Samarkand & Silk Road Cities - Tashkent return
Deal number 26478402
Martin Randall Travel
13/05/2027
Uzbekistan
13-day tour
Departing from Tashkent
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Exclusive Inclusions
13 day Martin Randall Tour departing Tashkent
12 night hotel accommodation
Meals including breakfast daily, 11 lunches and 11 dinners with wine, water & coffee
Internal flight between Urgench and Tashkent with Uzbekistan Airways
High-speed train between Tashkent and Samarkand & Samarkand and Bukhara
Travel by private air-conditioned coach & cars (in convoy, for one excursion)
The services of the lecturer and tour manager.
All admissions
All gratuities and taxes
The service service of the lecturer, tour manager and national guide.
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Oxiana, Tartary, Turkestan, Khiva, Bukhara, Samarkand: names to produce a frisson. They evoke alluring images of shimmering turquoise domes and exquisite glazed wall tiles, of lost libraries and renowned scholars, of the delicious decadence of the Rubiyt of Omar Khayym, of gardens, poetry and wine, of the fabulous riches of the Silk Road between China and Christendom.
Less agreeable images are also evoked: of Ghengis Khan and Timur (Tamerlane), the most far-reaching conquerors in history; of the tyranny and cruelty of the khans, perpetuating the last redoubts of medieval misrule; of the Great Game, the 19th-century cold war between Britain and Russia; of hostile terrain and of a post-Soviet penumbra of Stans of questionable allegiances.
The cities of the subtitle lie now in Uzbekistan, independent since 1991 but an entity that has its origins in late 19th-century Russian imperialism, which agglomerated a number of independent khanates, and whose borders were settled in the 1920s. The country lies at the very centre of Central Asia. One of only two double land-locked nations in the world.
The spacious modern capital Tashkent has good museums and galleries; Shakhr-i-Sabz is famed for the breathtaking remains of Timurs palace. A slave-trading oasis khanate, Khiva, the smallest of these cities, is perhaps the most intact and homogenous urban ensemble in the Islamic world, with biscuit-coloured brick and blue and turquoise maiolica. In Bukhara, gorgeously adorned architecture spanning a thousand years still rises above a streetscape of indeterminate age, while Samarkand has the largest, most resplendently caparisoned historic buildings of all. Space is not at a premium; broad tree-lined boulevards encircle the historic town centres.
Modernity has made relatively unobtrusive inroads throughout and the whitewashed villages and farmsteads with their awnings of vines would hold few surprises for Tolstoy. Since independence, in the wake of economic liberalisation, streets and courtyards are draped with dazzling hued carpets and textiles; the glories of the Silk Road in its heyday are not hard to imagine.
Less agreeable images are also evoked: of Ghengis Khan and Timur (Tamerlane), the most far-reaching conquerors in history; of the tyranny and cruelty of the khans, perpetuating the last redoubts of medieval misrule; of the Great Game, the 19th-century cold war between Britain and Russia; of hostile terrain and of a post-Soviet penumbra of Stans of questionable allegiances.
The cities of the subtitle lie now in Uzbekistan, independent since 1991 but an entity that has its origins in late 19th-century Russian imperialism, which agglomerated a number of independent khanates, and whose borders were settled in the 1920s. The country lies at the very centre of Central Asia. One of only two double land-locked nations in the world.
The spacious modern capital Tashkent has good museums and galleries; Shakhr-i-Sabz is famed for the breathtaking remains of Timurs palace. A slave-trading oasis khanate, Khiva, the smallest of these cities, is perhaps the most intact and homogenous urban ensemble in the Islamic world, with biscuit-coloured brick and blue and turquoise maiolica. In Bukhara, gorgeously adorned architecture spanning a thousand years still rises above a streetscape of indeterminate age, while Samarkand has the largest, most resplendently caparisoned historic buildings of all. Space is not at a premium; broad tree-lined boulevards encircle the historic town centres.
Modernity has made relatively unobtrusive inroads throughout and the whitewashed villages and farmsteads with their awnings of vines would hold few surprises for Tolstoy. Since independence, in the wake of economic liberalisation, streets and courtyards are draped with dazzling hued carpets and textiles; the glories of the Silk Road in its heyday are not hard to imagine.
Itinerary
Day 1 Tashkent
First of three nights in Tashkent. Rooms are available from 2.00pm today.
Day 2 Tashkent
Nothing is planned before departure from the hotel at 1.00pm for lunch. Begin the afternoon visits in the old town: the Khast Imam complex houses one of the earliest Quran manuscripts; a trip on the metro includes stations notable for their colourful ceramic decoration, domed interiors and chandeliers.
Day 3 Tashkent
The morning is spent at the Chorsu Bazaar and Kukeldash Madrassa, introducing the theme of Soviet reconstruction of Islamic heritage. Afternoon visits to the State Museum of History and Amir Timur Museum.
Day 4 Tashkent to Samarkand
High-speed train from Tashkent to Samarkand (duration: c. 2 hours; luggage transferred separately). Visit Shah-i-Zinda, an ensemble of mausolea gorgeously apparelled in many types of dazzling glazed tiles, the Afrasiab History Museum, which documents pre-Islamic Samarkand, and the remains of the extraordinary observatory built by Ulug Beg in the 15th century. First of three nights in Samarkand.
Day 5 Shakhr-i-Sabz
Cross the Hisor Mountains (by car; coaches are not permitted), a dramatic drive with long views down the sun-baked valley the other side. Shakhr-i-Sabz was transformed by Timur (13361405) whose home town it was. An astounding survival is the most imposing palace portal in the history of architecture, an arch 22 metres wide with a wondrous range of tiled decoration. Further Timurid remnants include a mosque complex with three turquoise domes.
Day 6 Samarkand
Begin with the Amir Timur Masuoleum, burial place of Timur. The Registan, the noblest public square in the world (Lord Curzon, 1889), is bounded on three sides by magnificent madrassas of the 15th and 17th centuries. Commissioned by Timur in honour of his wife, Bibi Khanum Mosque is an impressive exercise in gigantism despite partial destruction and over-zealous restoration. Gumbaz Synagogue, hidden in the Old Town, was constructed in the 19th century for Samarkands Jewish community.
Day 7 Samarkand to Bukhara
High-speed train from Samarkand to Bukhara (duration: c. 1 hour 30 minutes; luggage transferred separately). Visit Central Asias oldest surviving mosque, Magok-i-Attari, before lunch in the hotel. The afternoon walk begins in the social heart of the city, the Lyab-i Hauz square built around a 15th-century pool and flanked by the Nadir Divanbegi Madrassa and Khanaga. Time for tea under the mulberry trees. First of three nights in Bukhara.
Day 8 Bukhara
Genghis Khan ensured in 1220 that with notable exceptions, including the Kalyan Minaret at 48 metres then the tallest in the world little of Bukharas first golden age remains, but of the second, the 15th and 16th centuries, there survives much magnificent architecture, lavishly embellished. Todays walks take in the vast Kalyan Mosque (finished 1514) with a capacity of 10,000, several grand madrassas, the formidable citadel of the khans and the Zindan, their infamous prison. Free afternoon, with an optional excursion to Cheshma-yi-Ayyub, Vabkent, an enclosure of a spring associated with the prophet Job, dating from the early 13th century.
Day 9 Bukhara
Visit the 12th century Namaz Goh mosque, before moving on to the perfectly preserved 10th-century Mausoleum of Ismail Samani, which displays exquisite brickwork. From here walk through the park to the Bolo Hauz Mosque with its elegant patio of timber columns. The resting place of a Mongol khan, the Mausoleum of Buyan-Khuli Khan still has some fine chipped 14th-century mosaic and terracotta. Next door are the twin domes of the larger Saifuddin Bukharzi Mausoleum. Free afternoon.
Day 10 from Bukhara to Khiva
The 280-mile journey starts and finishes in an unspoilt landscape of green fields, plentiful trees and adobe farmsteads, while the central section is undulating desert, specked with tufty shrubs that are briefly green in the spring. There are periodic sightings of the meandering Oxus, the mighty river crossed by Alexander the Great in 329 bc. Reach Khiva in time for a walk to the Khans palace before dinner. First of two nights in Khiva.
Day 11 Khiva
No modern intrusions spoil the timeless fabric within a rectangle of crenellated and turreted ramparts. Most of the buildings are 19th-century, but such was Khivas isolation and conservatism that to the inexpert eye they could date to any time from the 16th or even 13th century. The Friday Mosque, a forest of carved wooden columns some dating to the 10th century, the Tash Hauli Palace, whose harem quarters constitute the loveliest secular spaces in Central Asia, and the Paklavan Mahmoud Mausoleum where tiled interiors reach a peak of opulence.
Day 12 Khiva
Morning visit to the Nurullabai Palace followed by some free time and lunch. Afternoon flight to Tashkent, arriving in time for dinner. Overnight Tashkent..
Day 13 Tashkent
Depart Tashkent.
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