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MARTIN RANDALL TRAVEL LTD
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Transoxiana - Silk Road Cities: Khiva, Bukhara & Samarkand
- Some of the most glorious sights in the Islamic world – magnificent mosques and madrassas, acres of wonderful wall tiles, intact streetscape, memorable landscapes.
- Remote, difficult of access and remarkably unspoilt. Traditional dress is still the norm.
- Hotels are good, the food less so. There is a lot of travel by coach.
- Flight schedule changes are common. We recommend you keep diaries clear for 24 hours either side of the tour dates.
DAY 1
2012
Fly at c. 10.00pm from London Heathrow for the seven-hour flight to Tashkent (currently the only direct flight).
DAY 2
Days 2 & 3: Tashkent—touch-down c. 9.00am—hotel rooms in the centre of Tashkent are at your disposal for the morning—the History Museum of the People of Uzbekistan is within walking distance if you want to venture out before lunch—afternoon drive around the city centre, a modern city with wide avenues, spacious parks, glistening new government buildings—among the places seen during the two days are the Hazret Imam complex, a group of mosques and madrassas (seminaries) from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries; the Timur Museum and park, a homage to the newly elevated national hero with 13th to 16th-century artefacts and models of some of the buildings seen on the tour; the Fine Arts Museum with collections from pre-Islamic sculpture to twentieth-century painting; free time for the Museum of Applied Arts or the Choroz Bazaar—fly c. 6.00pm on Day 3 to Urgench and drive the 20 miles to Khiva—first of two nights in Khiva.
DAY 4
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 Khiva’s isolation and conservatism that to the inexpert eye they could date to any time from the 16th 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—overnight Khiva.
DAY 5
From Khiva to Bukhara—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 which are briefly green in the spring—there are periodic sightings of the meandering Oxus, now a trickle compared to the mighty river crossed by Alexander the Great in 329 bc—reach Bukhara in time for a walk before dinner—first of three nights in Bukhara.
DAY 6
Bukhara—Gengis Khan ensured in 1220 that with notable exceptions (including the Kalon Minaret, at 48 metres then the tallest in the world) little of Bukhara’s first golden age remains, but of the second, the 15th and 16th centuries, there survives much magnificent architecture, lavishly embellished—today’s walks take in the vast Kalon Mosque (finished 1514) with a capacity of 10,000, the small and serene Baland Mosque, several grand madrassas, the formidable citadel of the Khans and the Zidan, their infamous prison—take tea in the shade of mulberry trees around a 15th-century pool—overnight Bukhara.
DAY 7
Bukhara—free morning; there is plenty more architecture to see, and museums, bazaars, carpet workshops—by coach in the afternoon to places outside the centre of the city—the perfectly preserved 10th-century Samani Mausoleum and the remains of the 12th-century Namaz Goh Mosque are astonishing survivals, displaying fine terracotta decoration—the Emir’s summer palace, 1911, is a riotous mix of Russian and traditional Bukharan decoration with rose garden, aviary and swimming pool—overnight Bukhara.
DAY 8
Shakhrisabz—a four-hour drive across a fertile plain where wheat and cotton flourish—Shakhrisabz was transformed by Timur (1336–1405) whose the 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—cross a mountain range (broadleaf woods, fissured granite, pasturage) and drop down to the plain of the Zarifsan river, and to Samarkand—first of three nights in Samarkand.
DAY 9
Samarkand—the Registan, ‘the noblest public square in the world’ (Lord Curzon, 1889), bounded on three sides by magnificent madrassas of the 15th and 17th centuries—the Museum of History, Culture and Art has collections from pre-Islamic as well as Islamic periods—other places seen today are the Gur Emir Mausoleum, burial place of Tamerlane, the adjacent Ak Serai Mausoleum and the Shah-i-Zinda, an ensemble of mausolea of the gorgeously apparelled in many types of glazed tiles—overnight Samarkand.
DAY 10
Samarkand—commissioned by Timur, the Bibi Khanum Mosque is an exercise in gigantism and impresses despite partial destruction and over-zealous restoration—the adjacent Bazaar is a traditional produce market—there are then optional visits to the Afrasiab History Museum which documents pre-Islamic Samarkand and to the remains of the extraordinary observatory built by Ulug Bek in the 15th century—some free time for individual exploration—overnight Samarkand.
DAY 11
Tashkent—drive to Tashkent—the flight arrives at Heathrow at c. 8.00pm.
We loved our trip and have no complaints, only praise for you and your staff for the hard work that went into such a fascinating journey.
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