Seven months in and continuing on the Silk Road, we arrived in Uzbekistan! Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva are the most popular cities to visit here. Due to our limited time in Uzbekistan, we couldn't visit Khiva, but did visit Samarkand, Bukhara and Shahrisabz.
Samarkand
A city very rich with history and culture. Originally the towns square, the Registon Square attracts many visitors — including brides. We stayed for 3 days and every single time we were there, a bride can be found followed closely by her entourage of photographers and more brides.
There are many complexes to visit, some are beautifully reconstructed, some in the process. The popular ones have admission fees and we managed to get into two for free, but the Registon Square wasn't worth sneaking in for - it was worth paying for!
The city is set up very well for tourists, having Tourist Police stations at every attraction. Some spoke excellent English too! We got a definitive answer about Uzbekistan's hotel registration law and campers no longer need registrations (as long as we stay at one place no more than 72 hours¹).
Maybe the people back then were much shorter?
They use basil for hedges and all we're thinking about is pesto
Shahrisabz
This city is less visited but still has a UNESCO Heritage Site status. When we cycled into the city the first thing we saw was a city wall and behind it was an old tall tower. Upon closer inspection we learned that it used to be a tower originally double it's current height (70 meters). Deemed impossible to reconstruct, the entire area was left as is accompanied by a big park.
Bukhara
Another ancient Silk Road city, it has a lot more in historic buildings in numbers compared to Samarkand. To our surprise there weren't any ticket booths at the entrance to many of the beautiful buildings, with some places opting for the donation box approach instead.
Although many buildings have not been reconstructed to it's glorious heydey, they are still in use as convenient shops, market squares or mosques.
Souvenirs
There are so many cool souvenirs to buy here but we can't because it'll add weight to our bikes. Nonetheless we have taken photos to remember them.
Clockwise from top-left: Animal styled locks, oil lamps and etched metal plates, painted bowls and tea sets, mini figurines of Uzbek people and culture, knives, door frame decorators, naan pattern stampers, and fabric with Uzbek patterns for custom made clothing.
This blog was taken from our personal blog