Getting ready to board the high speed train to Samarkand in the Tashkent train station. The trip will take just 2 hours. It took several days back in the silk road era.
This is the look from inside the high speed train. I think this one reaches a speed of about 150mph. The one we were on in Morocco went up to 207mph. The ride was smooth and quiet (Except for all the screaming kids!).
Most of the terrain was flat and a lot of irrigated agricultural land, but as we neared Samarkand it got more hilly.
The train station in Samarkand was no shack either. Several of these chandeliers ran the length of the building.
Mr. Qehzamon was our guide and driver. He filled us in on the rich history of the places we visited.
The first place we visited was the Gur Emir Mausoleum. This is the ‘tomb of the king’, referring to Timur. Never heard of him? In the later part of the 1300’s and first decade of the 1400’s his armies conquered an area similar to Alexander the Great.
This map shows the extent of Timor’s conquests. It includes Moscow in the north, goes beyond Istanbul to the west. Includes all of Egypt, Iran, Iraq and a part of India including Delhi to the south. To the east his kingdom included parts of China and Mongolia. Samarkand was the ‘capitol’ of this empire.
Inside, where there is a crypt under the main floor and Timur, his teacher, two sons and 3 grandsons are eternally resting, above them is this impressive dome.
More pictures of this mausoleum.
The top of the minarets which are 60 feet high.
This is the stone placed on top of the grave of Timor. It is rare Mongolian green jade. You can see it was broken in the middle. This happened when the Soviets tried to take it to Moscow. It was considered a very bad omen and they returned it.
The next stop was Registan Square. Three impressive buildings. In the square itself, there were historic gatherings including a big demonstration when Uzbekistan was aspiring to become an independent country in 1991. Now every 5 years they hold a popular international music festival here. Well over 100 countries participate.
In that first picture of Registan square, the building on the left was their highest school of education. One of the fields that they excelled in was astronomy. One of their scientists was the first to give an accurate calculation of the year to within about a minute.
They had a sundial in the courtyard of this building. It was the day before the summer solstice and I happened to take the picture right at noon.
It is a little subtle, but you can see the light shadow of the sundial going directly up to the screw above the XII.
We took a break for lunch. It was quite hot. Here is a small washing station outside a restaurant.
The toilets take some getting use to. This one is very clean compared to what you are likely to run into.
Next stop was the ‘Friday Mosque’. Now it is mostly a museum and they have another building that is the functional Friday Mosque. In it’s day, this one could handle 14,000 worshipers and was the third largest mosque in the world. (Of course Mecca was number one).
In the background of this picture, across the street from the Friday Mosque, there is an old wall that is still standing from the silk road of the 15th century

They had a HUGE koran under glass in the courtyard. At least 6 feet by 4 feet.
Way out in the courtyard you can seen one of the stones holding that HUGE koran.
Right next to the ‘Friday Mosque’ (Real name Shah-i-Zinda) was this huge bazaar. Over 1,000 years old. This section was just for candy vendors. In another section, Charlotte got a silk road t-shirt.
We were running out of time, but gave a quick visit to Shakhi-Zinda Ensemble. Shah E Zinda was the first cousin of the Prophet Muhammad and resembled the Prophet the most.
Had to end the day to catch our train back to Tashkent. The schedule of trains is a bit challenging to interpret.