Part 2. Read Part 1 first.
Saturday. This was changing cities day but not until the afternoon. That morning we ventured outside the walls to Nurullaboy Palace (not enough room inside) which was built in a garden for the son of Muhammad Rakim Khan in the late 19th century. They used the old style of pillars and yards and rectangular shapes. It was a very large place. One of the areas we didn’t much like—where they decided to decorate in the lavish European style. The entryway also was European-garish. But the rest was really nice. Glenna mused that she didn’t object to the tiles covering a whole room and wondered why these rooms bothered her. I suppose the Europeans didn't cover every square inch but the Uzbeks had that tradition and used it for the European-style decoration and it didn’t work (for us at least).
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| A half-carved pillar. They are still done by hand. |
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| Exterior of the Nurallaboy Palace built in the traditional style |
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| A room in the European section |
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Nice porch ceiling
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Part of the Palace is now used as a museum with exhibits on costumes, weapons, household items, metalwork, carved wood and paintings. The best was a photography exhibit of the first photos taken in all of Asia right there in Khiva in the late 19th century. There were beautiful shots of Khiva and images of people working in the fields, with musical instruments, weaving. They were always in traditional garb, the men in the big fuzzy hats which we saw for sale everywhere and the women in their full shapeless garments.
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| Fabrics on ceiling and walls in Parvoz Restaurant |
We had shivit oshi one more time before we left Khiva and also two shaslik, chicken and lamb. They really know how to do meat skewers, tender and marinated with a wonderful flavor.
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| Glenna's long green noodle in the shivit oshi |
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Delicious shaslik--chicken and lamb
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We rested a bit in the hotel and then called a Yandex for the train station. Almost immediately our train was called, and we boarded. Glenna got our bags way up to the top shelf (above two beds). It was reallllly hot in there with no AC. We were in a third class car (all that was left when we had to switch our tickets) which is open seats that make into beds. It took us awhile to figure out how to make the table and two facing seats into a bed, but once we did figure it out it was quite comfortable for our 6-hour ride.
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| Uzbek desert seen from the train |
Most of the people stayed on the train when we got to Bukhara, going on to either Samarkand or Tashkent. A guy helped us with our luggage. The Uzbeks were very polite and helpful. I never stood on the metro in Tashkent, for example; I was always offered a seat. The Yandex ride to Bukhara was 30 minutes away--odd to have a train station for a city so far from the city. It was very late but there were still tons of cars and backups.
We got to our hotel which seems very nice—we are on the ground floor off a courtyard—and left to see what was what. It was 10:30 but still very lively probably because it was the weekend. We sat down in the main square for soups and drinks and endured the very loud singer. At one point people started getting up to dance. That was really fun to watch. They just seemed so happy. One lady tried to get me to dance but that wasn’t happening. Even Glenna didn’t do it even though she likes to dance.
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| Joyous dancing on Sunday night in the square |
As we sat there white berries from a tree kept falling on us and the table. They were all over Bukhara and Samarkand; we eventually figured out that they were mulberries. Our lips and throats were incredibly dry all the time. We were in the desert. 10,737 steps.
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Mulberries on the sidewalk in Samarkand.
We acutally saw a family put down a sheet to
collect them as they shook the tree. |
Sunday. Old Bukhara is more spread out than OId Khiva which is mostly contained within the city walls. So modern life is interspersed with the past in Bukhara more than in Khiva (except for the vendor stalls which are everywhere inside and out!). After breakfast we set out for one of the old sections, passing by residences and shops and small mosques. The first old structure we came upon was the early 15th century Ulegh Beg madrasa. There we saw a two-story cell and cats! Glenna stops for every cat. One here hopped right on her lap. If her cat Asha had known how many cats she petted she would have been jealous!
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| You can see how happy these cats make her |
There was also a nice calligraphy exhibit which was very important in Bukhara in particular. On the gate there is an inscription which declares that "the aspiration to knowledge is the duty of every Muslim man and woman". This madrasa was the center of social scientific thought; the students studied theology, astronomy, philosophy and mathematics.
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Simple bowl with calligraphy
on the rim |
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More calligraphy
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Ulegh Beg was the grandson of Timur (also known as Tamarlane) who founded the Timurid dynasty in Iran and Central Asia. According to Wikipedia Timur is known as one of the best military tacticians and leaders in history, having never lost a battle, but also one of the most brutal and deadly. He became the most powerful ruler in the Muslim world and also was a great patron of the arts. Ulegh Beg was a famous astronomer and mathematician as well as ruler. We encountered his legacy again in Samarkand.
Across from Ulegh Beg’s madrasa was another called Abdulaziz Khan madrasa. This one was less decorated and much restored but still in much worse shape than others. Now it is entirely given over to vendors.
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| Part of pishtaq of Abdulaziz Khan madrasa |
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Muqarnas of the pishtaq. Muqarnas are the
three-dimensional rows of niches which I think
are beautiful.
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This madrasa had a lot of wear and had
obviously not been completely restored,
particularly on the inside |
We passed through the ancient trading domes (later!) on our way to the next complex of buildings, Po-i-Kalyan. It includes the Mir-i-Arab madrasa which is being renovated and not open for visitors, the 1147 Kalyan minaret and the early 16th century Kalyan mosque (actually named for the minaret). There have been several minarets on the site, one after another destroyed deliberately or not. This one was designed very carefully and has lasted 9 centuries. The mosque, the third largest in Central Asia because of its massive courtyard, also has seen numerous iterations.
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The very old Kalyan minaret
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Mir-i-Arab mosque with its scaffolding
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Mir-i-Arab detail
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| Kalyan mosque entrance iwan |
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Interior iwan of Kalyan mosque
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Inside the mosque
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| Dome of Kalyan mosque |
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| Detail on Kalyan mosque pishtaq |
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| Betty in Kalyan mosque |
Then it was lunch where we had our first plov (the national dish—rice with a mixture of meat and veg on top) and fresh salad (every time). Very good in a very popular place. Glenna was ecstatic when she saw honeycake on the menu. She remembers it from her summer in Jordan. And it was so good—13 alternating layers of what seemed like graham cracker crumbs and some sort of cream mixture. I googled it but didn’t find anything like what we had and yet it was like what Glenna had in Jordan.
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| Our first plov, the national dish |
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Glenna enjoying her first bite of honeycake
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Then we continued westward to the Bolo Hauz mosque which wasn’t open until 5. It was unusual with its pillars on the porch and different roofline. The porch was so beautiful that I was sorry we weren't able to go inside.
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Bolo Hauz mosque with its unusual roofline and porch
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| Porch roof of Bolo Hauz |
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| Carved pillar of Bolo Hauz |
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Is she adorable or what? And she
already knows how to pose.
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We crossed the street to the Ark of Bukhara where we explored the late 17th century mosque, 17th century throne hall, embassy and architectural dig. We weren’t overly impressed.
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| Walls of Ark of Bukhara. I did like these old walls. |
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| Ceiling of the mosque porch |
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Glenna exploring the excavations
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| Throne room of the Ark |
Then it was time for a strawberry mojito and the trading domes and a search for Ikat and suzanis. We spent a long time there going back and forth. I got a suzani table runner or bottom-of-bed runner—not sure which—and Glenna got some fabric to put strips on the wall as we have seen many places.
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| Our welcome mojitos. It was hot this day. |
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Lots of fabrics to choose from
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| The ancient trading domes and the minaret and domes of the Kalyan complex beyond |
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| Interior of one of the trading domes |
On the way back Glenna found her kitty from the morning who hopped right back into her lap and purred. This was a really hot day, and we couldn’t avoid the sun entirely though there were breezes which helped enormously. Strangely neither of us got sunburned on the whole trip. Dinner was more good shashlik and a veggie skewer and lentil soup with wine and beer. 14,666 steps.
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On the way back Glenna found one of her
morning kitties |
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Shaslik (veggie too) and soup. Yum.
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Monday. Glenna went out early to take pictures again (the next three photos are hers) while I did some packing. As the purchases add up, you have to get more careful about packing. But at least we weren’t going on a plane for awhile.
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Wonderful interior of the Domullo Tursunion madrasa with its muqarnas and starkness
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| Muslim ladies out early |
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| Morning light on the Magoki Attori mosque |
Our first stop was to the east of our hotel whereas everything the day before had been to the northwest. It was the early 18th century Chor Minor. There is a place of the same name (Char Minar) in Hyderabad, India which Glenna has seen, and it was mentioned in the literature for this place. It is the gatehouse for a madrasa that no longer exists. As we sat on a bench and read about the place (Glenna had found a good site with lots of information about the places we were going to see, and I compiled that into documents for each city.), another cat jumped on Glenna’s lap.
Even I climbed the treacherous 28 steps up to the top for the view—holding Glenna’s hand. She took good care of me on this trip—always warning me of a curb, helping me climb, waiting for me when I couldn’t keep up and sitting with me when I needed a little rest.
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Playing backgammon on the trunk of a car
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Entrance iwan of Kulkadosh madrasa in the Lyab-i Hauz complex
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| Inside the very large Kukaldosh madrasa |
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Stick brooms in Kukaldosh madrasa--we
saw them all over. I was fascinated when
I saw them in Moscow in 1971 but
obviously they are still used.
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| Glenna shopping in Kulkadosh madrasa |
In the same complex we visited Nadir Devon-begi madrasa where we got a few little things including cute little stork-shaped scissors that we had been seeing. This madrasa was unusual in that it didn’t have an interior iwan opposite the entrance. The entrance gave directly onto the courtyard and it has no mosque or corner classrooms. It was more like a caravanserai.
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Very nice front side of Nodir Devonbegi madrasa in the Lyab-i Hauz complex
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Unusual depiction of living things
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Detail of front of Nodir Devonbegi
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Caravanserai were the inns usually spaced a day’s journey apart for those on the Silk Road. They are rectangular spaces with a courtyard in the middle and the rooms arrayed around the sides. So they are much like a madrasa except that they also had space for horses, camels and other pack animals and storage spaces for the goods they were carrying. In the cities these structures could be quite large to accommodate interaction among the merchants who might stay more than a night.
The Nadir Devon-begi khanqah (sufi lodge or retreat) was on the other side of the pond/square. It is now a museum, but we did not go in.
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| Nice entrance of Nadir Devonbegi khanqah |
We had to hurry back to the hotel to check out though we left our bags there. Most hotels provide that service, both when arriving and leaving. Lunch was entirely too much—fresh salad, lagman, lamb and chichen shashliks and a veg shashlik—but in a very nice setting. We ate a lot because we knew we wouldn’t have time for dinner.
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Very nice outdoor restaurant with more lagman
and shaslik |
We wandered around the stalls and the architectural renovations of a caravanserai.
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| Foundations of ancient caravanserai |
Later we sat down for a mojito and iced coffee (I, of course, had the first.) at a place called Donuts and Coffee. After writing in our journals for quite awhile, we had tea and another good honeycake there. You can see that we do take breaks!
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| Betty with more tea and honeycake |
We were in the area around our hotel, just wandering. We wanted to visit the only synagogue in Bukhara but first came across an artisan/applied arts workshop where students had finished their painting of the day and left them drying on the tables. They were also for sale. And today they had painted pomegranates, exactly what I would have wanted as a souvenir. We also got earrings, the only ones we got on the whole trip.
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| Some of the pomegranate paintings from that afternoon's class |
We then found the 16th century synagogue. It was plain but nice. A guide there said they have the oldest Torah in the world.
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| Star of David in the window grille |
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Menorahs in the synagogue
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We spotted a spice dealer nearby and got a big bag of spices for chicken shashlik to share; it was fun to watch him mix it for us—just dumping scoops of various spices into a bag and mixing it around. No measuring. We are anxious to try it.
We popped into the Kukeldash Garden Café for a somsa and rice, just enough after our big lunch. Then it was off to the faraway train station for our trip to Samrakand; we had left plenty of time. As we waited, a man sitting across from us offered us some of his apricot seeds and told us about Samarkand. He was a Turk living in Germany visiting a friend in Uzbekistan and spoke very good English. We both were able to sleep on the train. On the Yandex ride to the hotel in Samarkand we could see some of the buildings lit up, a lovely sight. 10,880 steps.
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What the Yandex driver sees in
his rear view mirror |
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| Amir Temur mausoleum at night |
Tuesday. After breakfast we set out to see the symbol and highlight of Samarkand, Registan, which is a large square with madrasas on three sides of it. This is not an uncommon arrangement, but this one is impressive probably because there aren’t large trees or pools or other monuments in the square to detract from the buildings—as in Bukhara where the Lyab-I Hauz complex has pools and seating and a restaurant in the square so that the complex doesn’t seem cohesive.
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| Registan Square, a most impressive site |
The newest madrasa at Registan is on the north side, Tilya Kori, built in the mid 17th century. A little older is Sher Dor on the east side built in the early 17th century. Oldest by 200 years is Ulegh Beg to the west.
We concentrated on Sher Dor first. Its design is very similar to the older Ulegh Beg except in the decoration of the façade which features lions chasing deer on the top left and right of the pishtaq. That likely shocked the Islamic elders at the time since living beings were not generally depicted.
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| Sher Dor madrasa |
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| Closeup of Sher Dor madrasa front |
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Unusually, animals depicted on pishtaq
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| Muqarnas on the entrance iwan |
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| Courtyard of Sher Dor |
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| Glenna at doorway in courtyard |
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Betty at same door but zoomed out
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| More muqarnas in the courtyard |
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Lots of iwans in the courtyard
Moving countercounterclockwise next was Tilya Kori, which has only one level of cells around the courtyard, lacks the usual corner classrooms but does include a mosque which replaced another one that was deteriorating as the Friday mosque. |
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Mosque entrance of Tilya Kori madrasa
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| Mihrab in the mosque of Tilya Kori |
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The minbar inside the mosque of Tilya Kori
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Last and oldest and best was Ulegh Beg madrasa whose namesake ruled in the mid-12th century. I have mentioned already that he was a famous astronomer (he made highly accurate star maps without the aid of a telescope), and this madrasa exhibits that with the stars on its façade. The alcove in the entrance iwan is covered in tiles and muqarnas vaulting--a three-dimensional decoration in which rows or tiers of niche-like elements are projected over others below which I find very pleasing. And inside was the museum of education that I previously talked about. Along the back west wall was a mosque which was unusual. Most subsequent madrasas used one of the corner classrooms as a mosque.
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Ulegh Beg madrasa with stars on the pishtaq
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| Closer look at the stars |
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| And more stars inside |
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| Looking through the grille to the courtyard |
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| The lovely courtyard of Ulegh Beg madrasa |
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Painted pillar in the mosque of Ulegh Beg--
restored obviously and the space no longer used as a mosque |
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| Diorama of Ulegh Beg and assistants in the Museum of Education in Ulegh Beg |
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| Muqarnas lovely even when all white |
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| Glenna in Ulegh Beg courtyard |
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Glenna climbed up to the second level
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| Glenna had such fun picking a tile. You can see the spot where hers was. |
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| So many patterns everywhere |
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| Bride and attendants leaving after a photo shoot |
We spent a long time there just drinking in the monumentality and the decoration. We then set off for another center but stopped to rest; even Glenna was hurting, the only time I heard her say that. Lunch was salad, gumma, plov and mojito at a pleasant outdoor place. This restaurant was the only place I encountered the hole-in-the-floor toilet. I had read that they were prevalent; thank goodness that didn’t appear to be the case. This one had a western toilet also. How else could a handicapped person manage?
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| Lunch at Bibi Khanum restaurant |
Then it was off to the nearby early 14th century Bibi Khanum mosque and, across the street, mausoleum built for Timur’s chief consort. This mosque is the largest of its kind in Central Asia, capable of holding 10,000 worshippers. It was built quickly at Timur’s insistence but has suffered over the centuries because of structural flaws until the Soviets shored it up in the 1970’s, work continued by independent Uzbekistan’s first president who wanted Timur, a native-born hero, to be a source of pride for all Uzbeks. |
| Side iwan of Bibi Khanum mosque |
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| Front entrance of Bibi Khanum |
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| Tiles at the entrance including eight-pointed star |
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Inside the dome of the mosque
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Muqarnas in the delapidated mosque
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| Back side of the entance iwan |
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| Wonderful dome of Bibi Khanum |
Nearby was Samarkand’s Siab bazaar where I got a jacket with pants (which I gave to Glenna) and she got a pillow cover. Glenna was glad that we hadn’t saved all our shopping for this place. There was also a food market where we got some strawberries (we saw them all over—obviously in season) which turned out to be too ripe and yet not terribly sweet, a disappointment. We also saw displays of their bread with its patterned top. They use a stamp made with nails in a pattern to press into the dough which leaves the pretty pattern. We each got one of the stamps. We got our one and only ice cream soon after on our way back.
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| Bowls of fruits at the market |
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Ladies at the market enjoying a sit down
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| The pretty breads with the patterns made by the bread stamps |
We had walked a lot and were pretty pooped, so when we got back to Registan we got a taxi back to the hotel. Samarkand has wonderful walkways between sites, wide and tree-lined. We just weren't prepared for another one right then.
Right next to our hotel was the mausoleum we had seen lighted up the night before. We decided to go in when we got back. It was the Gur-i-Amir mausoleum, the final resting place of Timur, the brilliant but ruthless conqueror of much of Central Asia. The place was endowed by Timur’s grandson and heir apparent as a madrasa. But when he unexpectedly died at 27, Timur had it converted to a mausoleum and was eventually buried there himself as were several others of the Timurid dynasty including Ulegh Beg.
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| Amir Temur mausoleum from our hotel |
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| Entry portal to the mausoleum |
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Dome and iwan of the mausoleum
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| Lots of gold inside |
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| Some of the tombs |
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| Some Qu'ranic calligraphy |
After a dinner at a Korean BBQ place (pork, rice, six veg in little bowls and soup—very good), we set out for one of the highlights of the trip—the light show at Registan. Not only were there lights, there was grand music and commentary and images projected onto Tilya Kori and the other two to a lesser degree. It was in Uzbek, but you could gather at least that it was the story of Samarkand and its rulers. Part of it was about science, so that probably referenced Ulegh Beg. Back at the hotel we sat on the terrace for awhile just enjoying the evening. 14,431 steps.
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| Our Korean barbecue meal |
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| Registan lighted up |
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| Sound and light show |
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Probably Ulegh Beg
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| Science images |
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| Last spectacular view--very well done |
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Image of the observatory that
Ulegh Beg had built |
Wednesday. In the morning I started packing our things in preparation for our evening train ride to Tashkent and flight to Delhi the next day. We had brought vacuum bags which really help getting everything in when you have bought a lot of bulky stuff. Then it was off to Hazrat Khizr mosque by Yandex. As we were about to enter the mosque complex we spotted a cemetery and walked in. It was the most amazing place. The modern graves had pictures of the deceased on the headstones. I thought that was really a fitting memorial.
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| Some of the graves in the cemetery |
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Couple with lots of medals on the
gentleman
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Family with child who died young
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We explored the mosque which also contains the grave of the first president of Uzbekistan who is revered.
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| Hazrat Khizr mosque from below |
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More eight-pointed stars in the grille
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Inside the modern mosque
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| Nice roof of the mosque porch |
The next stop was the Shah-i Zinda complex. Google Maps said it was a 56-minute walk which looked crazy when we looked at the map. It looked as if we could walk through the cemetery and get there, so we tried that route along with a French couple who had a guidebook (another chance for Glenna to impress with her French--the female complimented her). At the end of the walkway was a locked gate on the fence around the cemetery, but we could see the complex down a short set of steps. The French couple said sorry and turned back; the French are big rule followers. I wasn’t relishing a 56-minute walk and we figured we could climb over the fence, so we did. That meant that we didn’t actually pay the admission fee to get in because we were going in at the end of it. I felt a little bad, but I couldn’t face a 56-minute walk. We should have paid when we got to the entrance but were pretty pooped and didn't think about it.
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| Instead of a 56 minute walk |
Shah-i Zinda means The Living King. It is associated with the legend that Qutham-Ibn Abbas, cousin of the Prophet Mohammed, came to Samarkand in the 7th century to preach, was killed and is buried there. Over the centuries it became a fabulous necropolis for the famous and connected--one beautiful mausoleum after another along a straight path climbing from the beginning to the end. Thank goodness we were going in the other direction. It was pretty steep.
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| Not my picture but I wanted to show the whole complex |
The mausoleum of Shah-e Mulk Aga, the niece of Emir Timur, is considered the most beautiful and is one of the oldest (14th century). But there was just an embarrassment of riches all along the way. I read that many of the tiles are not original; there is always damage over the centuries, particularly if they are not taken care of along the way.
But we also liked Kutlug Oko, the mausoleum for one of Timur’s wives. It was plainer but pleasing as well as Usto Ali Nesefi’s mausoleum. As Glenna said, “It only suffers from having so much. It’s like walking through gallery after gallery of Velasquezes—you can’t possibly properly appreciate them all the way they deserve.”
The odd thing was that the complex for Qutham-Ibn Abbas was at the very beginning which was the end for us. We were probably mausoleum-ed out at that point and didn’t properly note it.
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| Inside the Tuman Oko complex |
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| Room in the Kutlug Oko mausoleum |
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| Whiteness of the Kusan Ibn Abbas complex |
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| Another room of Kusan Ibn Abbas |
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Wonderful tiles. Glenna went crazy here.
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| Long row of mausolea beginning with Usto Ali Nesefi |
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| Inside the dome of Usto Ali Nesefi |
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| Octagonal Mausoleum, unusual shape for the time |
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| Front of Shirin Beka Oka mausoleum |
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Inside the dome of Shirin Beka Ora mausoleum
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| Inside view of Shirin Beka Ora |
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Beautiful door in the Unknown Mausoleum
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| Shad-i Mulk Aga mausoleum, the one considered the most beautiful |
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Some of the beautiful tiles inside Shad-i Mulk Aga
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Betty and Glenna at Shad-i Mulk Aga
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I liked this dome on Shad-i Mulk Aga
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Entance of Qutham Ibn Abbas mausoleum.
This is the one for whom the complex was built. |
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| Dome of Qutham Ibn Abbas--I liked it too |
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Entrance to the Shah-i Zinda complex
which we saw at the end, of course |
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Shah-i Zinda complex from across the
street, the beginning anyway |
After lunch at the same place as yesterday, we walked leisurely back stopping at shops along the way. One had fabric, and that was the one thing Glenna still wanted to get—something for pillows to match the comforter on her bed.
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| Last lunch at Bibi Khanum Teahouse |
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Glenna writing in her journal at lunch
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To break up our walk back, we popped into a few shops and found a café for one last tea and honeycake near Registan where we did our bests and worsts that we always do at the end of a trip.
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| It is fitting to end with Amir Temur |
A few more snacks for coworkers and it was back to the hotel where we sat for a bit before taking a Yandex to the train station. This train was a higher class; we had a window that opened and comfortable seats together. The night of no sleep then commenced with our message about the cancelled plane from Delhi to JFK and our back and forth in both Tashkent and JFK to find flights to get home. 13,506 steps
We mostly agreed on our bests and worsts. Khiva was our favorite city but Samarkand and Bukhara give it a run for its money. The three highlights for both of us were Tosh Hovli Palace and Juma Mosque in Khiva and Shah-I Zinda in Samarkand. The biggest regret was missing the train in Tashkent which set in motion all the train and hotel changes. One of the pleasures of writing this blog is living the trip all over again. For days as I write and post I am there, going to each of the places, eating each of the meals and browsing and buying at all of the shops. I name all of the photos which often means I am researching on the Internet for hours at a time. Who will care after I am gone? Maybe no one. But it gives me pleasure now.
I don’t know where my awesome travel partner and I will go next, but I’m sure it will be some place spectacular. It always is with her.
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| Betty and her awesome travel companion |
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