When our travel agent suggested flying into and virtually straight out of Uzbekistan’s capital Tashkent, we were somewhat surprised. Currently Central Asia’s largest city, and the fourth largest in the former USSR, we felt it deserved two days of sightseeing: one with a guide and one on our own.
As an enormous earthquake in 1966 flattened most of the city leaving 300,000 homeless, an appropriate first stop was the Monument to Courage. A granite cube displayed the hands of a clock set to 5:22am, the time of the first tremor, whilst behind it, a large statue of a man shielded a woman and child from the earth opening up before them. Surrounding the statue were 14 bronze reliefs depicting builders from all former republics of the USSR, who restored the city.
Over 90% of Uzbekistan’s population are Muslim and at the large Hazroti Imom Complex, I covered legs and head before visiting what we began to describe as the four Ms: Mosques, Minarets, Madrasas and Mausoleums. it was here we became familiar with the turquoise blue tile designs in geometric patterns as Islam prohibits the inclusion of living things.
The Mausoleum of Abu Bakr Kaffal Shoshi contained a large tomb and four smaller ones, whilst the former student rooms at the Barak Khan Madrasa now housed artisan shops. Our guide pointed out a mannequin wearing an old-style burka made from horse hair, explaining that the velvet gown denoted wealth, whilst the way the sleeves were worn depicted a person’s marital status.
The Moʻyi Muborak Madrasa housed the world’s oldest Quran, with 300 huge deerskin pages, kept in a temperature controlled case: nearby was a printed replica which was said to be harder for some people to read. Other rooms contained the Quran in braille, a miniature thumb sized one, versions in several languages with many having lots of white space around the central text, so that if there was a fire, the flames would not reach the words.
In the courtyard of the Hazrati Imam Jome Mosque were twenty intricately carved columns made from Indian sandalwood and clocks depicting the times and names of the five prayer times. Here I was allowed to enter the ladies’ mosque.
Next were two free standing minarets said to be the tallest in the country at 53m, with a little extra added to ensure they were.
For something completely different we visited the city’s famous circular Chorsu Bazaar where the second floor provided a bird’s-eye view of the various themed areas, where dried fruits, nuts, and spices prevailed. In the bakery, we could smell the appetising aroma of bread fresh from wood-fired tanyrs, ovens similar to the Indian tandoor. The circular loaves were thinner in the centre and stamped with decorative bread stamps called chekich.
Having whetted our appetite, it was time for lunch at the enormous Central Asian Plov Centre where, after a photo shoot in front of a wall full of decorative plates, we walked through the kitchen where huge cauldrons or kazans of Central Asia’s ubiquitous plov bubbled on open fires. This was our first, but certainly not our last experience of plov, or rice and lamb. Our guide told us about three types: wedding plov with chick peas and raisins, traditional chaikhansky plov and special plov cooked in olive oil, suggesting the only special thing about the latter was the special price. As it was too hot to eat in the extensive outdoor area, we found a table in the cavernous restaurant and ordered two types of delicious plov with tender chunks of lamb, along with an onion and tomato salad and pot of green tea. Despite the size of the restaurant, the squat toilets were inadequate in number and pretty disgusting.
Afterwards, we crossed the Ankhor canal, which divides the city between old and new, and enjoyed a post lunch stroll in Ankhor Park, whose shade provided a welcome relief from the June temperatures of 30+ degrees. Here we found the Crying Mother Monument and eternal flame honouring the 400,000 soldiers killed in WWII with two corridors containing ‘books’ with their names engraved. We exited at the Arch of Independence topped with sculptures of storks and cranes.
As a regular traveller on London Underground, I was keen to visit the Tashkent Metro having read about the architecture and décor of the individually themed stations. Although our rather ancient Lonely Planet warned of tight security and photographs being banned, things had been relaxed in 2016 with the advent of the second President. On Independence Square we found the well-marked entrance to Mustaqillik Maydoni Station (both square and station were formerly named after Lenin). The elegant décor had marble from the Kizil Kum desert in Western Uzbekistan and a columned hall with intricately decorated ceiling and glass chandeliers. One stop later we were at an interchange with Paxtakor Station, which translates as ‘cotton picker’, having walls with green and blue mosaics of flowering cotton plants, whilst Alisher Navoi had intricately painted domes on the ceiling and tile designs relating to the 15th century Uzbek poet and author of the same name. Our final and favourite station, Kosmonavtlar, had blue ceramic medallions featuring cosmonauts from the Soviet space programme, including Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, and the world’s first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin. With a ceiling designed to represent the Milky Way and green glass pillars we finished on a high. With just four coloured lines, the metro was cheap and easy to navigate, and I could have easily devoted an afternoon underground, hopping on an off at the 48 stations.
On our free day, we decided to visit the State Museum of Applied Arts which looked a simple 30-minute walk from our hotel. However, we lost our bearings and having eventually arrived hot and sweaty, we found it ‘closed in order to renovation’. A helpful French lady and Uzbek man involved in the works, acknowledged that the website didn’t reflect the closure and helpfully told us that various artefacts would be on display at the British Museum in September. They pointed us in the direction of the State Museum of the History of Uzbekistan, which we also failed to find, although Google later revealed that this was also temporarily closed. We ended the day with a 20,000+ step count and blistered feet.
The sights of Tashkent are widely spread and with lots of three and four lane roads, which are difficult or impossible to cross, so to get the most from a visit, a guide and driver are essential. However, it is also a green city with lots of trees, parks and grand buildings which were pointed out as we drove past.
