A Long Overdue Travel Post on Uzbekistan (Part 1)

Back in September, Helen and I went to Uzbekistan, Almaty (Kazakhstan), and Istanbul. While I did write a post in October explaining some urbanism observations – including the awe-inspiring Tashkent metro – I never got around to writing about the sights themselves. Let’s look back at that trip to see why you may want to consider heading there in the future.

A view of Samarkand from Hazrat Khizr Mosque

Heading to Uzbekistan

Heading towards Tashkent took three flights lasting 21 hours including layovers at Frankfurt and Istanbul; leaving us exhausted by the time we landed in Tashkent. Uzbekistan Airways became one of the best airlines we had even flown with their generous sized meals including a piece of horse meat. One of the few times I felt taking a photo of airplane food was warranted. I chose the meat one while Helen did chicken. Even on shorter flights from Urgench to Tashkent and from Tashkent to Almaty, they give you at least a small sandwich. Lufthansa was a letdown this time – they only give you water and a small piece of chocolate on flights within Europe – while Istanbul Airport was the biggest airport rip-off ever with a footlong Subway sandwich costing €16!

Tashkent

Arriving in Tashkent felt easy with a quick passport stamp and SIM card purchase, though there was only one exchange kiosk available to get some Uzbek Som when we landed at 4 AM. Downloading Yandex Go (a.k.a. Russian Uber) is recommended when arriving in Uzbekistan to make getting around the country easier. Our accommodation in Tashkent – Art Hostel – was our favourite in the country with a reasonable price ($40 USD/night), friendly service, good sized rooms, and the best breakfast spread. Aside from breakfast, we slept the first day until 1 PM. They also gave us a boxed breakfast the following morning so we could take the train to Samarkand on time. We stayed at Art Hostel for an additional two nights after Khiva before continuing to Almaty.

While Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva may get tourists’ attention in Uzbekistan, Tashkent is worth visiting for a couple of days. On the first day, we visited the Applied Arts Museum which had decent crafts and woodwork, while we saw some kids perform. The admission was 25,000 Som ($2.50 CAD) which was worth it.

We visited the Chorsu Bazaar which we did again on the second Tashkent visit which has fresh pomegranate juice, lots of food options, and other shops selling different things.

For the second visit, we went to Hotel Uzbekistan which was built during the Soviet era. Even if you aren’t staying there, you can go up to the 17th floor to enjoy the views over a drink.

During the evening, we walked along Shota Rustaveli and Shakhrisabz Streets near the Art Hostel which have many restaurants and other shops. A nice spot for dinner (Anjir) and some ice cream (Dolce Italia).

Samarkand

We stayed at Tillakori Registon Hotel for three nights ($49 USD/night) while in Samarkand which is near Registan Square; Samarkand’s primary tourist attraction. While Tillakori didn’t offer as vast a breakfast as the Art Hostel, they made up for it with complimentary bottled water and melon every night, while they arranged our side trip to Shahrisabz on the third day. More on that soon.

A view of Sherdor Madrassa's courtyard in Samarkand

Our first day in Samarkand consisted of the Rukhobod Mausoleum, the Amir Temur Mausoleum, and the Church of St. Alexius Metropolitan of Moscow before doing the Registan at night. While the Rukhobod didn’t have much, at least it was free. Meanwhile, the Amir Temur Mausoleum pictured below was decent with its imposing blue dome. A feature that was present with many other attractions in Uzbekistan and is unique compared to other countries we visited so far.

Registan Square has three madrassas – Ulug Beg, Tilya-Kiro, and Sherdor – which are impressive whether you explore night or day. We couldn’t finish in the evening because of a light show which was kind of cheesy, but returned the next morning. If there was one thing that annoyed us about the Registan, it was how the madrassas were filled with souvenir merchants as were other attractions in Uzbekistan.

After visiting the Registan on the second day, we stopped by the Happy Bird Art Gallery which is a good place to shop for crafts. We then visited the Bibi Khanym Mosque, the Bibi Khanym Mausoleum, Siyob Bozor, Hazrat Khizr Mosque, Shah I Zinda, and Ulugbek Observatory. Among those, I suggest skipping the Bibi Khanym Mausoleum and the Ulugbek Observatory. The latter costed 40,000 Som ($4) which had almost nothing to show. The Siyob Bozor was a worthwhile food and pomegranate juice stop, while the Shah I Zinda complex pictured below offered the biggest bang for the buck.

A discussion about Samarkand is not complete without talking about the food and it’s worth calling out Uzbekistan is one of the best places to enjoy meat. Especially the shashlik meat skewers, though the round bread in Samarkand is also flavourful. Some of the restaurants we liked in Samarkand include Old City Restaurant (west of University Boulevard), Shokhrukh Nur (near Registan Square), and Ikat (north of Registan Square). Shokhrukh Nur was our first spot for shashlik – usually 20,000 to 30,000 Som per skewer ($2-3) while Ikat offers a decent lagmon noodle dish for 40,000 Som ($4).

Shahrisabz

Our third day in Samarkand involved a day trip to Shahrisabz; the birthplace of Amir Temur who established the Timurid Empire in the 14th and 15th centuries which covered as far as Delhi to the east and had vassal territory as far west as Moscow, Istanbul, and Cairo. On the way, we got to see a tandoor oven and were offered some delicious lamb.

One thing that annoyed me about Shahrisabz is you had to pay 30,000 Som ($3) for each of the four attractions which are Ak Saray, Chubin Madrassa, and the Dorut and Dor-Us Complexes. Ak Saray was Temur’s summer palace with an imposing view.

The Chubin Madrassah showed various moments of Temur’s life along with artifacts of Kesh; the prior name for Shahrisabz. The Dorut Complex pictured below had a couple of mosques, while the Dor-Us Complex was the least impressive. Part of it was likely poor timing on our part since we got there by the time the Friday prayers were happening.

On the way back, we stopped at the Chor Chinor Garden which is very peaceful. Not only were there lots of fish in the pond, but one of the trees had an opening big enough for some seating and beds. Overall, the day trip was worthwhile and the driver – Bahkohir – was very entertaining and knowledgeable about the area.

While Samarkand has lots to see – including day trips such as Shahrisabz – we found there were a lot more tourists there than in other parts of the country. Even so, the boom in tourism in Uzbekistan is relatively recent and travelling there – except for the flight to get there – is cheap. I will do a separate post (or two) to cover Bukhara, Khiva, and Almaty.