Our last site of Samarkand was Gur Emir. This is the mausoleum in which Temur, Ulugh Beg and a few other family members were buried. It was designed by Temur’s grandson who died before it was complete, so Temur himself supervised the finally build. The gold bling of the inner sanctuary was gorgeous. It was also the most crowded room I think we’d run into this last fortnight.
We then sauntered up to the Registan to drink coffee and view the wedding spot before a 4+ hour taxi ride to Tashkent. It was not the most exciting trip I've had, but I still love watching the villages, apple stalls, melon markets etc pass by. I was slightly alarmed when we rounded the peak of a hill on a dual carriageway to find a farmer herding his goats across the road...
Our last night in Tashkent was at a lovely local hostel. We should have stayed here the first time we were here but there you go. It was family run and one of owners asked if we could pop into an English class he was running as he was pleased to have a native speaker to hand. So JC and I popped down and we chatted for 10 or so minutes. They are taking six hours of lessons each week. Once my MSc is sorted I might pick up another language too. Easier said than done I know.
Ate out at a restaurant we'd found the first time in Tashkent. It really did do the most awesome fruit tea.
Sunday 06 October
A stupid early start. I was awake at 0300, up at 0330 and out by 0415. Uzbekistan Airlines doesn’t offer online check in so we wanted to be at the check in desk 3 hours before the flight to beat the queues. It was then a pretty standard trip. 5 hours to Istanbul, an enormous walk from one end of terminal leg B to leg D via some Turkish delight tasting in duty free then 3 or so hours to London.
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