Uzbekistan Things to Do

  Peppers for dinner
by TheWanderingCamel
 
  • Peppers for dinner
      Peppers for dinner
    by TheWanderingCamel
  • Children playing
      Children playing
    by TheWanderingCamel
  • How many ways can you dry an apricot?
      How many ways can you dry an apricot?
    by TheWanderingCamel
  • Non for you
      Non for you
    by TheWanderingCamel
  • Very decorative
      Very decorative
    by TheWanderingCamel
 
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Samarqand : Green belt and Russian area

by kokoryko

Timur wanted his city to be the center of the world, the most beautiful, and for this, he also fitted his city with wide areas covered with gardens, orchards, wide open green places. Water flew in little channels, sprinkled from fountains. . . . When his empire collapsed, the green areas became rapidly grey and brown, the fountains dried. . . . One of the first works of the Russian, when they conquered Samarqand, was to renovate the green areas.A walk under the trees during the hot time of the day is very relaxing, and one can have a look at the people busy here, have a tea or a beer in a chaikhana or restaurant, discover some monuments or even orthodox churches in this areaA part of this green area begins South West behind Timurs monument on Kok Saraty place, along University Boulevard, and is one kilometre long; 700 meters behind Timur’s statue is the Central park (Park Gorki) on the...

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Plastic surgery at Bibi Khanum

by kokoryko

Ah, a little bit a provocative title, but it gave this impression some times; well, it was not the dominating impression but this one was present too, and the purpose of this writing is not to “grade down” this superb building, just open eyes, look at many things which are not told in “official” or too enthusiastic guides. Just a thought or two: imagine Rome with a brand new whole Coliseum!! Would it still fit to the image you have of Rome? The St Sernin, basilica in Toulouse has been renovated 3 times within one century, as people were not happy with the “renovated” style. . . . In this case the first renovation saved the building and after Viollet Le Duc, changed the shape of the building, changed the style of the roof, and 50 years later, people “renovated” again to make it as resembling as possible (in their mind at least!) to the original roman medieval basilica .What does make...

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The big Bibi Khanum (2)

by kokoryko

There are lots of legends about this mosque, but the reality is more down to earth; it was a megalomaniac project, and wanting to build this Jumaa Mosque quickly, there were probably lots of construction failures.And nowadays we see an impressive group of buildings, result of a great scale restoration began by the soviets in 1974. The question arises whether the restoration was necessary or not; in the case here, the restoration had mainly an “image” objective, show how good the soviets and the Moscow red tsars were good with the Uzbek people and took care of their history. If I undo the locks of my hair, How many unfaithful and drunkards Will become Moslems? Song of a courtesan in Samarqand Main picture: The giant lectern in the square yard; a giant holy Koran was on this marble lectern, which has the ”property” to help women getting easier children once they crawled under it.Picture 2:...

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The big Bibi Khanum. . .

by kokoryko

Built for the glory of God, or the glory of Timur? God was not exactly happy, He knew, and within few years the biggest mosque of the world began to collapse. A symbol? An replica? The Timuride Empire was the greatest of its time and it did not take very long to collapse.. . . . The legend says Timur’s first Chinese wife had the idea of making a surprise to Timur, for his return (from war campaign, as usual) with building this mosque; but Timur noticed the traces of a passionate kiss on her cheek, left by the Persian architect; he ordered the man to be arrested, but he fled on top of the mosque and. . . flew away! There are other legends..If I undo the locks of my hair, How many unfaithful and drunkards Will become Moslems? Song of a courtesan in Samarqand Main picture: General view of the main building of the mosque; almost all the ceramics are new (less than 20 years old!) Picture 2:...

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Samarqand : Shah I Zindah, the living king (2)

by kokoryko

The beautiful mausoleums have long been visited before soviet times, but not a lot care had been taken. The soviets began to restore some mosques or mausoleums, but. . . It is a bit a cheap or “heavy” productivity driven style; and nowadays the Uzbek government (with international institutions like Unesco) undertakes also renovation works.Is restoration a good thing? In some cases very probably, but time is there and why try to keep some monuments (even beautiful at their splendour time), if it is to renovate them in cheap and even ugly manner? Ruins are sometimes beautiful and moving. . . Renovating for the tourist industry (as is the case here) is bad renovation, better would be renovation for the art, the religion or history; less would be restored, but it would be well restored. Main picture: decoration beauty on the entrance of a mausoleum; majolica , ceramic and painting...

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Samarqand : Shah I Zindah, the living king

by kokoryko

Shah I Zindah is the most sacred area of Samarqand, probably; the living king legend is the story of Qassim Ibn Abbas, a cousin of prophet Mohammad, who was preaching and converting the Zoroastrian people of Sogdian. A fanatic chopped off his head and he kept on praying, before taking his head under his arm and jump in a well, and since then in the depth of the earth, here he still prays and preaches. . . . the people who have their mausoleums there may need his preaches. . Shah I Zindah is an ensemble of mausoleums, built along a North-South alley and the Islamic Arabic Persian art is at very high levels here, and as the constructions are of various ages, style differences can be observed. Not only tourists visit this place, it is said people from the Islamic world in general come to visit and pray here. Heaven is the player, and we, only pawns.This is reality, not a stylistic effect.On...

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Samarqand: Gur Emir

by kokoryko

Gur Emir: the bloodroot tyrant is venerated here!To abandon your own territory and establish permanently among foreigners is indeed far from wisdom, because if something happens, the foreigners will not come to help.Timur In fact Timur wanted to be buried in Shakrizabz , close to his home village. He finally did not follow his own quote and made build a mausoleum for him and his family in Samarqand. Napoleon, Alexander the great, Genghis Khan don’t have, a mausoleum, but Timur has one! Why not after all, the Uzbek nation has to find some roots, references, a national hero. . . Ulugh Beg would have been a better one, but he was a political looser. . . . so, it is Timur who is the main character in the Gur Emir, and it is him who wanted this to be built. Gur Emir (the grave of the sovereign) is a very “rich” mausoleum built inside with marble, jade, onyx, jasper and other semi-precious...

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Samarqand: Ulugh Beg the astronomy -Khan (2)

by kokoryko

Religions dissolve as mist,Empires collapse,But works of scientists stay for eternity. Ulugh Beg Ulugh Beg was also supposed to be an administrator and a politician; scientific work was accessory. . . . . At the death of his father he was heir of the Timuride Empire, and his politic skills soon were criticised and one of his sons, ordered his death and his observatory was destroyed soon after. . . . The Empire was collapsing, but Ulugh Beg’s scientific work survived. Main picture: Here is the famous astronomer in a museum on the location of his observatory. In this museum are some scientific instruments, and many pictures tell the story of the scientist-king, his discoveries, the state of science in the 15th century central Asia. Picture 2: The observatory, or what is left( ?) by the renovation. . . In the tunnel, in the middle are the remains of a huge sextant (the subterranean part of...

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Samarqand: Ulugh Beg the astronomy -Khan

by kokoryko

Religions dissolve as mist,Empires collapse,But works of scientists stay for eternity. Ulugh BegUlugh Beg, (1394-1449) grandson of Timur, was named vice- khan of Samarqand in 1409 (he was 15!) and his passion for science, (mathematics, medicine) poetry, music, theology, history drew many scholars to his city where they were protected, encouraged and made the reputation of Samarqand as an intellectual centre. The Turkish astronomer Qazi Zadeh Rumi introduced him to astronomy and soon the disciple surpassed the master! Ulugh begh is known as one of the greatest astronomers in history; he ordered the building of a huge observatory where he (and his disciples) established the astral coordinates of more than 1000 stars, developed formulas for the prediction of eclipses, calculated the astronomical year. . . . His astronomical tables reached Europe only in 1600, and were by far better than the...

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Samarqand: Sher Dor. . The Lion and the Gazelle(2)

by kokoryko

And now, look at Samarkand! Is she not queen of the world? Proud above all the cities, Holding their fates in her hands?E.A. Poe (sorry, Edgar, I translated back from French, not sure these were the words you used!)Main picture: The madrassa façade seen from the northern minaret of Ulug Beg Madrassa (to go on the minaret, wait closing time (5-30/6 pm) go “innocently” in the Registan, look around and the policeman will come: negotiate the bribe. . . and you will be “allowed” to go up the minaret and you will enjoy the view over the city, the Registan, all this at sunset!!). It looks very symmetrical, but we are in “Islamstan” and some signs cannot be turned (look at all the dark signs, they are all oriented the same way) , and writing in mirror-style is not allowed by muslim religion; so, only first order symmetry, but not in detail.Picture 2: Typical Islamic murqanas decorate the base of...

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Fun things to do in Uzbekistan

Top 3 Hotels in Uzbekistan

Lyabi-House Hotel  Bukhara

 5 Reviews and 16 Opinions  This is where we thought we were staying on our first visit to Bukhara - a charmingly restored old... 

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Best Eastern Orient Star  Samarkand

 4 Opinions

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InterContinental Tashkent  Tashkent

 2 Reviews and 68 Opinions  As I know, the InterContinental Hotel is less that Europian standart, but it really good one. There... 

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31 Hotels in Uzbekistan
 
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Things to Do: Cities in Uzbekistan
  1. Tashkent Things to Do
  2. Samarkand Things to Do
  3. Bukhara Things to Do
  4. Tashkent Things to Do
  5. Khiva Things to Do
  6. Fergana Things to Do
  7. Samarkand Things to Do
  8. Nurata Things to Do
  9. Shahrisabz Things to Do
  10. Marghilon Things to Do
  11. Qo'qon Things to Do
  12. Farg'ona Things to Do
  13. Qarshi Things to Do
  14. Stantsiya Termez Things to Do
  15. Nukus Things to Do
  16. Andijon Things to Do
  17. Uchkuduk Things to Do
  18. Kashgar Things to Do

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Questions and Answers

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Q:  Myself and my wife are considering combining Uzbekistan and Kyrgystan in a two week plus trip in the summer of 2012. We are well... 

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A: It would help if you had more info, as opposed to none, in your profile, so that we would know your country of residence. However, I hazard a guess that it is Canada? ... 

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