Samarkand Travel Guide

 traveloturc Says:  Timur means “clever, talented”.Tamerlane, two sons and two grandsons, including Ulug bey, lie beneath the modest Gur Emir Mausoleum. As with other muslim mausoleums, the stones are just markers; the actual crypts are in a chamber in the basement. In the center is Timur's... 

 traveloturc Says:  Lady Bibi was the beloved wife of Timur.Bibi Hatun Mosque (15th century)was the largest structure of its time in the world.Tamerlane's idea was to to build the most beautiful mosque of the world and he did it . It was built between 1399 and 1404 by 600 slaves and 100... 

 traveloturc Says:  Hazreti Hizir mosque was built in the 18th century on the entrance to Samarkand. Hazreti Hizir (Saint Hizir) is very important for us "travellers" because we believe that he is the protector of travellers and he helps us in our desperate moments of our travels.Which I think... 

 TheWanderingCamel Says:  Inside the Gur Emir there are eight sarcophagi, seven of marble and one of deepest green jade, the top a single massive slab, that marks the burial place of Temur himself. No bodies lie within them, the actual tombs are in the crypt beneath, simple stone tombstones lying... 

 TheWanderingCamel Says:  Samarkand's Gur Emir -the Ruler's Tomb - is both magnificent and restrained, inside and out. It was never meant to house the body of Temur - he wanted to be buried in Shahrisabz, the place of his birth - but it was here that his body was brought after his death in 1405... 

 TheWanderingCamel Says:  There was a bazaar on this site near the Bibi Khanum mosque long before the mosque was built, and no doubt much of what was for sale here was the same then as it is now - mini-mountains of fresh and dried fruit; fresh-baked loaves; seeds, grains and other dry goods; spices,... 

 TheWanderingCamel Says:  Like the much larger Sher Dor medressa at the Registan, and built at the same time, the portal of the Khodja Akrar ensemble features the most-unIslamic lion/tigers (maned and striped - you choose) and deer, but without the smiling sun-heads this time. Here a 17th century... 

 TheWanderingCamel Says:  That's the translation of the local name - Rukhabad - for the mausoleum built by Timur in 1380 for the mystic, Sheikh Burhan al-Din Sagarji. It's said that Timur used to walk around the mausoleum every night before retiring. Ibn Battuta, the traveller from Tangiers, writes... 

 30 Opinions

 TheWanderingCamel Says:  I'm not sure quite what the inspiration for the decor is at Platan, bamboo-hut-meets-Uzbek-yard probably describes it best, but it's pleasant enough, cool on a hot day and cosy on a cool evening. A roofed outdoor setting with pine bench seating around tables big enough to... 

 TheWanderingCamel Says:  Bread really is regarded in a special way in Uzbekistan, and the bread from Samarkand is held to be the best of all. It is recorded that Temur took not only bakers but also flour from Samarkand with him when he went on campaign, so highly did he regard the bread from the... 

 TheWanderingCamel Says:  Standing in the middle of the courtyard of the Bibi Khanum mosque in Samarkand, this massive marble Koran stand was once used to hold a 7th century copy of the holy text (claimed to be the oldest in existence) that Temur brought back to Samarkand as loot from Damascus. That... 

 TheWanderingCamel Says:  How many times have I typed this as I've written about the craft traditions of Uzbekistan? "Soviet rule saw the demise of the ancient art of ....... With the help of UNESCO it is slowly being revived" . Now it's the turn of paper-making. Uzbek poet, Alisher Navoi called... 

 TheWanderingCamel Says:  Step inside the carpet workshop in the Shir Dor medressah at the Registan and, once you've admired the skilled workers at their looms (photo 4), look around you at the walls and ceiling of what was once one of the medressahs lecture rooms. Patched cracks, faded and... 

 TheWanderingCamel Says:  We didn't have time to visit the State Museum of Cultural History of Uzbekistan (to give it its full title) the first time we visited the city so, before we left for Shahrisabz and leaving the others to do some last minute sightseeing (aka shopping) at the Registan, two of... 

 TheWanderingCamel Says:  I'd noticed the way the lots of the older women trimmed the bottom of the trousers they wear under their long tunic dresses - a band of embroidered braid with a little black tassle on the inner seam - very cute. Then in the market at Urgut we saw stalls selling the braid,...