A Travel Blog by Andrea Marchegiani

“A man never gets tired of looking at three things: water, fire and a bazaar”. The Urgut Bazaar is a famous local market that boasts a great offer of fabrics and jewelry. I am happy to walk through the alleys of a Uzbek suq and I feel I have refined the art of bargaining…

No other place in the world recalls the Silk Road as Samarkand. Its streets are full of myths and legends and the monuments built by Tamerlane make its atmosphere magical. Despite the recent restoration works have partially transformed its face, bringing it closer to the typical Russian town with its avenues and parks, Samarkand remains a breathtaking beauty. Registan, Gur-e-Amir, Bi-Khanym Mosque and Shah-i-Zinda are among the most spectacular monuments in Central Asia. And, if we retrace the thread of its history, we must admire its tenacity as Samarkand has been reborn several times from its ashes.

On the way between Bukhara and Samarkand, I make a short stop at Shakhrisabz, a small town surrounded by greenery, a few kilometers south of Samarkand.
The town was formerly known as Kesh, until Timur renamed it to its present name. He built majestic buildings and monuments there, which gave prestige and fame to the city until the sixteenth century, when it was destroyed to avenge the death of a horse.

I continue my journey along the ancient Silk Road and arrive in Bukhara. Here is the most fascinating artistic heritage of all Central Asia: Bukhara suffered a less invasive restoration than Samarkand and today still looks like the way Turkestan looked before the Russians arrived. Every time I look up, I enjoy the sight of the facades of the madrassas and the profiles of the minarets, which never tire of being admired.
It’s love at first sight.

Visit the ruins of Topraq Kala and Ayaz Kala, Uzbekistan. The ancient capital of the Kushan kingdom and the fortresses defending its borders are now exposed to the elements and are likely to disappear altogether. The whole tour of the settlement takes about an hour, you can climb up the walls and enjoy the beautiful view. From different angles, the views of the ancient city are so dislocated and multi-level to remember the sketches of the impossible worlds of Escher. At every step I feel the earth creaking under my feet. Nearby, the fortresses of Ayaz Kala are worth a visit.

In many respects, Central Asia is still uncharted territory. For centuries this area has remained inaccessible to Westerners: that’s why it is still surrounded by a halo of mystery, relegated to an unknown elsewhere. Khiva is one of the most fascinating cities of Uzbekistan: it was founded by legendary Shem, the son of Noah, at the point where he found water by digging a well. Its old town, surrounded by a high wall of raw bricks, is so well preserved that it became a UNESCO heritage site in 1990.

In times of adversity, when all seems lost, history teaches there is always someone who does not give up, in spite of all evidence. People like that become an inspiration, and sometimes their efforts really make a difference. As happens in Nukus, where there is one of the largest Soviet art museums of the 900. The works escaped the censorship of the Stalin regime only thanks to the courage of a man, Igor Savitsky.

The Aral Sea was a salt lake of oceanic origin, formed 5.5 million years ago and located in an area ranging from Uzbekistan to Kazakhstan. Although it has not completely disappeared, today we talk about it in the past. In only 60 years, man has succeeded in destroying his delicate ecosystem, leaving instead a desolate poisoned desert. Not surprisingly, Al Gore called it “the most serious environmental disaster of all time caused by man”.