal were home to many fish, 10″ or so long, that Umid claimed were never fed, but miraculously lived off nothing but minerals from the water. (I’m skeptical.) I read later that one of the legends about the place claims a meteorite fell on the site of the complex thousands of years ago, causing a spring with healing powers to flow at the site of the fall. Local residents began to call this place “Nur” meaning “light” after the glow of the comet and eventually the town became “Nurata” (nur – light/ray, ata – father = Father of Light). Pilgrims still flock to the site, drawn by the lure of healing waters.

Chashma Mosque complex and ruins of Nur Fortress on the hill

After another hour of driving into the desert, we arrived at Aydar Lake, a vast manmade lake from the Soviet era where waves lapped on a barren shore. [This stop brought us another of Umid’s interesting versions of history: Umid told us the lake was created by an earthquake in the 70’s. Cool story! But wrong.] We stopped at a lonely convenience store and sometime café (now empty) where, as always, Umid seemed to be great friends with the locals. He greeted the proprietress then stretched out on a topchan with his buddies while David and I walked down a low slope and across a wide empty beach to the water. A fresh breeze blew off the lake which felt great, but didn’t encourage us to swim as Umid had suggested.

Aydar Lake

When we wandered back up to find Umid, he clearly feared we’d want to leave too soon. He bought us a cold beer and brought pillows to ensconce us on a topchan a distance from his own where we had total privacy and could lay back enjoying the breeze and the pleasant-if-desolate view of the lake.

Enough stalling! The day was cooling and we were ready to drive on to the yurt camp. Umid knew the way, but new acquaintances of his (a new driver and his Scottish client) needed help. So, we set off across the desert with this car trailing behind us. When we came to an isolated town where Umid was ready to turn off into the desert again, we realized the other car had stopped a block back. In typical unabashed fashion, Umid proceeded to blare the horn, then get out to yell across the distance at the rookie driver to come on and follow us. Of course, we drew the attention of everyone else in town. Finally, the other car caught up to us, the rookie explaining he’d lost his Google Maps signal. Umid scoffed at this and told him to forget Google and follow him. Good advice. The “roads” to the yurt camp were unmarked save for the occasional tire half-buried in the sand.

We arrived to yurt camp in the afternoon with the day cooling nicely and eager to scope out our yurt. A canvas cloth lined with a thick wooly pelt covered the two rickety saloon-type doors to the circular structure. Clean sheets, blankets and pillows waited on two of the five single beds. We were to be the only occupants. Hooray! The center of the domed ceiling rose high above and it and the walls were decorated with long strips of embroidered fabric.

We headed over to where several two-humped Bactrian camels waited. We were joined by David, the Scotsman who’d been in the car behind us. In no time, the two Davids and I were seated and riding high atop our camels through the scruffy desert, camel drivers in local dress escorting us. As the sun dropped lower, the whole scene took on a storybook aspect. This was fun!

Dinner was served in a communal building where drivers and guests ate together. Most of the drivers (who spoke no English or French) sat together at a separate table, but Umid joined us as did our new friend, David from Scotland. Umid’s English, though not perfect, was a huge benefit and other travelers often came to him to ask him to translate things to their own drivers. He was also fun, and a serious food pusher. His own appetite never flagged and he seemed always worried that we must be starving. In addition to our table of English-speakers and the drivers’ table, there was another table of with a small group of English-speakers and a couple of other tables of French tourists traveling together. The camp was clearly nowhere near at capacity which was nice, but there were still enough people to make the atmosphere festive. Shot glasses of vodka were served all around which started a chorus of toasts. The meal was typical Uzbek, hearty and plentiful.

After dinner, we sat round a central campfire listening to a local musician. He played on a two-string instrument made from apricot wood and sang folk tunes that Umid later told us were love songs. The musician was talented and the music far exceeded our expectations. With the stars thick in the inky sky and the air crisp and clear, we relished the experience.

Bedtime meant a trip to the communal toilets (separate for men and women) and washing sinks (near to the toilets and for both sexes). There was also a shower or two, but we decided to hold off until we got to a hotel and I think nearly everyone did the same thing. The toilets were immaculately clean and well-stocked with paper. There was also plenty of hot water for washing. I’d wondered about sleeping: Would we be able to hear the other people? Would it be comfortable? Hot, or maybe cold? It turned out to be pretty quiet once the two drivers in a yurt near us stopped talking. They yammered on for 45 minutes or so after everyone else had quieted, sounding like they were standing next to my bed. I could hear someone snoring off in the distance, but they were far from us, thankfully, and not an issue. The beds were comfortable enough and heavy blankets kept us snug as the temperature dropped. No need for a heater on this September night.

The next morning was my birthday, and I woke with a smile to think where it was starting out. At breakfast, Umid presented me with a bouquet of flowers and a box of dark chocolates from Silk Road Destinations and I got a rousing version of “Happy Birthday” from everyone present, too. Totally unexpected, but great. Umid was extremely proud of himself for producing such gifts in the middle of the desert. When the owner of the yurt camp gave me a bottle of local red wine, Umid stated he had a bottle of white wine as well for me. I was overwhelmed.

Umid was nearly as pleased with my birthday flowers and chocolates as I was.

The birthday treats kept coming as we stopped for lunch at a guesthouse in Mitan village. As I stepped out of the car, our hostess greated me with a bunch of roses she’d just cut from her garden, wishing me “Happy Birthday” via Umid. Clearly, Zokir or Umid had called ahead. We spent a delightful break checking out the grounds of our host couple with its flowers, chickens, fruit trees, grapevines and beehives. Our hostess demonstrated baking traditional bread and samsas on the walls of an Uzbek tandoor oven, then let me try it myself. She also made the best plov we had during our entire visit. Lunch was a feast.

Lots of protective gear is required for this type of baking.

After the meal, our hostest brought out a birthday cake and gifted me with a headscarf while her husband brought me a cloth bag of raisins from their own vines. Such generosity touched me and really made this a special birthday.

In borrowed finery (and my birthday scarf and roses) with our charming hosts

All in all, yurt camp and all the stops along the way were big fun and a real change from the Five M’s (mosques, minarets, madrassas, mausoleums and markets) that occupied much of our time in Khiva and Bukhara.

Bukhara, Uzbekistan

Our driver, Mr. Timur, picked us up at our Khiva hotel at 9am to start the 6-7 hour drive to Bukhara. Hopefully, there will be a fast train between the two cities available next year, but for now an air-conditioned private car appealed a lot more than the old train currently connecting Khiva and Bukhara.

Potholes and construction make the going less than smooth for the first part of the trip and it was nice to sit back and let Mr. Timur navigate. Near Khiva, we passed fields where groups of people picked cotton by hand. Roadside fields and greenery soon gave way to desolate desert.

Looking across the Amu Darya (river) into Turkmenistan

We paused at a barren overlook to gaze across the Amu Darya (darya=river) to Turkmenistan before continuing on for some hours until we reached a truck stop with gasoline, toilets and a small restaurant. Opting to buy stuffed meat-and-onion samsa pastries to eat on the road, lunch put us back all of $1.05.

Good luck had us arriving at a shared auto-and-train bridge just as a short train passed. In his limited English, Mr. Timur explained other cars had been waiting for half an hour while the bridge was in train mode, but we were able to cross quickly as the bridge was opened to auto traffic as soon as the train crossed. With our quick lunch and bridge crossing, we arrived in Bukhara a mere 6 hours after leaving Khiva.

We got our first glimpse of the Ark Fortress as we drove into Bukhara.

The Old Bukhara Hotel is a small hotel on a narrow residential street a block away from the main Kalon Mosque and minaret in Bukhara and a wide street lined on one side with high-end brick-and-mortar shops and with souvenir market stalls on the other. Our host welcomed us in the paved courtyard of the two-story hotel where three people chatted in Russian at a table while sipping tea and nibbling sweets. Leaving our luggage in our first-floor room, we headed back out to explore on our own.

In five minutes, we were in the plaza of the Kalon Mosque complex with its 12th century Kalon Minaret and facing madrassa [lead photo above]. We knew we’d visit the interior with a guide on the following day, so only snapped a few photos before strolling along the vendor stalls to a domed covered market over an intersection of four wide pedestrian roads. There, a skillful musician playing a sequence of exquisite hand-made instruments captured my attention. I ended up talking to him several times over our stay in Bukhara and eventually contented myself with buying one of his CD’s. The beautiful mother-of-pearl inlaid string instruments, particularly a long-necked “tor” called to me, but the price was high and I struggled to imagine how I’d get it safely back to Paris and then home to my musician son in Wisconsin.

Traditional Uzbek instruments along with others including an Indian sitar and a Russian balalaika (The tor is second from the right on the lower row, first on the right of the instruments on that row.)

Short video of musician (no idea why it refuses to embed): https://youtube.com/shorts/9UZlMwMfnxw

Bukhara, much larger than Khiva, proved to have an abundance of markets and shops in its sprawling and picturesque old town and we spent much of our free time browsing the beautiful goods and bargaining for a few items. We bought our favorite souvenir in Bukhara, a beautiful Damascus steel knife with ornamental handle destined for our kitchen. We enjoyed talking to the knife maker who is a fifth generation blacksmith and who travels yearly to a handcrafts festival in Santa Fe.

Bukhara blacksmith and that gorgeous knife

We met the guide that Zokir had arranged for us in Bukhara the following morning. Niso, a friendly young woman, took us on a walking tour of the city starting with the Kalon Mosque and continuing on the the raised Ark Fortress, former home of khans. We spent a busy morning exploring the city focusing on the Four M’s (mosques, minarets, madrassas and mausoleums)–which on further thought I’ve decided should be the Five M’s, adding “markets” to the mix. Niso was happy to add a stop when we spotted an old synagogue. The woman proudly showed us her small synagogue’s treasures including an ancient Torah, a mini scrolling Torah and photographs of visiting dignitaries including Hillary Clinton.

Left to our own devices for a late lunch, David and I walked back to the Layb-i Hauz area, a beautiful open square bracketed by tiled madrassas and centered on a “hauz” the Persian word for a pool. A pretty indoor/outdoor restaurant with tables circled the pool and we claimed a spot on the water’s edge. As always, the cheap price of a lovely lunch surprised us. A .5l beer, enough to split, cost just over a dollar. We enjoyed the meal so much we returned the next day.

The following day brought driver Umid into our lives. We were to spend the next five days together and he was a font of local history (some of it wrong, but highly entertaining) and customs. A stoutly built former military man with a round head and short crewcut, Umid spoke enough English to allow us to communicate a fair bit and even to joke, something we found to be rare among the other drivers we encountered as we crossed paths with other travelers. Several times, others would use Umid to translate their questions and needs to their own drivers. Even though we had guides along sometime whose job included speaking English, our trip would have been so much less enjoyable if we’d had no way to communicate directly with Umid.

Inside the Sitora-i-Mokhi-Khosa summer palace

Umid drove us and Niso out of town to Naqshbandi, a sprawling Islamic complex and then to Sitora-i-Mokhi-Khosa Palace, the ornate and somewhat westernized summer residence of Bukhara’s last emir. We made a brief stop at Chor-Bakr, an ancient cemetery covering 3 hectares (7.4 acres). Back in Bukhara proper, we parted ways with Niso at a final stop at Chor Minor Mosque with its unique four minarets and former caravanserai.

We had fun in the evenings searching out rooftop restaurants to enjoy views of Bukhara as the sun set and lights came on. Even a posh spot atop a boutique hotel cost us just $10.55 for dinner. [The lead photo above is of that view at dusk.] Paris prices are going to seem steeper than ever when we return!

UZBEKISTAN: First stop, beautiful Khiva

Sunrise view of Khiva from the door to our 2-bedroom suite in the Orient Star Khiva Hotel, a former madrassa

A conversation with French friends put the idea of a trip to Uzbekistan in my head. My friends had visited some years ago and been impressed by the religious tolerance in Uzbekistan as well as the friendliness of the people and the unique beauty of the sights. I started researching and was hooked. My wonderfully agreeable husband gave the idea a thumbs up and I started planning.

Uzbekistan is very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter, so peak tourism times are spring and fall. We have lots of guests coming to Paris this year, so I had to find a time that fit on our calendar and fell within periods of reasonable weather in Uzbekistan. Happily, that allowed me to book a ten-day trip to Uzbekistan that had my birthday landing right in the middle. Fun!

Although my friends had been on a group tour to Uzbekistan, David and I wanted a private trip. Unlike our usual travels of the past ten years, which have had us wandering for two to three months at a time, this one-country trip seemed to call for something a bit more organized. Research indicated that language and transportation between cities were going to be something of an issue. So, I checked with several Paris tour companies and researched the internet before settling on a private tour organized by Zokir of Silk Road Destinations. Zokir got great reviews on the internet, his prices were competitive, he was quick to respond, and his English was good.

Before I could commit to anything with Zokir, though, I needed to find flights. His packages did not include flights and I didn’t want a package with flights. For some reason, all the tours I found that did include flights from Paris to Uzbekistan seemed to use Turkish Airlines, which meant a layover in Istanbul and all the delay and attendant chance for lost luggage that a layover entails. I discovered that Uzbekistan Airways has non-stop flights from Paris (and London) to Uzbekistan at prices slightly less than Turkish Airlines. I knew nothing about Uzbekistan Airways, but they got decent reviews for timeliness and Zokir said they’d never had a problem with them canceling a flight (my main worry since I’d be committing to an itinerary that included hotels, drivers, guides, etc.).

All the tours I found also had international flights into and out of the capital city of Tashkent in the far east of Uzbekistan followed by an immediate hour-long flight back across the country to Urgench in the west where the typical tour begins in Khiva and then works back across to Tashkent to fly home. By sheer good luck, I was able to find a direct flight from Paris to Urgench and a return flight from Tashkent, eliminating that first flight and giving our trip a much simpler and less sleep-deprived start. [See bottom of this post for the full itinerary we settled on.]

Air Uzbekistan and an early arrival at Urgench

We left Paris at 8:30 pm (an hour late after a delay boarding and a delay on the tarmac that I’m not sure had anything to do with the airline) and arrived in Urgench in the dark around 5:30 am the following day. The plane was modern and clean, the staff pleasant, and the food almost laughably abundant as we tried to make room for it all on our trays. Uzbekistan is three hours ahead of Paris so the 6-hour flight really wasn’t bad and just felt like we stayed up really late. A driver was waiting as promised to take us the 45 minutes to our Khiva hotel.

Despite arriving to road closures due to the Ethnosport Festival going on in Khiva, we were soon settled in beautiful and historic Orient Star Khiva Hotel located in a former madrassa just inside the walled city (“Ichan Kala”) and beside its famous landmark blue-tiled Kalta-Minor Minaret. As promised, Zokir had arranged for an early check-in. The man at the front desk was funny as he surreptitiously slipped me the key and told me to keep it out of sight because he couldn’t do an early check-in for the French tour group that had also just arrived. Stuffed after the abundance of food offered on the flight, we skipped breakfast and enjoyed a 3-hour nap. We felt plenty rested and eager to go when it was time to meet our guide at 11 am.

Ethnosport model and photographer atop the Kunya Ark palace; beyond them is the Kalta-Minor Minaret and the former madrassa with the high arched entrance that was our hotel.

We’d heard loudspeaker announcements periodically outside our room and discovered that the weekend-long International Ethnosport Festival was in full swing with “mas-wrestling” happening just outside our hotel doorway. With guide nowhere in sight (we figured she was probably held up by the blocked roads we’d encountered earlier), I texted Zokir so he could coordinate with the guide, then we turned our attention to the sports.

Mas-wrestling consists of two competitors on a small “court” with a 12-16″ board stood on end between them. The wrestlers sit on either side of the board with their feet planted against the board just opposite each other. The referees give them a stick which, when the competition begins, they then try to wrestle away from each other. The competition tends to go pretty quickly with one wrestler sometimes being pulled up and over the board before the stick is fully jerked away from them. We watched pairs of men and of women compete. The athletes were very buff, the men competing shirtless in shorts and the women in shorts and t-shirts. Milling around the courts were competitors in team jackets from all the “stans” as well as from Mongolia, Turkey and other regional countries.

Mas-wrestling on the terrace just outside the front door of our hotel

Our guide, Ms. Zilola or “Lola,” arrived soon and we began our tour. We were eager to see this amazing “Arabian Knights” city we’d glimpsed from the balcony outside our hotel door. Unfortunately, Lola thought it best to walk us a short distance back outside the city walls to stand by a parked van to explain Uzbek history to us. Note to tour guides: Put yourself in the shoes of tourists and let them see the sights while you talk! We would have been so much happier if we could have walked the fascinating streets while she gave her lecture, but no such suggestions seemed to register. Oh well, the information she gave was useful and we made it past the lecture and past another lecture in the courtyard of our own hotel (a historic site) to finally (over an hour later) start actually exploring the city.

What can I say? Khiva is gorgeous, magical, everything we’d hoped for, and a perfect first stop in Uzbekistan. The lavishly tiled buildings and markets filled with colorful adras fabrics in ikat patterns, traditional chugirma fur hats, bright ceramics, embroidered suzani, knives, spices, souvenirs and more are a treat for the eyes. In Khiva, we had our first exposure to what we came to call Uzbekistan’s “Four M’s”: mosques, minarets, madrassas* and mausoleums. Tourist sites definitely lean heavily to these four and, while there are similarities, each offers its own history and beauty: intricate tiles, colorful paint, carved wooden or stone pillars. [* There are lots of spellings for “madrassa.” For the sake of consistency, I’ve picked this one and will stick with it, but it may appear differently in copied text as in the itinerary below.]

Munshid singing in Pahlavan Mahmoud Mausoleum

Khiva has been greatly restored to its current state as have many of the sites in Uzbekistan. Earthquakes, wars and the passage of time reduced many old buildings to ruins. While Russia and the Soviet Union were responsible for some of the destruction (both Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union held dominion over the area), the Soviets also instigated some of the reconstruction. Much of it has been done by the Uzbek government as well since Uzbekistan gained its independence in 1991.

The Islom Khodja Minaret, the tallest in Uzbekistan

The name of the wide blue Kalta-Minor Minaret refers to its “short” stature. Although it is large, it is unfinished and was originally intended to be three times as high! It is an iconic symbol of not only Khiva, but of Uzbekistan itself and appears in pictures across the country and on the 100,000 sum bill.

Sum is the local currency and it was over 12,000 to the USD while we were there. This made for a bit of a shock on first viewing prices, but once the conversion was done, we found prices to be cheap nearly everywhere. Food was particularly inexpensive by western standards and we spent less than $10US for dinner for two most nights (including a large .5l beer shared). Dollars and euros are often, but not always, accepted in Uzbekistan. Credit cards are accepted in some places, but many do not. We found plenty of ATM’s with fair exchange rates in the cities we visited.

Market fun in Khiva, clockwise from top left: trying on chugirma fur hats, chess,
puppets, silk scarves, vendor stalls and multiple-position wooden bookstand
carved from a single piece of wood

Uzbeks are hearty eaters with a diet heavily focused on meat (usually beef or lamb), rice, onions, tomatoes and cucumber salads, and bread. Plov, a pilaf with regional variations, usually consisting of small beef slices served over rice simmered with julienned carrots, onions, raisins and chick peas, is ubiquitous as is a tomato, cucumber, onion and fresh dill salad. Samsas, fried or baked pastries stuffed most often with ground meat and onions and lagman, a meat and udon-type noodle dish are very popular. A round bread with a stamped flattened center is also a staple. Other small salads and fruit often round out a meal of generous proportions.

Rug makers and a kitten at the Khiva Silk Carpet Workshop

Some highlights of our Khiva tour included the 19th century Kunya Ark palace of the local khan with its extravagantly tiled open-air prayer areas, throne room and mint; the Juma mosque with its forest of 200 carved wooden pillars, some dating to the 10th century; the Islom Khodja Minaret, the tallest in Uzbekistan; and, of course, the Kalta-Minor Minaret and our own hotel. Our hotel room actually consisted of a two-bedroom suite that was once a dormitory room for students of the madrassa. We had a great view over the city from our front door and could see the Kalta-Minor Minaret standing just outside the main entrance to the hotel from the wide center courtyard.

In addition to the usual sights, Khiva was bustling on our first day with Ethnosport events. In addition to the mas-wrestling, there was archery, weightlifting, traditional horseback games, performances with swords and even pistols by troupes of children in Ghengis Khan-type costumes and more. We lunched on the raised terrace of a restaurant overlooking a wide square where the children performed. We also watched some of the closing Ethnosport ceremonies in the evening when victorious athletes were honored by the playing of their national anthems. That evening, we climbed to the ramparts of the Kunya Ark palace to watch as sunset gave way to the lighting of the city. The following day gave us a chance to stroll Khiva in its more usual quiet state before leaving for a 6-hour drive across the desert to Bukhara.

PRACTICAL INFO:

Our full tailor-made itinerary (with names and phone numbers of guides and drivers redacted). Zokir provided this updated itinerary with contact info for guides and drivers the week before we left, something I really appreciated. Everyone was on WhatsApp and, with our American T-Mobile service offering included international internet, we were able to stay in touch save for the times we lost connection when traveling in the middle of the desert. There is a train from Khiva to Bukhara, but after watching a YouTube video of an old, uncomfortable, warm and dusty train, I opted for a driver and an air-conditioned car. A new high-speed train is slated to open next year, but locals expressed some skepticism about whether that was a realistic timeframe. We pushed back some of the start times as well since we often found that it wasn’t necessary to be up and out by 9 am and waiting until 10 am or later made for a more relaxed day.:

Day 1 __.09.2023 Arrival to Urgench and Khiva city tour
Flight from homeland to Urgench , Uzbekistan. Arrival in Urgench at 04:50
Welcome by driver at Urgench International Airport.
Driver _____
Transfer to hotel. Early check in and Breakfast included. Rest Until 11:00
.Meet your guide Mrs. ____
Sightseeing starts from entering the Ata gates at Itchan Kala
 Juma Mosque is 10th
-18th century mosque in Khiva.
 Kunya Ark fortress was Khiva rules residence and citadel.
 Kalta Minor is Khivas unfinished minaret clad in turquoise tiles
 Mohammed Amin Khan Madrasah was built in 1851 now it’s a hotel
 Tash-Kauli Palace is harem was built in 1832-1841
 Mausoleum of Pahlavan Mahmud is richly decorated
 Mausoleum of Sayid Allauddin The tomb of a famous Nakhshbandi
 Madrasah of Islam-Khodja and biggest minaret in Khiva
 Madrasah of AllaKuli Khan
Overnight at the hotel .( Orient Khiva)

Day 2 __.09.2023 Khiva – Bukhara (by car)
Breakfast at the hotel . Meet our driver at 09:00
Driver Mr. _____
Drive to Bukhara 435 km . Transfer to hotel .
Overnight at the hotel . ( Old Bukhara)
Tailor made program for ____

Day 3 __.09.2023 Bukhara
Breakfast at the hotel. Meet guide Ms _____ ( at 09:00)
Walking city tour
 Ismail Samani mausoleum is one of the oldest buildings ( 10th century)
 Chashma Ayub mausoleum also known as a Museum of water
 Bolo-Hauz mosque is built in 1712 looks elegant and splendid
 Ark Fortress where king khans use to live
 Poi-Kalyan complex ( madrasah,mosque,minaret)
 Ulug Beg Madrasah one of the first madrasa built in 1417
 Abdulaziz Khan Madrasah is a medieval madrasah built in 1651
 Tim Abdullah Khan it is an old trading Dome
 Magok-I Attari Mosque the oldest building in Bukhara (12th century)
 Lyabi-Hauz locals favourite place to come and spent time
Overnight at the hotel . ( Old Bukhara)

Day 4 __.09.2023 Bukhara
Breakfast at the hotel . Meet your guide M. ____ at 09:00
Places to visit:
 Chor Minor Mosque has a unusual but unique look ( four minarets)
 Naqshbandi Complex is most religious place and always crowded
 Sitora-i-Mokhi-Khosa Palace summer residence of Bukharas Emir
 Chor-Bakr Complex ancient cemetery equal to 3 hectares.
Overnight at the hotel. ( Old Bukhara)
Tailor made program for ____

Day 5 __.09.2023 Bukhara-Nurata-Yangi Gazgan Yurtas
Breakfast at the hotel ( No guide this day)
Meet your driver at 09:00 Mr. _____
In the morning taking a ride to the Nurata.
 Rabat-i-Malik ancient caravansaray
 Sardoba medieval water keep
Lunch at the local house.
 Ruins of Citadel of Alexander the Great
 Yurt camp and Dinner in a desert around the fire.
Overnight in the Yurt.(no guide this day)
Day 6 14.09.2023 Yangi Gazgan Yurtas-Mitan village-Samarkand
Breakfast at yurts. Meet your driver . Mr. ______
Drive to Samarkand via Mitan village .
Arrive to Mitan village have lunch. See how locals live in the villages.
Drive to Samarkand.
Overnight at the hotel.( Zilol Baxt)

Day 7 __.09.2023 Samarkand-Shahrisabz-Samarkand ( by car)
Breakfast at the hotel . Meet guide at 09:00 Mr. _____
Taking ride from Samarkand to Shakrisabz (90km)
Places to visit:
 Palace Ak Saray it means “white palace “( Timurs residence)
 Dorut Tilovat is house of recitation was built in 1438s
 Statue of Amir Temur
 Ko”k gumbaz Mosque Blue dome mosque built by Ulugbek ( 1436)
 Dorus Saodat complex house of power was built Timirids dynasty
Drive back to Samarkand. Overnight at the hotel. ( Zilol Baxt)
Tailor made program for ______

Day 8 __.09.2023 Samarkand
Breakfast at the hotel . Meet guide Mr. _____ at 09:00
Starting the sightseeing from heart of old city.
 Guri Amir Mausoleum
 Registan square has three madrasahs
 Bibi Khanum Mosque was the biggest at that time (1399)
 Siab Bazaar oldest keep operating bazaar in Samarkand
 Shahi Zinda Complex
Overnight at the hotel( Zilol Baxt)

Day 9 __.09.2023 Samarkand –Tashkent(train)
Breakfast. Meet your guide at 09:00 Mr. _____
Places to visit:
 Ulugbek observatory
 Mausoleum of Hodja Daniyar
 Afrasiab museum
 Konigil village ancient paper factory
Transfer to train station at 16:45 and take train to Tashkenat at 17:30 Arrive to
Tashkent and transfer to hotel. Overnight at the hotel. ( Art Deluxe)

Day 10 __.09.2023 Tashkent city tour
Breakfast . Meet guide at the hotel 09:00 Ms. ______ +998932896002
Starting the sightseeing at the capital city.
 Khast Imam Complex Spiritual heart of Tashkent (16-20 century)
 Barak Khan madrasah has oldest extant copies of the Quran
 Chorsu bazaar one of the busiest bazaars in Tashkent
 Take a ride at metro soviet and modern designed underground
 Amir Temur Square
 Independence square favorite resting place for residents.
 Applied art Museum of Tashkent
Overnight at the hotel.( Art Deluxe)
Tailor made program for _______

Day 11 __.09.2023 Tashkent –Home town
Breakfast at the hotel. Our team will transfer you to airport at 11:00
Driver Mr ______
Take a flight at 13:50 Free time waiting for the flight. End of our service.
Drivers and guides may change due to personal
reasons but will be changed by others immediately.
24/7 Support Operator Mr Zokir
( I have whats app also )
Feel free to contact me at any time!