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Silk Road: Uzbekistan: Tashkent & Samarkand
- Laurie Hull
- Apr 24
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 13
Uzbekistan is the pinnacle of the Silk Road and one of my favorite countries on this trip, and the moment you arrive you feel it. Everything here has depth, energy, and a story. Even the modern cities carry the history of caravans, conquerors, and centuries of trade. I felt the energy of the youth here: vibrant, joyous, and curious. Let's just say it has a great vibe, one that made me want to stay much longer than we did. Our travels took us first to Tashkent, then crossed into Tajikistan for a mountain detour (more on that in a future post), before returning to Uzbekistan and the magnificent cities of Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva.
Tashkent
Tashkent surprised me. I expected something Soviet and kind of sterile, but the city feels young and alive, full of modern buildings and wide boulevards. It is home to 140 ethnic groups, which tells you something about its history as a crossroads.
The Tillya Sheikh Mosque was incredible. That facade, covered floor to ceiling in intricate blue tilework under a bright sky with full sun, is one of those things a camera can attempt to capture. You have to stand in front of it and let the scale and the detail register slowly. Often I would touch the tiles and think of the craftsmanship and history, hoping to tap into its ancient vibes. Inside, the mosque houses what Sunni Muslims consider the oldest Quran in the world, the Uthman Quran, written on deerskin nineteen years after the death of Mohammed. Ancient and magnificent.
The Tashkent metro system is equally extraordinary in its own way, each station with its own architectural statement, some with Central Asian style, others looking like marble palaces. It reminded me of the beautiful metro system in Moscow. All very safe to visit and ride, and worth doing just for the stations themselves.
The old bazaar at Chorsu was the other highlight, a covered dome of a market overflowing with spices, produce, and everything else imaginable. I could have spent a full day there alone, especially near the breads!
Samarkand
If Tashkent surprised me, Samarkand completely awed me. There is a reason this city has been described, since the days of Alexander the Great, as more beautiful than imagined. The blue-tiled madrassahs of Registan Square are almost impossible to photograph in a way that does them justice (but I kept trying and trying), because what they require is not a camera but the full presence of your body standing before them, feeling the scale and the silence. I was able to fully experience that at the night show, where the lights highlighted every crevice, stone, and exposed shadow, almost as if to expose its secrets.
Imagine a trading place of sparkling blue domes, caravans of camels arriving from all over carrying goods for trade, all kinds of people gathered, merchants, scholars, craftsmen, and all the support needed to keep the merchandise moving. Going back in time, I would have been the one hanging out in the coffee shops, eavesdropping on the stories of the caravan travelers, nursing my tea and pretending to be very busy while catching every word. Can you imagine the stories shared in this city, and the deals that were made?
Gur-Emir Mausoleum
Not far from Registan Square stands the Gur-Emir Mausoleum, the final resting place of Tamerlane himself, the great conqueror who made Samarkand his capital and transformed it into one of the most magnificent cities in the medieval world. The vibrant turquoise dome is stunning from the outside, but step inside and the interior stops you in your tracks: walls glowing in gold leaf and intricate tilework, and at the center, Tamerlane's tomb marked by a slab of solid dark jade, the largest in the world. I especially enjoyed watching others revere this special place, the quiet reverence on their faces saying everything that words could not or their phones could capture.
Shah-i-Zinde
One of the highlights was the Shah-i-Zinde (place of a living king), the long avenue of mausoleums from the 11th through the 15th century, worn and alive with history. It is also, unexpectedly, a gathering place for the world. There was something just magical and mystic about this place, maybe because we could roam free. There was beautiful late afternoon light and we were all already giddy from the days events. While there, I met Moroccan tourists there, took selfies, laughed together. They were warm and fun.
Our evening in Samarkand was spent as guests of a local family for dinner, which was exactly the kind of experience that makes group travel worth every complicated border crossing. One dish we kept encountering throughout the region was a simple crispy eggplant salad, served regularly across Central Asia, with tomatoes, garlic, arugula, and just the right amount of sweet chili sauce. The kind of dish you keep thinking about weeks later. The secret, I learned, is to coat the eggplant in cornstarch and freeze it before frying, which gives it a perfectly crisp exterior while keeping the inside tender. One I will absolutely be recreating at home.
