samarkand, uzbekistan
driving in to this most famous silk road city -- enjoy the tour!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samarkand
the 110+ degree heat is making everything blurry
-- i liked the last one 8bit pixel-ated
there is urban, but not much tall -- uzbekistan is very earthquake prone
a walk around our hotel neighborhood, which is the old russian neighborhood & is middle class
you can see the wads of uzbek $ you have to carry around
gur emir mausoleum - tomb of amir timur aka tamerlane
there he lies, tamerlane himself in the black tomb
some guise
on the right you can see the ongoing problem of salty groundwater damage --
it sucks right up into the brickwork
the registon ensemble
an old view of the registon
glitchy pano!
bootleggin!
jewish cemetery
old walls of samarkand
ulugh beg observatory (b.1424-29) -- grandson of timur and famous early astronomer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulugh_Beg
views inside the remains of the once enormous fahkri sextant -- as seen from both ends
views from up on beg’s gurkhani zij observatory hill
a silk fabric and rug making place
this historic rug is 300+yrs old + the owner is making a dog rug for a rich texas guy
hi!
shaki zinda necropolis (b.1370-1449) -- mostly relatives of tamerlane, an amazing place
if you count the steps up to the necropolis & count the same when you walk down its good luck
showing off the very old structural wood
mausoleum of kusam ibn abbas, a cousin of the prophet muhammad, in reality a legend
in the middle ages a pilgrimage here was equated with a mecca hajj
bibi hanim mosque (b.1399-1404) -- it is just enormous
a rare old elm tree - dutch elm disease struck in uzbekistan too & they responded by painting the base of all trees white to keep bugs off, which is a strange sight to see every single tree in the cities and along the roads painted like that
famous samarkand style obi-non clay baked bread, it really is the best non of them all
uzbeks count through these wads of bills like speed demons - it’s an amazing sight
uzbek-made chevys were everywhere → they said chevrolet took over an old daewoo plant
amir temur (tamerlane) order...something...welcomes
the tomb of daniel -- yes, the bible lion’s den daniel
it’s one of four in the world -- yes, he was chopped up and carried around a bit
here lies just his arm -- the tomb is long because they mixed it up to deter thieves
the locals say it’s growing and when it reaches around the world heaven will be on earth
back on the road around town -- you can see caves in the old city walls
this is meros factory, a mulberry paper making place - in a suburb of samarkand called koni gil
it says samarkand - pearl of the orient
this is the central market -- on maybe a big off day holiday, it was eid al fitr, but still pretty busy
non, non and more non -- it really is fantastic tasting though
the spice guy hooked us
lots of construction -- humble bldgs, but always urban style apts over shops, so i give them that
this is an open air chiakana tea garden -- all of these are just great places to relax
it says secondary school 21 aka a public school
geese and betakrorimson country, uzbekistan gave you my soul!
(2016 is the 25 anniversary of uzbek independence)
tashkent street is the afrosiab shopping street
happy bird --- in an old caravanserai
samarkand pearl of the east
last -- is the samarkand train station
here comes the ride -- the speedy new talgo built afrosiab bullet train
goodbye to samarkand!
arrival in tashkent
*** i hope you enjoyed the sights of samarkand
***
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