Adventures in Asia: Samarkand, Uzbekistan

After just the one day in Bukhara, I was off to Samarkand, a train ride of about two and a half hours. Sun was setting when I reached the Samarkand train station. 

I caught a taxi into the city centre and checked into my hotel. I ordered in some food, but then headed out to see what I could see in the cool of the evening. My hotel is close to the Registan, the centre of Samarkand's historic city. The place was packed!

There is some light/video show at night, which clearly attracted a lot of people.

The show did not appeal to me, so I carried on to the Amir Temur Mausoleum Gur-i Amir Сomplex, which is the site of Tamerlane's grave. 

With everyone over at the Registan, I had this place mostly to myself!

I imagine a student of Islamic art and architecture could spend a lot of time here, but I moved through relatively quickly. Still, even I could see that this was not the burial place of just anyone! Evidently, a lot of effort has been invested in the design.

Tamerlane is in fact not the only person buried here, but his tomb is the black one in the photos below, and other family members are buried around him.

After leaving, I continued walking, past the Aksaray Mausoleum . . .

. . . the Tamerlane monument . . .

. . . the Rukhobod Mausoleum . . .

. . . and the Memorial of Samarkand's Tigers.

Across from the lions is a lovely Soviet-style sgraffito mural.

By the time I made it back to the Registan, it was largely deserted! I took this photo, but I will save going in until tomorrow.

Instead, I headed back to my hotel. As I said, my hotel is close to the Registan--you can see the dome of the Tilya-Kori Madrasa over the wall from the corner nearby.