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A concept, which I liked very much and of which I hope it will last for long, is the one of Samarkand students helping travellers. They are obviously studying tourism at the University of Samarkand and, assisted by their professors, have set up a small stand at the State Museum of Cultural History, just east of Registan. They have a whole pile of information of any kind, such as transport, restaurants, accommodation, sights, prices and recommended travel agencies.
They won’t charge anything, you even get something to drink (tea or soft drinks) and you can have a nice chat with the guys and girls. Needless to say that they speak pretty well English.
Definitely something to do and to support; the kids are nice and it is a both way learning. Leave a Comment
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Now how many days should you plan for Samarkand ? As I am living in Germany with that unbelievable amount of 30 plus days to spend for holiday per year, I don't really think about tight time schedules.
But let me give it a try:
Samarkand can be visited in 1 day, provided the visitor is used to seeing-all-in-1-day visits, and that most of it is “done” by car (taxi or group bus). But this implies minimum 1 night stay, better 2 nights.
For a one day visit, I would suggest the following tour:
Start early and visit:
Bibi Khanum Mosque (to get the gorgeous morning light conditions),
then walk northeast to Shah-i-Zinda,
grab a taxi and visit Ulug’bek Observatory,
go back with taxi to Gur-I-Amir Mausoleum and Timur’s statue, if of interest.
Walk back to Registan to visit the medressas and try and climb on Ulughbek Medressa Minaret in late afternoon, just before sunset.
Inside Ulug’bek Medressa, maybe do some souvenir shopping and finish your evening with either the folklore dance show in Sher Dor Medressa or with a dinner at a nice restaurant.
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Best time for photos:
Bibi Khanum Mosque should be a must in the morning, with light shining through the wooden window into the main sanctuary;
Shah-i-Zinda is best also in the (late) morning, as most of the colourful mausoleums face east.
Gur-i-Amir is time-independent, as the most intresting sights are inside.
Registan is best in late afternoon and evening. Leave a Comment
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As mentioned earlier, Samarkand can roughly be divided into two parts: the eastern more old city with the ancient monuments, stretching northeast from Registan. And the modern part, which is west to southwest of Registan.
Hotel Samarkand is a good landmark, if you think, you got lost. You can see this almost from everywhere west of Registan. How ever, it is no longer in use as hotel (as of mid 2006).
Walking distances:
Registan to Hotel Samarkand: approx. 30 minutes
Registan to Shah-i-Zinda: approx. 45 minutes
I also add a screenshot of GE (scale referring to 1 km), to give you an idea how far the sights are located. You might decide upon taking a taxi for visiting some monuments.
Samarkand is definitely not as “concentrated” as Bukhara. Leave a Comment
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A recent conversation with a friend led me to the idea to make a short summary of opening hours and prices, to give you a rough overview of the costs you can expect for Samarkand. This all is as of summer 2006 and my travel style, which involves basic to medium accommodation and two meals per day plus snacks. And of course, visiting the sights.
Opening hours:
mostly from 9 am to 5 or 6 pm on “normal” days. Expect different hours for Fridays, as this is the “Sunday” in the Islamic world.
Travel expenses – for 3 days plus 1 afternoon/evening – per person:
Accommodation costs (4 nights): 40 USD (including breakfast);
Food costs: 22.000 som (equals 17 USD) ;
Snack and water costs: 5 USD;
Costs for visting sights including camera fee: 17.000 som (equals 14 USD).
Transport from Samarkand to Tajikistan in shared taxi: seat 1600 som (equals 1,30 USD)
Transport from Bukhara to Samarkand in shared taxi: seat 15 USD. Leave a Comment
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Grouped together in bronze as they never could have been in life, the great astronomers of the classical and mediaeval periods, Ptolemy, Tychoe Brahe, Copernicus and Galileo join the Uzbek scientist-king, Ulugh Beg, to ponder the astral globe. They make a charming group, all dressed alike in Uzbek robes, standing in the entrance to the medressa built by Ulugh Beg on the east side of Samarakand's Registan.
Ulugh Beg's astronomical legacy was to plot the co-ordinates of over 1000 stars, to develop the parameters by which eclipses could be predicted and to measure the stellar year so accurately that his measurements come within one minute of modern electronic calculations. His passion for science, coupled with his weak rule, brought him into dispute with deeply religious factions in Samarkand and ultimately led to his assassination at the behest of a dervish court and the co-operation of his son.
Nowadays he is held in the highest regard in Uzbekistan, as much for his learning and scholarly achievements as for the wonderful buildings he commissioned for his city. Leave a Comment
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Some websites will give you further reading and information. Some are of travel agencies, but they still have a lot of interesting information.
Travel Agency Orexa
Sairam Tours - Samarkand
Samarkand’s website
Samarkand at UNESCO
Timur’s Samarkand by Mark Dickens, with a lot of interesting reading, sights to see, architecture and Timurid period.
The most facinating and very detailed site about Samarkand’s architecture however is available only in German. But I can highly recommend to read it, as Bernhard Peter has put a lot of effort and knowledge into it:
Architecture of Samarkand , and then Samarqand.
(I might add more websites in the future, as I plan to go back) Leave a Comment
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After the brilliant coloured tiles and elaborate gold of the interior decoration of Samarkand's buildings, the delicate painted walls and domes of the Dorus Tilivat in Shakhrisabz were quite surprising. White walls were covered in formally laid out small painted panels of intricate geometric patterns, gardens and trees that were very reminscent of the patterns on Chinese porcelain with blue the dominant colour. The domes were equally delicately painted with blue tracery and red and gold floral patterns -more Persian perhaps than Chinese. The whole effect was so light and airy - a complete change from the strong colours seen in similar buildings in Samarkand where deep blues and gold leaf predominate, or Bukhara where walls that were painted were mostly done so in shades of apricot, cream and red. Leave a Comment
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This is the difficult question that must be asked with regard to the restoration/conservation of many of the world's great heritage sites.
Here in Samarkand there are many people who are worried about the effect of the over-zealous "restoration" of the Shah-i-Zinda complex in particular. This magnificent group of buildings is currently listed as a World Heritage site by UNESCO but this status (and the funding that comes with it) is threatened by the work that is currently being done, much of which is insensitive to the the ancient buildings here to such a point that it amounts to total rebuilding. Whilst no-one would wish to see them fall back into the state of neglect that old photographs show, the rush to restore them certainly seems to need to be tempered with the realization that sensitive conservation would be a better path to follow. Leave a Comment
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One thing we had a few difficulties with in Uzbekistan was finding somewhere to change our money. The best option was often our hotel, but in Samarkand the Zarina didn’t offer this service. So instead we headed to the nearby four star hotel, the Afrosiab Palace. The exchange bureau there closed at 8.00 in the evening, and we arrived a bit later so thought at first we might have to return the next day. The security guard however spotted us lingering by the desk, trying to make out the Russian language sign that would tell us what time it would re-open in the morning, and offered to help. His help was more than welcome, as it consisted of taking us behind his desk (though still in full view of the hotel lobby!) to conduct a black market exchange.
This is common practice in Uzbekistan, and we’d done the same some days earlier in Khiva. I was surprised to learn that the rate for these black market exchanges seemed to be as fixed as the legal rate, and only a little lower (1,200 som to the dollar rather than the official 1,250). Each time we lost only a couple of £s on the deal, and we knew that our friendly helper would change the money at the official rate when the exchange office opened the next morning, so that his probably meagre salary would be augmented– so it seemed to me that these deals were a win for all of us!
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It is the "new" Samarkand which was built after Tamerlan destroyed the old Afrosiob to create a capital city really showing that it is the centre of one of the biggest empires the world has ever seen.
It is great to visit all these wonderful Mosques and Madrasas, to admire the innumerable variations of wonderful mainly blue glazed wall tiles, often reminding the finest oriental carpets. See the travelogues! Leave a Comment
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Local Merchants in Samarkand
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on January 24, 2007
on August 29, 2005
on September 13, 2007
on April 28, 2005
