Samarkand - Land of fairy Tales

With Jim off to Portual on a 10 day TDY, I used the fact that the kids studying about Timur and Ulug Beg in their Uzbek studies course as an excuse to take them on a tour of Samarkand for the weekend.

In the words of Alexander the Great 329 BC, "Everything I have heard about Marakanda is true. Except that it's more beautiful than I ever imagined."

Samarkand is one of the most ancient cities of the world with its history dating back 2,500 years. After several invasions that destroyed Samarkand, it was rebuilt on the site of one of its former suburbs. The narrow passage beyond the mausoleum is lined on either side with the mausoleums of the Timur period. They form a fantastic spectacle of majolica revetment and tile mosaics. Among many other mausoleums, the mausoleum of Shadi-Mulk-aka (1372) and her mother Tour-kan-aka, Timur's sister, are better preserved than others.
Towards the end of the fourteenth century, Samarkand became the capital of the huge Empire of Timur. The Bibi-khanum mosque was built with its walls faced with polished brick, which serve as a backdrop for the blue enameled bricks used for a large geometrical decorative pattern. Such monumental ornamentation is characteristic of the buildings constructed for Timur.
In the fifteenth century, during the time of Ulug Beg, structures were less grandiose but were distinguished by nobility of form and a great harmony of colored enameled revetment: Ulug Beg's observatory outside Samarkand was a unique structure. After Ulug Beg was murdered it was abandoned and by the sixteenth century it was in ruins.
After the seventeenth century, the situation in the country changed. Never did architecture in Samarkand reach such heights again. But the ancient city continued to exist, and now it is once more a thriving, developing city, one of the industrial and cultural centers of Uzbekistan.


The Gold Mosque





Turkish bath that is over 800 years old

Learning the art of hand making silk carpets

Lots of silk carpets

Halloween!

Foxy Cleopatra

Austin Powers Gold Member

Austin and Foxy

Harry Porter, Lola from Hanna Montana, Jim and I

Lola and Harry Porter

Z and her pumpkin

Wadi and the pumpkin he curved. He got the 4th place

Bridal Greeting Ceremony

The Eid celebrations in Uzbekistan are centered around “Kelin Saloum”, Greetings of the bride where all newly wed brides and the newly ‘joined’ families who had their weddings between the two holidays of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha) get to celebrate the union. During these 3 days the bride as to bow 3 times to every guest, and serve them, continuously with tea in between her hourly outfit changes. Today, I was honored to be invited to one of the Uzbek homes for a bridal greeting ceremony and the experience as one of a kind. The beauty of weddings is that the bride and her out fits plus the great food tend to take attention off of the only black person in the room, for most of the part. We also got to enjoy the dancing of an Uzbek super star dancer, Roza Abdulkhairova who seems to be well known internationally even in the U.S.
The Spread

The Bride

Bride

Bride

The guests with the family of the Groom plus the Bride

Bride

Roza the dancer

Bride serves tea as Roza dances in the back

Bride after I think the 5th change of outfits

Using fruits to express art!

Bukhara, Uzbekistan

After a long 11 from Tashkent to Bukhara we checking into the hotel Lyab-i-Hauz which was once the home of a wealthy Bukhara merchant. We visited the old bazaars of Bukhara and to the Kalon ensemble, which includes the Kalon Mosque, built in 795 before being razed by Genghis Khan in 1219 and rebuilt in 1514 to serve as the city’s Friday mosque, the second largest in Central Asia. We also visited the Ark, which served as the seat of Bukhara’s Khans for centuries. There we saw the courtyard where many foreign visitors and emissaries, including the famous British officer Stoddart, met the Khan who would order their executions.

On day two, we visited Bukhara’s holiest site, the Bakhauddin Nakhshbandi ensemble, which serves as a local pilgrimage destination for Muslims around the region. Nakhshbandi, a 14th century Sufic saint, was buried here. There were large numbers of Muslims circling a Mulberry tree that is said to have been miraculously created by the man himself and doing so ensured one a long life. While we were fascinated by all these rich history, to the locals, I was the main attraction with many people that could gather the courage asking to take pictures with me. We then traveled to the Summer Palace, built by the Russians in the 19th century. This complex outside the city is surreal in its composition and worth the visit just for the novelty and oddity of the experience. Next on our agenda is the visit of Samarkand!hour train ride








Out shopping

At the hotel

Taking tea on the 11 hour train ride to bukhara

Tashkent, Uzbekistan

We finally made it to Tashkent. We love our new home and the kids love their new school. I am still getting used to being the only black person in the country and all the attention that comes with it. So far everyone one is very nice towards me but I am not sure how long I will be patient with them trying to touch my hair. We'll see!

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