Weekend travelling

 

Back from a very interesting travelling weekend trough Samarkand and Bukhara. Thursday morning, me and Hurshid started with a bus direction Samarkand. The autobus station is a very lively place. When you get out of the metro – taxi drivers are all around you, shooting different destinations, one louder than the other one. After saying “NO” a lot of times, and ignoring even more people, you manage to find your bus. Enough places, that’s good for the 5 hours drive!

The way itself was very interesting, trough cotton fields, vast hills beside the railroad and also a short passage of “mountain road”, as I was told (well it was also a little hill and the street had 2 curves. The weather was very untypical for Usbekistan, but you know it already from the last post – rain. Now you will see some photos as proof ;):

 

 

Btw very interesting: I explained what the expression “black sheep” means in Europe… the interesting thing here: the main color for sheeps is black!

Me riding a "camel"

In Samarkand, I visited all the tourist sights (Ulugh’Beks Observatory, Registan, Bibi Khanym, Shah-i-Zinda) and many more. All very nice and old, most of them old medressas, mosques or mausoleums. The city itself is quite modern, just like Tashkent with high (soviet) buildings, broad streets and supermarkets instead of bazaars. Too bad!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

zum Abschluss: deutscher Pinzgauer und öst. Puch G

Friday to Saturday evening, we have taken the night train to Bukhara – leaving at 2 a.m.. Everything went fine, I slept very well until. But when we arrived at Bukhara, I suddenly got sick, vomiting all the time everything I ate and so I had first to continue sleeping at the hostel.

In the afternoon, I felt strong enough to go out for sightseeing again. Bukhara, as a side, looks much more original and orientalic than Samarkand. This is because Russian influence has not been so strong on reconstructing the city. There are even 2 synagogues left, even if they are really small. I will just add a few pictures, letting them talk for me:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sorry here I have to add a note: This building is called 4 Minaret. When I have been here, there was also a german travelling group with a guide explaining: “This building was constructed […] as a present for his daughter […]”, german traveler responding: “It’s pretty harsh to construct a building like that for a daughter. It seems to me like four penises.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now you got a nice overview over my journey around Samarkand and Bukhara.           

Little statement by  a French group traveler: Why are we here, here is nothing except ruins ;)