2 Before Samarkand there was Afrosiab. Once one of the largest cities in Central Asia, a thriving hub of trade on the Silk Road, now an […]
Uzbekistan
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3 I decide to make a slow circumambulation of the Bibi Khanym Mosque, before entering the complex. The sleek, overtly manicured, and somewhat kitschy facade of […]
Bibi Khanym Mosque, Samarkand, Uzbekistan – memorial to Timur’s wife
2 The most famous Uzbek cities are the Silk Road outposts of Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva; the very names conjure up images of camels crossing deserts, […]
Tashkent, Uzbekistan – world’s oldest Quran? capital of Turkestan?
2 Ayaz Kala, a mud-brick fortress on the fringe of the Qyzylqum Desert in Qaraqalpaqstan, isn’t a particularly easy place to reach. The first time I visited I […]
Ayaz Kala, Qaraqalpaqstan – 3x desert fortresses + yurt stay
2 The Registan (which means place of sand) is the focal point of the ancient silk road city of Samarkand; it’s one of the most recognisable […]
The Registan, Uzbekistan – crowning glory of the Timurid Empire. ...
2 To say there are many petroglyph sites in Central Asia is a stupendous understatement. There are 150 known rock art sites in Uzbekistan alone; and […]
Sarmish-say, Uzbekistan – 4,000 petroglyphs inc auruchs, lions, tigers
2 Toprak Kala, like all the kalas (desert fortresses) of ancient Khorezm, is slowly turning to dust. Rain is transforming the fortress walls into shapeless mud. Wind […]
Toprak Kala & Qyzyl Kala, Qaraqalpaqstan
2 Genghis Khan came face-to-face with the Kalyan Minaret when he arrived in Bukhara in 1220 CE. His Mongol army had just decimated the capital of the Khwarazmian […]
Kalyan Minaret, Bukhara, Uzbekistan – Tower of Death, spared by ...
2 Timur, whose remains lie entombed within the aquamarine-domed Gur-e-Amir, was one if the most fearsome men to ever live. In terms of empire building he’s up there with Genghis […]
Gur-e-Amir, Uzbekistan – the curse of Timur? link to the ...
2 Sand. Sand, sand, sand. Then this, rising up from the desert. A city: Khiva. Full of houses, public squares, minarets, madrasahs, mosques; all the trappings of a […]
Khiva, Uzbekistan – everyone’s favourite Central Asian Silk Road city
2 Before visiting Nukus (by the way it’s pronounced No’kis, rather than Nookoose, as I first thought), the only information I had on the city was […]
Nukus, Qaraqalpaqstan – desert capital, home to Savitsky Art Museum
6 Ulugh Beg Observatory, Samarkand A level, nondescript hilltop, in the midst of the sprawling, labyrinthine neighbourhoods of Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The hilltop is paved, swept clean […]
Ulugh Beg Observatory, Uzbekistan – greatest astronomer in 1500 years?
4 You can see Chilpik from so far away. You crest an insignificant rise in the desert and there it is, on the horizon; flat-topped, vertical sided, […]
Chilpik, Qaraqalpaqstan – Zoroastrian Tower of the Dead
2 It’s stifling in the back of the troop carrier. The windows in the front of the car are down, as are those in the second […]