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: Sher Dor. . the Lion and the Gazelle

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!) One of the most famous buildings in Islamic world; this madrassa, a typical Timuride-Persian building, build in 1636, with a high pishtak, a wide iwan , the two minarets on the sides; the gadroon ornate cupolas, seem to be the Timuride- distinctive element in this madrassa. Madrassas were schools (Taliban schools, yes!) really integrated in the city life. The students (Taliban) studied and lived there, but were free to go around in the city and it is easy to imagine that the city was very lively around the madrassas; some madrassas were run by very important scholars and the studies program was different from one madrassa to the other, but the subject was always religion,...

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Samarqand: The Registan is not anymore what it was

by kokoryko

The two first pictures here show how the Registan may have looked like in the past. These are artist’s views, but they show how different from today it is: the Registan is represented full of life (well, despite the heads on the spears. . . )! Main picture: This painting from V. V. Vershagin (1871, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow) shows much more than just the nude architecture and folklore we see today! This kind of scene probably fascinated more the travellers than the buildings which were in very bad shape until their “renovation” during the end of the soviet period.Picture 2: This end 16th century drawing (in Samarcande-Boukhara-Khiva, by P. Chuvin, Flammarion,2001) shows the city of Samarqand around the Registan; not exactly what we see today; everything, everywhere changes, it is normal, but to what extent is change keeping authenticity? Here, the area has been “cleaned” by the soviets...

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Samarqand; the Registan is not anymore what it was

by kokoryko

The Registan is one of the “to see” places in Samarqand, not only because it is described in all guides about this city, not only because it is a jewel of Islamic and central Asian art and architecture, but also a place where one can dream a bit: dream of history, politics, past splendour, Timur, Ulug Beg, changes with time and. . . . tourist trapping (not in a bad way although, but let’s say taking care too much of what unfortunately most of tourists want). Old travel literature and paintings do not at all describe or show what is here today. Most authors tell about the bazaars, the people, the nightlife, the arts and science, and that, was what drove most of people who later visited Samarqand ; the Registan was accessory, just one thing among so many others.The Registan (Place of Sand) is a wide square with huge madrassas on three sides, North, West and East. The oldest is the Ulug Beg...

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Bukhara: the Samanid mausoleum

by kokoryko

The strangest and oldest mausoleum of Bukhara; Ismail Samani, is one of the founders of the Samanid dynasty who ruled Bukhara and Transoxian in the 9th-11th centuries. Thanks to the wind and the desert sand this beautiful building escaped the destruction craze of Genghis Khan, and the attacks from time and weather: it was buried since long time under the sand and rediscovered only in 1934 by soviet archaeologists. Very simple general form and so rich and various in detail, this small building bears many architectural stylistic influences, like the Sogdian pillars at the corners, or the Zoroastrian cubic shape or the little Zoroastrian suns formed by the bricks above the doors. The very various patterns of the bricks show the construction skills of the people who built this architectural marvel. A brick is their pillow, But their feet walk on stars! Persian poet about dervishes.Main...

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Bukhara: Hauz.. . and water

by kokoryko

Bukhara is originally an oasis; nowadays, one has just to turn the tap, and water is there! In old times a complex water supply system, with channels, watercourses, ponds, pools, etc. . . was working, and people had to fetch water at the canalisations or the ponds. The ponds here are called “Hauz and they have a special design in shape of stairs, so whatever the water level, one can go get the water, the precious water. Today, the Hauz are used for other purposes, like bathing (if you are not afraid by the colour of the water!), decoration, and relaxing refreshing places. Main picture: Hauz near the Zaid Ud Din Madrassa with the Kalon dominating the scene , again. The stair designed pond are very practical to fetch water whatever the level, and here at low level, there is enough to have a bath. Picture 2: The famous Liab I Hauz, living centre of Bukhara. At night the restaurants and...

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Bukhara; ceramics, majolicas, bricks, mosaics. . .

by kokoryko

The decoration of the religious buildings in Bukhara is so rich and various, it has taken tens of books to describe it! Since Islam has spread in Central Asia, Bukhara was a city of artists and scholars, the most important, before Timur made Samarqand his capital city where then the “Timurid” art and architecture have been developed. What we see today is “recent” architecture and decoration (Except the Samanid Mausoleum).Modestly , here are some pictures showing different types of decoration. All over the world the light comes down on earth; but in the holy cities of Samarkand and Bukhara, it rises towards the sky. AnonymousMain picture: Mir I Arab madrassa entrance, left side of iwan; glazed ceramics in a brick frame; flower motifs, symmetry,, so simple and rich in the same display! Picture 2: Right side of the entrance of Mir I Arab. Flowers and symmetry again, and this sober brick...

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Poh I Kalon (part2)

by kokoryko

Poh I Kalon, the Lord’s Pedestal of the Holy City of Bukhara and the Taliban (part2) The sunsets on the Silk Road: the light is so beautiful, it can only illuminate pure lines. Ella Maillart When Genghis khan entered in the Kalon Mosque (the Kalon Mosque, also the Jumaa mosque, or great mosque), he thought he was entering the Sultan’s palace; when he was told it was a mosque he ordered to make it stalls for the horses, and he destroyed all religious artefacts and books. The Jumaa Mosque is build on Iranian style, with the sahn (a wide inside square courtyard) surrounded by four pishtaqs with a central iwan and smaller iwans. It is a very quiet place, and if not an “active” mosque, few worshippers can be met there like this man taking the kid to visit this beautiful building. At the back, behind the main iwan, the two blue domes of the Mir I Arab madrassa Main picture : The Sahn of Kalon...

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Bukhara; Poh I Kalon (part 1)

by kokoryko

Poh I Kalon, the Lord’s Pedestal of the Holy City of Bukhara and the Taliban (part1) The sunsets on the Silk Road: the light is so beautiful, it can only illuminate pure lines. Ella Maillart When the Russians arrived in Bukhara, there were 360 mosques, 200 madrassas, with 10000 students for 150000 inhabitants, just to say Bukhara was a very important religious centre from the 15th to 19th century. During the soviet period, one madrassa remained in activity. . . . Today, very few mosques are active and one or two madrassas. And the active mosques are not exactly full when it is prayer time; there are no muezzin calling for prayer in the old city, and it is missing in some way; in fact the city centre is an open air museum, with very “clean” wide open space between the big buildings, life has gone, the architectural beauties remain. . . in a bit a desert. The most emblematic building in...

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Bukhara: streets of Bukhara!

by kokoryko

It may happen to everybody to get fed up with the mosque so-and-so here, the madrassa that-and-that there, and a walk in the streets, just looking around, looking at the busy people may be relaxing in that exotic environment. Bukhara is also an open air museum, in many aspects, but there is lot more life on the streets of the old city than in Khiva. There are no or very few workshops or factories in the old city, (except in the Tok-I-Telpak Furushan Bazar area, where some tourist-dedicated steel or coppersmiths work) but besides the main bazaar, there are specialised bazaars like the gold market, shopping streets, busy kids. . . . carpet market. Main picture: One of the most typical and wonderful things of Uzbekistan: bread! Called non or nan, the Uzbek bread is wonderful; it is served at any meal, just soft and crispy in the same time, a wonderful delicious white bread. The women here...

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Khiva: The Jumaa mosque

by kokoryko

Jumaa (Friday) mosque is of course the most important mosque in Khiva; from outside it is not a very noticeable building, and it is inside where the jewels are! 213 pillars, all different! Some books say the oldest are from the 10th century, then there are some from the 11th, and finally the big mosque as we see it today has been built during the 18th century.Two wide gaps in the roof let the light play with the pillars in this very quiet place. The mihrab (small niche in a wall indicating the direction of Mecca, direction to which the believers bow down when they pray) of this mosque is very tiny and you have to look for a while before finding it; usually it is the thing you see when you enter a mosque!Postcards and souvenir vendors are also inside this mosque.A bit Islam: Jumaa mosques are everywhere, it is the Friday Mosque, the mosque where the worshipers go for the great prayer on...

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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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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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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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