Samarkand

The Golden Road to Samarkand
– James Elroy Flecker (1913)

Sweet to ride forth at evening from the wells,
When shadows pass gigantic on the sand,
And softly through the silence beat the bells
Along the Golden Road to Samarkand.

We travel not for trafficking alone;
By hotter winds our fiery hearts are fanned:
For lust of knowing what should not be known
We take the Golden Road to Samarkand.



(June 18 and 19)

Samarkand was probably founded in the 5 century BC. Alexander stopped here in 329 BC and described is as more beautiful than he had ever imagined. As a key Silk Road city, Samarkand prospered as an important trade centre from the 6th to the 13th century when its population was bigger that it is today. Its rulers included the Western Turks, the Persian Samanids, the Karakhanids and others until the city was destroyed by Genghis Khan in 1220.

In 1370 Timur decided to make Samarkand his capital. Over the next 35 years under his leadership the city became the epicentre of Central Asia’s economy and culture. It is filled with mosques, minarets, medressas and mausoleums – but they are all more imposing, more decorative and more structurally complex than anything we’d seen so far (thanks to the substantial reconstruction efforts of the Soviets and the Uzbeks). And we were far more excited about being there than anywhere we had been before.

Video of Registan Square...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9I6vwO19Nc

We also visited some great workshops in Samarkand, including a fashion designer (where we given a fabulous fashion show), a carpet factory, and a paper making workshop.

Video of the water wheel at the paper making workshop - Samarkand...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9FqX3WLAbw

Samarkand means ‘Strong Sugar’

***
Our guide Rustam is 47 years old. He is from Khorezm State near Khiva. This is the area where some of the oldest settlements are found in Uzbekistan. When I asked him how long his family had lived there he said he could trace back seven generations but that they had been there longer than that. He also told me that he knows a family that can trace back 122 generations. “They came to Khorezm in the sixth century, from Persia” He laughed and added, “But they are all snobs.”

Toward the end of our tour in Uzbekistan, Rustam was looking a little weary. He said he had been working non-stop since early January – as a translator and actor on a Russian movie, as a teacher, and as a guide. He was really looking forward to going home for a month. “I need to be Uzbek!” he said.

He led us on and off the bus, in and out of museums and mosques, back and forth to our hotels, and up and down streets and alley ways to restaurants for lunch and dinner. Whenever we would arrive at our destination he would say, “We are coming now. Let’s go. Slowly, slowly.”

***
Our first night in Samarkand Rustam left us on our own for dinner. Six of us when off together to a lovely beer garden, surrounded by roses and lush tall trees. It was a bit cooler (about 32) so we were all feeling frisky and so excited about being in Samarkand. We decided to break free from kebabs and headed to an Italian restaurant. The following interesting dishes were listed on the menu...
- Spaghetti with bitter meatwads (spaghetti, onion, tomato juice, soya sauce, meatwads, chillipepper, double cream, cheese)
- “Three Pigs” (their quotation marks) (pork, pine apple, Bulgarian pepper, spices)
- Fri
- Chicken hip filled with mushrooms
- Salad “Woman’s Caprice” (their quotation marks)(ham, servelat, salami, mayo, nuts)
- Salad “for darling ladies” (cabbage, grape, potato, carrot, mackerel, pickle, cucumber, onion, spices, mayo)


Pictures from Samarkand...

Samarkand