Uzbekistan

I feel so lucky to have traveled to Antarctica with Kelly and to have met so many new fabulous travel buddies. So when Matt and Katey invited us to join them on an adventure to The Stans, we said YES! The plan was set to visit four of the five Stans. We started in Uzbekistan, then to Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. It was indeed a trip of a lifetime and it was so amazing to visit this unique part of the world.

Travel Day: It takes a bit of time to get to SE Asia. We flew from PDX to ORD in Chicago, where we met up with Katey. Then it was a direct to IST where we met up with Tripp, our new travel companion. The last leg was to TAS, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan to meet up with Matt.

Day 1: We spent our first day touring Tashkent City on our own. We all slept in after enjoying the bar until the wee hours after getting in late (see photo above). We walked around the Plaza, visited the celebrity wax museum, and window shopped at the mall. It was a great day of acclimation to get ready for our official tour to start. And a highlight was we loved watching the buildings and city shine from our rooftop bar at the Hilton Tashkent City.

Day #2: We started our sightseeing tour of Tashkent today with our guide, Dilnur

Tashkent is one of the oldest and largest cities in Central Asia, and the Uzbek capital since 1930. It is very much a showpiece of Soviet and post-Soviet architecture. We began our exploration by starting at Khast Imam Square, in the old part of Tashkent city, which is also within blocks of small mud houses. We explored the religious centre of Tashkent and a place of worship for Muslim pilgrims by visiting the Barak Khana Seminary, Tila Shaikh Mosque, and Mausoleum of St. Kaffal Shashi. Then it was off to see the Islamic Institute of Imam al-Bukhari, where future priests are taught. Later, we continued on to Independence Square, Kukeldash Madrasah and the bustling Chorsu Bazaar, the oldest market in Tashkent.

Day #3: We took a train to Bukhara in the very early AM and spent a full day touring. This incredible city is one of the most famous names from medieval Islam and is home to hundreds of registered monuments. We started off our day by enjoying a lunch at the artist studio of Davlat Toshev, a world renown miniature painter. Next we ventured out of town to tour the Sitora-i Mokhi Khosa: the Summer Palace of Bukharan Emirs, which was full of architecture delights. Our last stop was to Bahoutdin Architectural Complex where we toured the beautiful grounds. We arrived back to Bukhara as the sun set and went over to the Jewish Quarter so Tripp could pay his respects for Rosh Hashanah (and make his mother proud).

Day #4: We spent the day exploring the city of Bukhara. We started at the Madrasah Nadirkhon Devanbegi, which has stunning mosaics. Then we took tuk-tuks over to the charming Madras of Char Minor to admire the dynamic green domes and to explore the Soviet memorabilia market. Our next stop was back into the charming city to walk the streets and soak up the history at the Maghok-i-Attar mosque and the Zoroastrian temple, where they worshiped with fire temples. After a delicious lunch, we headed to the Mir-i-Arab madrasa and the Kalyan Mosque, all the while passing through the colorful bazaars of Bukhara. Our last stop was to the Ark of Bukhara, which is the royal fortress. After a full day of touring, we took tuk-tuks back to the Lyabi Hauz Plaza and enjoyed refreshments while watching the swans swim.

Day #5: We took a very early morning departure for the train station (and were greeted by the Bukhara street dogs when leaving the hotel). We took a high speed ''Afrosiyob'' train to Samarkand, where no name is so evocative of the Silk Road as Samarkand. It is one of the oldest existing cities in the world and the oldest in Central Asia. It was built on the site of Afrosiab, which dated from the 3rd or 4th millennium B.C. Samarkand was known to the ancient Greeks as Marakanda; ruins of the old settlement can be seen in the northern part of the city.

We started our tour of Samarkand with a visit to Gur Emir - mausoleum of Great Tamerlane. Then it was off to the famous Registan Square, which was for many centuries the heart of Samarkand. We saw the three beautiful monuments: the Ulug-Bek Madrasah built in the fifteenth century; the Tillya-Kori Madrasah built in the seventeenth century; the Sher-Dor Madrasah, also built in the seventeenth century. And I was able to capture some colorful photographs of young women all dressed up. We had a delicious lunch at Manresa and lastly, we visited the grandest structure of Amir Temurʼs times - the chief Friday Mosque called Bibi-Khanum and the Siab bazaar nearby. We stayed at the centrally located Movenpick and enjoyed evening beverages in their bar. Also, they had an amazing breakfast buffet which we enjoyed daily.