The South Korean President was visiting the Silk Road city of Samarkand during our stay, and as much of the city was going to be locked down, we took the opportunity to visit Shakhrisabz, one of Central Asia’s most ancient cities.
During the two-hour scenic drive, we had several stops. The first at a natural rock said to resemble a dragon, with a huge poster showing how it had advertised the 1973 Russian film, ‘Apachilar’ or Apache.
A second stop at a roadside bazaar sold goods from huge sacks. Whilst many of the dried fruits were familiar, we’d not seen kurut before. Samples of the small balls of tart, dried yoghurt were provided and having tried several types, we bought a bag to have with beer later that evening.
The third stop was to photograph the view from the highest point in the mountains at 1700m.
On arrival at Shakhrisabz we visited the preserved outer northern gate Ak-Saray Palace – the inner wall had been totally destroyed but two huge pillars, with partial remains of intricate blue tile work, now standing at 35m, would have originally been twice as tall. Above the entrance were words which meant ‘If you challenge our power – look at our buildings’. There was a story about the master builder disappearing before the job was completed, but as he’d put a chain across the pillars, no one else would finish the work. When he returned to continue three years later, he said he’d been testing for subsidence to see how high he could build. It probably sounds like a familiar story to anyone having building work done.
We walked southward through beautiful gardens and fountains, said to be only switched on for VIPs, to the statue of Timur who founded the Timurid Empire.
As temperatures were over 30 degrees, we hired an electric golf buggy to take us to the southern sights. We passed closed shops, empty hotels and what had once been a thriving locals bazaar before it was converted into a desolate souvenir market. The Uzbek government had razed 70-hectares to create what UNESCO described as a ‘modern theme park with tourist kiosks.’
At the southern end of the site, we were able to go inside a non-working mosque where our guide demonstrated the intricacies of praying which appears to require a great deal of flexibility.
The Hazrat-i Imam mausoleum complex contains the Dorus-Saodat, the tomb Timur had built for his eldest and favorite son, Jehangir, who died in battle in his twenties. When his second son, Umar Shaikh, also died before the tomb was complete, he was buried there too.
A small wooden door led us down into an underground chamber, discovered by archaeologists in 1963. One stone grave occupied most of the space and tear-drop shaped inscriptions indicated that it was intended for Timur, but he was buried in Samarkand.
As we approached the large, heavily renovated Kok-Gumbaz Mosque, carpets had been laid out on the outside verandah for Friday worshippers who were beginning to gather for 1pm prayers.
The treat on the return journey was a late lamb lunch at one of the roadside restaurants famous in the area. We began with a simple tomato and onion salad, and two circular-shaped loaves of bread, before a huge plate of lamb chunks arrived, which was delicious but a little fatty. However, it was obviously a popular place as a separate take away counter had a long queue. After we had eaten, we were taken to see the butchered sheep hanging, the preparation area and finally the kitchen, where chunks of lamb were being cooked for four hours in large wood fired tandoor ovens sealed with clay.
By the time we arrived back into Samarkand at 4pm, the president had departed and the roads had reopened.
