During my trip to Central Asia back in May, I told you I would have much more detailed posts about my amazing destinations and my trip itself. And I will, including more informative details about each place I visited.
But I wanted to at least share more photos right away, to make you travel a bit right now. In case you missed these back then if you do not follow me on Instagram yet (you can follow @andrew.flytrippers to see daily stories during all my many trips).
So let’s discover the beautiful city of Samarkand together (sometimes spelled Samarqand).
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The Registan
Samarkand’s highlight is the beautiful Registan complex.
I won’t post all 15 photos of the Registan here again: You can see my video and many photos in my initial post about my trip to Uzbekistan.
Let’s just say it’s magnificent.
The Shah-i-Zinda complex
Another place with stunning architecture is the Shah-i-Zinda complex.
Here is the view when entering.
Here is one of the many mausoleums.
The Gur-e-Amir mausoleum
This spot is such a calm and beautiful place to wander around.
It’s almost as beautiful inside.
I got treated to an impromptu concert by a random visitor.
For an architecture lover like me, it was beautiful.
The best part of staying in a centrally-located $25 room (literally the most expensive I splurged on in the country—I really love affordable destinations) is that I was close to everything.
So I went back at night for an arguably more beautiful view (in comparison, had I stayed in Québec, the privilege of just walking outside at that time of day would have been literally illegal even if I was already fully vaccinated, since early April).
The Bibi-Khanym mosque
This mosque is especially impressive due to its sheer size.
It still seems huge, even from far away.
Here is the same view without the sunset, to better see the mountains around the city in the backdrop.
The area around this mosque (which leads to the Registan) is a large beautifully landscaped public plaza and park.
Ulugh Beg Observatory
For fans of astronomy and science (there seem to be many new ones since the beginning of the pandemic), at one end of the city, there’s a 15th-century observatory that I walked to despite the terribly hot weather.
It was apparently one of the most remarkable of its time.
Finally, to end on a lighter and completely unrelated note…
It seems Uzbeks think that New York invented the poutine instead of Canada.
I did not try their New York poutines. I can’t support those who appropriate our beloved Canadian poutine.
I was able to try their few famous dishes though, although Uzbekistan (and even Central Asia in general) is not particularly known for its gastronomy. Plov, shashliks, mantis, samsas, shurpa, and Uzbek breads will be for a future article.
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Summary
Those photos of Samarkand are just the first part of my trip to Uzbekistan, with much more to come. In Uzbekistan, I visited another equally historic silk road city, the wonderful “sandcastle city”, and the vibrant capital city. I also visited the capital of neighboring Kyrgyzstan and yet another new city in Turkey… in addition to flying long-haul business class for the first time.
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Featured image: Gur-e-Amir mausoleum (photo credit: Andrew D’Amours/Flytrippers)
