Travel Guide to Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Heart of the Silk Road 🇺🇿

Good morning from Samarkand, Uzbekistan. One of the most ancient cities in the world and the oldest in Central Asia. Walking out into Rajasthan here, the heart of the main square of the old city and it is breathtaking here. It's 65,000 som to enter and if you come early enough you might be the first person for the day as the lady at the ticket office just told me. So these three huge buildings are madrasas which are islamic schools. The Ulugbek madrasa is the oldest of the three dating back to 1420. The other two are from the 17th century. The Tilakori madrasa and the Sher Dor madrasa. As one of the oldest cities in Central Asia, Samarkand has lived through many iterations. For example, it was a walled distinguished city in the Sogdian empire when Alexander the Great took it in 329 BC. Genghis Khan came here in 1220 and destroyed the entire city. Just to give you an idea of how many different rulers and peoples have passed through this place, centered between Persia, India and China. It has always been a key point on the Silk Road. Closer inspection of the Ulugbek madrasa here. You can just see the insane amount of detail. Stepping out here into the interior courtyard of the Ulugbek madrasa. He himself taught maths here as the sultan of the Timurid empire. Lots of interesting subjects were taught in these madrasas. Astronomy, philosophy, theology, ethics was also really important. They wanted to make people well-behaved citizens. Ulugbek was the grandson of the great Timurid conqueror Timur. Despite being a very scientifically accomplished man who was a mathematician, astronomer and was into trigonometry, he wanted to make the capital Samarkand a center of scholarly activities and education. Drawing people in from all over the world. One could say he focused too much on education and the arts and the sciences, however, because he was beheaded and overthrown by his own son. So, his skills were lacking in governance. There's a museum inside this madrasa. A little exhibition of items and history of education in Samarkand. Now, I'd like to take a moment to tell you about the sponsor of today's video. The T1 Time Kettle Mini. It's a translator device and it works with the touch of a button. Hello. Ni hao. So, that's going to Chinese, obviously, with the ni hao. Although they do not have Uzbek, Russian is very widely spoken in Uzbekistan, especially in the major cities. And so, I'm going to be finding out the best place to try the national dish by asking the reception using this translator device in Russian where I need to go. Hello. I'm looking for the best place to try pilaf. Yeah, of course. I'll help you find a restaurant. The link for it will be in the video description if you want to have a go. The translator offers unlimited data for your first year because it requires internet connection to work. If you don't have Wi-Fi in your hotel or if you're outside, then you can always use that unlimited data or just connect it to a hotspot if you have a local SIM card on your phone. Check the list of languages before to make sure. It doesn't include some like Uzbek, for example, but it has the main ones, Russian, Chinese, French, Spanish. And although I was using it to find a food recommendation, it's also great for emergencies, particularly when you have lost your passport or an item of your luggage, perhaps, anytime you immediately need to have something translated from one language to another, you can do it with the tap of a button there. Next up, I'm going to head inside the Tilya Khori, which means gold covered. It has a spectacular looking blue domed mosque from the outside. Just from walking in here and seeing all the blue and gold, you can imagine the wealth of this city at its height. When Alexander the Great came to then Marikanda, as it was known, he said, everything I have heard about Marikanda is true, except that it's more beautiful than I imagined. Then in the 1330s, Ibn Battuta, the Arab world's most famous traveler, he described Samarkand as being one of the greatest and finest of cities and most perfect of them in beauty. Christopher Marlowe wrote that Samarkand's shining turrets shall dismay the heavens, and Edgar Allan Poe called the city Queen of Earth. It has been long in the minds of Western poets, writers, and scholars that this city was something special, and its reputation preceded itself, although very few got to see it with their own eyes. Shardul means madrasa with lions, which explains the mosaics on the front. Having left Rajasthan, I have made my way over to Shah-e-Zinda, also located in the older part of the city. It's 40,000 som to enter, and it's an area of mausoleums. Making my way up the steps, it is on a hill here, and about to enter the first of the mausoleums, many of which are relatives of Timur, the founder of the Timurid dynasty, who I'll talk about a bit later in this video. Already we're seeing more amazing tile work from the outside. So dating from 1372, this is the Shodimilk Okho, the resting place of Timur's sister and niece, and it is spectacular, the colours and tile work. The name of the site, Shah-e-Zinda, actually translates to tomb of the living king, and that's because the man responsible for bringing Islam to the region, Qasam ibn Abbas, the cousin of the prophet Muhammad, there was a shrine built for him here. It lasted for around seven centuries, and that's why so many of Timur's relatives and other people were buried here on this auspicious site. Entering into the site of the old mausoleum of Qasam ibn Abbas, this door is incredible. So we're now here inside what was the shrine to Qasam ibn Abbas, and it was the prophet Muhammad that said there is no other person like me in character or appearance than Qasam ibn Abbas, and he was responsible for bringing Islam to this part of Asia, and there is still a wooden carving inscription which says the doors to paradise are open to the faithful. Welcome back to Samarkand from the terrace of the hotel that I'm staying at here. So this here is my room at Samarkand Travel Hotel. This is a single room. It's nice and cozy, double bed against the wall there, and a TV in the corner, and the ensuite. Everything you need, nice tiling in Samarkand style and colours, a little bit of the blue and the green fridge, and a little kettle down there. Samarkand Travel Hotel also has a nice breakfast buffet here in the mornings included as part of your stay, so the link is in the video description if you're interested in a really good value quality cozy place here not far from the centre. As you can see, Rajasthan poking above the skyline there where I was yesterday morning, but today we are going to head to the main bazaar of the city to get a different perspective of one of the Silk Road's most ancient places. So I've now made my way over here to Siob Bazaar, the main market in the city, and we've got Bibi Khamene Mosque just behind there. So let's wander through a little bit now and see what it's like here in the morning. As part of being a historical stop on the Silk Road, Samarkand for thousands of years will have been a pivotal place for trade between Persia, China and India. Looks like we've got all the grains here in this part of the bazaar. Having visited Rajasthan and Shah-e-Zinda yesterday, it's good to mix things up by coming to this bazaar and having a walk around to get a taste of local life. There is a different side to Samarkand here. Here we've got different versions of the traditional round skull cap of Uzbekistan and Central Asia. I love all the different designs. Thank you. There we go. Very good. Oh yeah, not bad. Cashews, different types of nuts in this section. Seems to be quite a popular one among the locals. These different types of tea. This one I think is mountain tea and buckthorn. So here we have the Samarkand bread. A little bit different to other parts of the country. The traditional nom of Uzbekistan. Siyob Bazaar is also a great place for people watching just to observe the locals going about their weekend shopping. It is a Saturday here, perhaps that's why it's slightly quieter. Earlier in the day, fresh pomegranate juice there. I'm going to head on to the mosque. Having left the bazaar and stepping out the gate, right here is the Bibi Hamin Mosque, which was built in around the 1380s, financed from the war of Timur, his invasions of India at the time, and it's named after his Chinese wife. The front gate is just enormous. It's the same size as some of the madrasas in Rajasthan. So I'm now inside the interior courtyard, and although it's a mosque, they do charge you to enter. 40,000 som is the price, and there is quite an interesting story associated with the building of this mosque. So while Timur was away, she wanted to build a grand structure for him in his honour as a surprise for when he came back, and the architect who was given the task of completing this huge project was in love, funnily enough, with Timur's wife, and he said that he would not be able to complete the project unless he was allowed to give her a kiss on the cheek, and she eventually relented, gave in, let him kiss her on the cheek, and he did so, and apparently it left a mark on her face, a slight blemish, and when Timur came back from his wartime expeditions, he saw this mark on his wife's cheek, and as you might expect, had the architect executed. Hello and welcome back. Today is another day here in Samarkand, and I'm starting here by who else? Emir Timur, the founder of the Timurid empire, whose capital was here in Samarkand. His tomb is just down the way there. We are going to walk there. This guy was one of the most brutal and ruthless leaders in history. He conquered most of Central Asia, Persia, and Afghanistan, burning cities in his wake, taking inspiration from the Mongol conquests. Undefeated throughout his life, he was one of the greatest military tacticians in history. Pillage and murder, as Marlow put it, were Timur's usual trades. Everywhere he went, he waded deep in blood and brains, destroying cities and massacring their populations, building triumphal towers of victims' heads, and leaving piles of skulls stacked to terrify any survivors that remained. This part of town features wide boulevards and plenty of trees, nice gardens. As you can see, they're maintaining the flowers there. Very well kept. As we make our way towards his mausoleum, I think it's appropriate that I set the scene here on a dark, grey autumn day about the curse of his tomb. With Samarkand under Soviet occupation in 1941, anthropologists were sent to open up Timur's crypt. Once they saw his grave, they found an inscription that read, whoever opens this will be invaded by an enemy even more fearsome than I. Within a matter of days, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, and it even reached a point where Stalin was given word of the curse of Timur. The Soviets gave him a re-burial, and then within a matter of months, the Germans were defeated by the Soviet Union. So I've entered here now to Gur-i-Amir, which is the name of the mausoleum. It is 80,000 som to enter, and I don't think I need to say much more about the architecture in this video. A map here to show Emir Timur's empire with its capital at Samarkand, stretching as far as Delhi all the way over to Turkey in the modern day, the Caucasus, Baghdad in the south there, Ifsahan, all of Persia. Inside now, and I knew it was going to be impressive, but still, it has surprised me just how bright and colourful it is, and so much decadence. With Timur in the middle, his two sons are on either side of him, as well as his grandsons, including Ulugbek, the mathematician and astronomer. In fact, it was never Timur's plan to be buried here in Samarkand. He wanted to be laid to rest in Shakrazab's, his hometown. He died unexpectedly of pneumonia in 1405, and the roads back to his hometown were snowed in, so they put him to rest here in the capital instead. Coming out of Emir Timur's breathtaking mausoleum, there is another lesser-known, smaller one just next door here that has less than a hundred reviews on google maps, but I want to take a look because apparently it has a beautiful ceiling and many people skip it. No one else inside, so to give you an idea, if anywhere feels a bit overcrowded, you might want to give this one a shot. It's 15th century. It's a steep step here down to the crypt. Okay, this is pretty cool, going this deep underground in a crypt. No idea who is buried here. For the outro of this video, where else have I come but back to Registan at night. Look at it lit up. It is out of this world. Make sure you make a second trip here. It's only 65,000 to enter. Why wouldn't you come back at night time? I just want to emphasize the point that it is worth returning to. It's open until 12 during peak season here, so you have plenty of time after your dinners to make your way over for a quick evening peek around, or perhaps you want to do the bulk of your exploring at night. So I'm going to end this Samarkand video here. Stay tuned from cities further west and maybe one or two other surprising videos. Thank you for watching. The link for Samarkand travel hotel is in the description, and I'll see you on the next video here in Uzbekistan. Cheers!