We are winding down our time left in Uzbekistan. It is now Day 11 – our first full day in Samarkand. For those that read yesterday’s blog (Day 10), you might remember one of the last pictures that was of a beautifully arranged fruit tray, and how we said we’d come back to this tray…
Well we’re back to it. The consensus is that it was possibly this fruit tray (or some veggies, or something that was rinsed in tap water) that led to three people not feeling the best on Day 11. Unfortunately Jay was one of the three whose stomach was not well enough for an outing so today’s adventure was wholly experienced by Tim, sans Jay.
After great concern by the tour leader for his ailing people (one of our tour mates had been throwing up all night and unable to sleep), we loaded up the bus and headed out for the Sha-i-Zinda necropolis. The entrance to the necropolis is at street level, with a set of stairs that must be taken up into the complex.
Mar’uf told us to be sure and count the stairs as we went up, that it was important to know how many there were. While the skeptics among us thought he did that to distract us from “climbing stairs in the heat”, we later found out on leaving (when you are to count them again coming down) that these stairs are steeped in legend. The legend says that if you count the same number of stairs going up as you count coming down, you are considered free of sin.
The overall complex was constructed over 8 centuries, with the oldest structures being 11th and 12th century. The bulk of the structures date back to the 14th and 15th centuries, with the newest structures being constructed in the 19th century.
There are three areas to the necropolis – a lower, middle, and upper. Upon reaching the top of the stairs and the lower section, you are in a canyon-like setting with stunning blue tile mausoleums on either side of you.
The interior of the mausoleums are open to explore, and are just as elaborate and beautiful inside as out.
The middle section was much more open, with larger buildings and not as much blue tile. There were also more outdoor tombs.
Although the architecture felt more “tan” and less “blue”, the actual brick work was amazingly intricate, as seen on the close-up (below) of the wall (above).
We also saw for the first time live restoration happening while we were there.
The upper section, in addition to being much more crowded and thus nigh impossible to get decent photos, also contained an active mosque, such that pictures were not allowed as soon as you entered the building (not just the mosque). Therefore the pictures of the upper section (below) are the best we have to offer.
On leaving Shah-i-Zinda, we walked to our next destination, the Bibi-Khanym Mosque. This was quite a hike, uphill at that. It was noted as we walked, that even outside of the necropolis there were many tombs and crypts just on the hillsides.
The Bibi-Khanym Mosque is a 15th century mosque that was the most like a ruin (similar to what we’ve seen in other countries), as it had been damaged by earthquakes, and not yet fully repaired/restored.
It was in the interior where you could see more of a ruin look, with just large open areas that used to be enclosed building(s) around the outer edges.
Adjacent to the mosque was a bazaar, the Siyab bazaar to be precise, where we had roughly 45 minutes of shopping time available. Thankfully the bazaar was covered, and in the shade it didn’t feel too bad.
In the bazaar was the first time we’d really encountered beggars in a larger quantity, with several women carrying children asking for money. Afraid of being swamped were he seen giving any, Tim very surreptitiously gave a couple of different women money on the down-low, as it’s very hard to shop (or shall we say spend money on things you don’t really need) in good conscious without trying to help someone in need while doing it.
While this bazaar was nowhere near the monstrous size as the one in Tashkent, it still had all of the same staples: dry goods (nuts, spices), fruits, vegetables, candies and sweets, other unidentifiable items, etc.
After a thankfully early end to the shopping (30 minutes instead of the initial 45), tired, hot, and some of us laden with newly found souvenirs, our wonderous and thoughtful tour guide once again ordered a ride for us to our next destination (for which we were supposed to have walked). Thus Jay missed our second wild cart ride, although admittedly it was just fun, breezy, and cool… but without any excitement or drama like our first.
We took two electric “mini-buses” back to Registan square, where our real bus picked us up.
We then drove to our next destination, the Guri-i-Amir complex, where the 15th century mausoleum of the great conqueror, Amir Temur is located. As you approach the complex, in the middle of the round-about is a huge statue of Amir Temur.
And surprisingly, while the exterior looked much as one would expect:
There is minimal blue tile that we’ve come to expect in the interior of the mausoleum, instead mainly being golden and radiant.
Surprisingly, the larger tomb at the head is not Temur’s, rather it is his teacher’s. Temur’s tomb was the dark one at the foot of his teacher.
This wrapped up the day’s events and we headed back to the hotel so that Tim could check and see how Jay was doing. (During the day, Mar’uf had called Jay to see how she was doing, and relayed that info to Tim, so he did have an idea that she was doing better, thus enabling him to enjoy himself.)
On arriving back at the hotel, what did we find??? Oh yes, yet another bride having photos taken.
While technically this was the end of the “tour” day, there was one last excursion that Tim had the pleasure of going on. There was an evening side trip to a nearby village, where a handful of the group took a tour of a local winery.
The drive to the winery was exceptionally interesting, giving a great view of the day-to-day street life of local residents. A couple of pics that Tim snapped through the window are below:
The first is of a dome under construction (well, reconstruction, is probably more accurate).
The second item of note was more to tease Jay… as she L O V E S watermelon, and there were many, many truckloads of watermelon being sold alongside the road. Here is just one example of a local selling his wares:
The tour of the winery was a smashing success, with Tim noting later to Jay that it was very similar to the tour they had taken in South Africa.
The most interesting item of note was that Tim FULLY participated in the wine tasting.
(This is odd, in that Tim doesn’t like wine, but was goaded into it by newfound friends Darlene and Ivonne… okay, it was mainly just Ivonne doing the daring. But Tim did get his revenge when he returned the favor and goaded her into drinking the brandy with him.)
It was a long bus ride back to the hotel, with everyone happy and a little bit sleepy.
For dinner (Jay was still not up to venturing out), Mar’uf walked with several of us to a nearby club-restaurant. We had to walk through ear-damaging noise in the club to get to the stairs so we could climb to the 3rd story restaurant.
The meal here was delicious, with Mar’uf testing out a new menu item (so he could potentially recommend in the future), which was a slider. It ended up being hilarious because the bun (both top and bottom individually) were thicker than the meat and tomato together.
And as you can see from the skin on the wall, the restaurant itself while fairly fancy of menu, had a quaint and rustic décor, as evidenced by the goat in the middle of the room…
As well as the infamous picture of Kary with a chicken on his head.
Okay, that’s enough tomfoolery for now, and it’s been a long day so we’ll see you guys tomorrow.