Friday May 5th, 2023
Departure in the evening (around 21) from Malpensa. I arrive at the airport around 7 pm, go through security checks and while I wait for the flight, I eat the sandwiches I brought for dinner. The plane is not that big and there are no lcd screens. Since we will arrive early in the morning, I get some sleep during the flight.
Saturday May 6th, 2023
We land on time, around 6 in the morning. Having brought only my hand luggage, I quickly leave the airport, but at the exit I don’t find the guide from Boscolo. There are those from other tour operators, but not mine. After a while it arrives, but I still have to wait for the other members of the group who are waiting for the luggage. However it takes about 1 hour. We are 10. Later, from the airport we move by coach to Khiva, our first stop, about 30 km from the airport. Then, after reaching the hotel, we make a brief stop in the room and have breakfast. Now we have more or less 2 hours free to rest or do something else.
But having rested, I begin to tour the city. Our hotel is located immediately outside the walls, inside which cars cannot pass. Therefore I start from the Islam Khoja madrassa with the nearby minaret, in the distance I see the green and blue domes of the Pahlavan Mahmoud Mausoleum, a few other madrassas, the exterior of the Kunya Ark fortress, up to the squat Kaltaminor minaret, symbol of the city. Later I walk a little aimlessly, there are so many madrassas, and I walk along part of the walls.
I then return to the hotel to reunite with the group and start the guided tour. Consequently, we skirt the outside of the walls, enter through the west gate and arrive almost immediately to Kaltaminor. Shortly after we reach Kunya Ark and visit it internally: there are numerous courtyards and it is possible to go up to a panoramic terrace, even if the staircase is steep and narrow. The landscape is very beautiful, even if the sky is cloudy. Later we visit the Tosh Hovli Palace, here too we see numerous rooms and courtyards.
We enter the Allakuli Khan Caravanserai, once a caravanserai, now full of souvenir shops. Another building that we visit internally is the Pahlavan Mahmoud Mausoleum, also richly decorated. Finally we visit the Juma masjid, with many wooden columns, all different from each other. It’s time to go back to the hotel, but it’s still early and the sun has come out. I decide to hang out with another member of our group. Now we can enter Kunya Ark again with the same ticket we used previously, so we go up to the terrace. In addition, on the roof, we find 3 guys who are playing and recording a video.
We reach the north gate and climb the walls, following them along their entire length, both to the right and to the left of the gate. The sun continues to shine, it would be a shame to go back to the hotel early, so I stay around until the evening, I only go back to the hotel to prepare for dinner. After that, we take a tour of the illuminated city.
Sunday May 7th, 2023
Today we will have to spend many hours on the bus to move to the next city. It’s sunny and so I decide to get up early, I leave the hotel before 7 and walk around the city centre. Around 8 am I go back to the hotel for breakfast and be ready to leave. The road is very rough and it takes quite a long time. After about 2 hours we make a stop along the state road, where there is a view of a lake and a river. The next stop is lunch. We are still in the desert, and we eat in a typical yurt. Around 16.30 we arrive in Bukhara, our destination. We have some free time, I walk a bit downtown to stretch my legs.
The hotel is not very close to the centre, it is about 1.5km away. So I head straight to the Chor Minor with its 4 minarets. Then I continue to the Nodir Devonbegi madrassa and the nearby Nodir Devonbegi Tekke and Magoki Attori. I then return to the hotel to meet up with the group. The bus takes us west of the centre, near the Ark fortress and the main square, the Poi-Kalon. We take a few photos and enter the madrassas. It is almost sunset and there is a beautiful light. We stop at a bar on a terrace to admire the sun disappearing behind the monuments. We cross the whole center and stop for dinner. After, we take a tour of the illuminated city, especially the main square.
Monday May 8th, 2023
After breakfast, we start the city tour of Bukhara. As first thing, we stop near the Nodir Devonbegi Madrasah and here we see the statue of the merchant Khoja Nasreddin, the interior of the Nodir Devonbegi Madrassa and that of the Nodir Devonbegi Tekke. We only see the Magoki Attori externally, it is closed. Later we reach the next square with the Ulugbek madrasasi and the Abdulaziz Khan Madrassah. We enter both. Proceeding almost in a straight line, we arrive at the symbolic square of Bukhara, the Poi-Kalon with its madrassas. We also see these internally.
We get back on the bus and stop for lunch. At the end we see the Chor Minor and go up to the terrace, then we move to the Bolohovuz masjidi, also called the mosque of the 40 columns: it has only 20, but it should be reflected in the fountain in front of it. The water is not very clear and there is no reflection.
We cross a garden to arrive at the Ismail Samani Mausoleum, richly decorated both inside and out. We conclude the visit with the Chashma Ayub Madrasasi. It’s time for a break in the hotel, but together with the others in the group I go out almost immediately and we go towards the southern area. We reach the Mavzoley Turki Zhandi, we enter the courtyard, but it seems closed to us. A gentleman signals us to enter, but the door is blocked. Shortly after he comes, and pushing hard, opens it.
We then pass near the Goziyon madrasa, it looks beautiful, but it is very decadent, around there are barriers to keep people from approaching. The next stop is the Fayzulla Khodjaev Museum, it looks nice, but sadly when we arrive it’s already closed. A short distance away is the Jewish cemetery, we go to the entrance but we also find this closed. We are not lucky. So, we return to the center where we will meet up with the rest of the group. We stop to see a photo exhibition (we still have some time left), take some sunset photos, have dinner and then back to Poi-Kalon square for night photos. The colors of the lights are a bit strong, but the square is beautiful.
Tuesday May 9th, 2023
Today will also be a busy day. I wake up very early, I see that it’s sunny, so I decide to take a last tour of the center before breakfast. I see places I have already seen: the statue of Khoja Nasreddin, the Nodir Devonbegi Madrasah, the Madrasa Kukeldash, the Nodir Devonbegi Tekke and the Magoki Attori. There’s no one around, but there’s already plenty of light.
I arrive at Poi-Kalon, this was the main objective of my walk, but having still time, I decide to go up to the Ark fortress. The light is really great. It’s almost time to go back to the hotel, but the Bolohovuz masjidi is really close, and now the columns are reflected in the fountain, very nice. Then I go back to the hotel around 7 to have breakfast. We then leave in the direction of Samarkand. After a while, we stop in the middle of nowhere at Malikrabot to see the Raboti Malik Karvonsaroyi va Sardoba, a water cistern used by caravans in the past.
We also see an animal that our guide defines as a marmot, but it’s different, we don’t know exactly what it was. So around 1pm we arrive in Samarkand and go straight to lunch. The hotel is quite far from the centre. In the afternoon we visit a carpet factory. We move to the Ulugbek observatory, the visit is quite quick and then we go to a village, Koni-Gil, where they make silk paper. Thus ends the day. We go to the hotel and relax around the pool until dinner time.
We go by bus to the center. When finished, we decide to watch the light and sound show in the main square, Registon. It should be from 21 to 21.30, we arrive when it’s already 21.20, but with our surprise the show is much longer than expected and lasts until 22.30. We walk around the square a bit, without going in (there is an entrance fee). Happy with the evening, we return to the hotel by taxi.
Wednesday May 10th, 2023
After breakfast we head to Shohi-Zinda complex where there are numerous mausoleums. First we listen to the explanations of our guide, then we have some time available to enter the various mausoleums and take pictures. They are all different from each other, with blue and white tiles on the facades. We then move to the Hazrati Xizr masjidi, a very beautiful mosque. There are many people in the courtyard who are praying.
That is to say that a short distance away is a bazaar, Siab Bazar, where there are few tourists. It is quite typical, we see in particular lots of vegetables and the famous Samarkand bread. The next monument is the Bibi-Khanym mosque, and opposite, the mausoleum of the same name. So we visit the inside of the mosque. After that, it’s time for lunch, our guide has chosen an old caravanserai, which has now been transformed into a restaurant. A short distance away is the Registon square.
This time we enter and see the madrassas facing the square. That is to say, inside they are full of tourist shops. You can also go up to the second floor to admire the courtyard from above. In one of these there is also a beautiful golden dome. Around 4pm we move to Go’r Amir Maqbarasi. It is the last monument we visit. We then return to the hotel and rest. We go out for dinner and later, we watch the show again in the square. Thus we conclude this day.
Thursday May 11th, 2023
Today we will go to Shahrisabz, Tamerlane’s hometown. Since we have to travel a mountain road, we will use 4 cars instead of the bus (3 people per car, plus the driver). Meanwhile we stop quite early at Teshik tosh where a movie about Indians was filmed. A little further on we stop in Kishlyk, where we admire the view over the valley. We reach our destination and consequently, we start immediately from the Ak Saray Palace portal. We take some pictures, planning to go back even later, unfortunately we will find out later that we will not return from this road.
Certainly the portal is very high, and about half of it is left. After that, we continue along the main avenue, fortunately there are no other tourists, almost the whole site is just for us. We arrive at the statue of Tamerlane and continue on to the Dorus Saodat complex and the nearby crypt where Tamerlane was once buried. The last building in the monumental complex is the Ko’k Gumbaz Masjidi. Going out we see a circular rainbow around the sun. Beautiful to look at, but difficult to photograph. We take a break for lunch and we return to Samarkand by the same mountain road that we traveled on the outward journey. When we reach the pass, we stop at the bazaar, where they sell dried fruits, spices, cheeses.
However, around 15.40 we arrive at the railway station in Samarkand, we are very early, our train is at 17. We can’t do anything but wait. Finally, around 19 we arrive in the capital, Tashkent. We take the bus (it has changed since Samarkand) and go to the restaurant for dinner. The hotel is very far away in the suburbs, certainly closer to the airport than to the city center. So we only go there after dinner. Tonight we decide not to go out and thus end the day.
Friday May 12th, 2023
It’s the last day of our trip. It is also one of the hottest days. Therefore, after breakfast we visit the Barakhan Madrasah and the Khast Imam square monuments, inside which there is an ancient Quran. We also see the inside of Tillya Sheikh mosque, it is very big. We then take the subway to see some stations, built by the Russians, such as eg. the cosmonauts one and another with images of a story similar to Romeo and Juliet. Back on the surface, we see the last Tamerlane statue of our journey. Here we meet a school group and take some pictures with them. In addition, in the background of the square we see the Uzbekistan hotel, a typical example of Soviet architecture.
Later, we walk along the main tree-lined avenue, called Broadway and we see 2 theaters externally. Meanwhile, all together, we decide not to have lunch today and to have something at the airport to avoid to waste time and see more things in the city, having only this morning available. We pass in front of the O’zbekiston tarixi davlat museum, also built by the Russians, from the Romanov palace and we arrive at the Mustaqillik Maydoni.
Here there are some government buildings, numerous fountains and flower beds. After that, we conclude the visit of the city passing by the war memorial, inside a park. Back on the bus and we go to the airport, about 3 hours before our flight. We have time to pass the security checks, eat something and spend the last sum (the Uzbek currency). The return flight takes about 7 hours, departs a little late, but lands on time. In conclusion, around 21 I’m at home.
Likewise, you can read about my trip to Jordan here.
