Another day dawns and my breakfasts are getting smaller. Today we had bread, fruit and porridge. I’m sure the porridge wouldn’t have killed me but my stomach was a little fragile and I wasn’t sure if warm milk would have helped or hindered. I dug into my stocks and had two rice cakes and a banana with my coffee.
We started the day by trying and failing to buy train tickets to Tashkent on Sunday. We kicked ourselves as we should have bought them a week ago when we were at a train station. You can’t buy them online unless you can navigate a Russian website which, when in its English mode, doesn’t let you buy anything. Bum. We’ll need to get a cab. We successfully changed more USD for SOM then started our sight seeing.
We started at the famous Registan. This is the jewel in Central Asia’s crown being the most venerated square in the region.
It is truly beautiful. Unlike the lovely buildings in Khiva and Bukhara, all three Madrassahs are fully tiled. Usually just the front and perhaps minarets are decorated but here no tiles have been spared and they are covered from ground to sky in blues, whites, greens and yellows.
It is testament to the Soviet input that these buildings have been restored to their former glory. Built in the 15th and 17th centuries then ravaged by campaign after campaign and left to ruin, the Soviets seemed to undertake a huge amount of rebuilding from the 1920s. Looking at the state they were in - minarets leaning at 70 degrees, arches crumbled, domes collapsed - it’s quite amazing. We spent an hour or two visiting each of the three Madrassahs. We also hit our wedding record with four bouffant white dresses spotted at once. To be honest, if you’re going to have a decent backdrop for your photos this is the place to come.
After lunch of fried veg we visited Bibi Knanum Mosque. This was built at the turn of the 14th century and had the tallest pishtak (portal) known soaring to 35 m high.
It was built in a bit of a rush and redesigned mid-build resulting in a fragile construction which started dropping its bricks on the first worshippers. Earthquakes helped its demolition. This is a photo of a display board showing how it was before any rebuild.
The Soviets once again reconstructed what they could in 1974 but only redid certain parts leaving one end waiting for a stiff breeze before it comes tumbling down.
After this we explored the bazaar. Again a mix of breads, fruit, nuts, spices.
We spent sunset and mid evening at the Registan. It’s lit up until 2000 whereupon they unsubtley flick a switch and knock half the lights off. With a steady hand and long exposure you can get some great shots.
We dined where we’d had lunch as it was convenient and there was little choice around our area. It was a bit of a ‘take it or leave it’ attitude and they had no vegetable soup, no rice and no pickles. So I simply had fried vegetables. Again. Again.
No comments:
Post a Comment