Uzbekistan - 2022

Caroline, a former colleague of Jo's, now living in Tashkent, who is putting us up in her apartment while we spend some time here.

Looking down in the bustling market place of Tashkent's Chorsu Bazaar. This is just the inner building, the original heart of the market, which now spans multiple city blocks in every direction. It is the largest market in Central Asia.

Nunu. Or as we started calling her, Nunesy. Caroline's adorable dog. Heaven forbid if you should stop patting her for a minute or two.

Inside the Hazrati Imom Friday Mosque. A recent construction, yet soon to be superseded by a shadowing construction almost next door. Inside was nice to visit, not so typically decorated with unusual colours and straying from the typical patterns. Outside, beautiful green marble and wooden features gave it a more traditional look.

The small museum is contained in a handful of small buildings on the grounds of this house. The building itself is a true item of the collection.

An item in the collection - Museum of Applied Arts, Tashkent.

Sublime and dignified. The three madrasahs which now make up the Registan in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Although the name, in reality, relates to the square which these buildings were built around, it has now become synonymous with the buildings themselves.

There are numerous criticisms in books and on websites about the "Disneyfication" that is occurring to various monuments in Uzbekistan. This was not as bad as we expected (and not as bad as this photo might suggest). There was stirring music, culturally appropriate and not too loud, while the lights changed colour and "danced" along the rows of arches. That said, although I didn't reel in horror or disgust, I don't know if it added anything to our enjoyment. On other evenings, when it was simply lit, the subtle details were more prominent, and the overall feel was certainly more dignified.

Staying in Samarkand for four nights meant we had ample visits past this view. Some days, we crossed here multiple times. It was wonderful to enjoy the changing moods of the shifting shadows.

Well, if you go back to our other photos, you will see there are some leans. From some places in the grounds, you struggle to see anything that looks perfectly vertical. However, seeing this photo from the 1930s made us appreciate that, in comparison, we can probably call the current angles as "near enough".

In Tilla-Kari Madrasah, the "Gold Covered" Madrasah. This is the middle madrasah in the Registan. The ceiling is a beautiful kaleidoscope, and standing in the middle staring up, one starts to lose orientation of up and down...

Another highlight sight of Samarkand. This Mausoleum contains, amongst others, the remains of Timur. He is often described as a tyrant, after ransacking his way through much of the reachable world, from norther India through to Iran. Much of the plunder, though, returned to this part of the world, including craftspeople. So he is also remembered as a builder and developer. In this mausoleum is also the remains of a couple of sons and grandsons, including ruler, astronomer, mathematician Ulug-Beg.

A cousin of the prophet Mohammed, credited with bringing Islam to this part of the world in the 7th century. The shrine grew and was modified over the year, and in the 14th and 15th centuries, many magnificent mausoleums were built in the area.

The mausoleums doors were also worth keeping an eye on, as they contained incredible craftsmanship, too.

These are some of the oldest mausoleums in Shah-i-Zinda, and the tile work on them is beautiful. Apparently, much of the tiling is original, and restoration on these was quite minimal, testament to the quality of the workmanship.

Shah-i-Zinda is like a little street lined with mausoleums. Here we can see some of the work in detail, including where it has curved to create shape and form as well as texture and colour. Looking past the tiles, the Octagonal Mausoleum can be seen, unusual in that it is open sided.

It hardly ever rains around here, so the lack of a roof seems hardly an issue.