To get to Samarkand I wanted to catch the early morning fast train. But because I didn`t speak any Russian I got a ticket on the even earlier morning slow train. It was pretty comfortable though and only took maybe an hour more. So I`m not complaining too much about it.

Samarkand was every bit as impressive as I had thought it would be. Getting of the city bus just outside the Registan, the main historical site, is mind blowing. I`ve seen lots of pictures of the place before but the sheer size of the buildings there is enough to impress anyone. Samarkand has been one of the main stops for me on this trip. It`s a city that I`ve wanted to visit for many many years. And finally I was there.

My first night in Samarkand I went out looking for a place to have dinner. I found this small restaurant near the Registan and went inside. I was shown into the innermost room in the restaurant. The brother of the restaurant owner was celebrating his birthday there. As soon as they saw me I was invited to join them. So I spent the evening drinking their vodka and eating their food. After a while he asked me if I thought they were bad Muslims. I asked why I would think that. He said, "because we drink vodka and eat pork". Each to their own as I like to say. It was a fun night anyway. Drinking vodka out of teacups. Why waste time drinking out of a small shot glass like we do at home. Bring out the big glasses I say.

The city is littered with old monuments, mausoleums, mosques, and medressas. But it`s kind of odd to walk around in Samarkand. Because the historical buildings are spread out all over town and in between is newer, and quite often, Soviet style buildings. So it`s hard to be impressed by Samarkand as a whole. But the various parts are definitely over the top in everything from architecture, style, decorations...

The most famous sight in Samarkand is the Registan. It`s a collection of three medressas, koran schools, built in the 15th and 17th century. The original site was built by Ulugbek, the grandson of Timur Lenk, and consisted of one medressa, one mosque, and one caravansary. The mosque and the caravansary were both destroyed in an earthquake. In the 17th century the then ruler decided to replace those ruins with 2 medressas. And that`s the group of buildings still standing. Over the years they fell victims to earthquakes and wars. But during the Soviet era they were restored to their original glory. The amount of work that must have been spent on them both during the original construction and the restorations is unbelievable. The tile work on the outsides of the buildings is incredible. The entire front, back, side, ceiling, everything, is covered in turquoise colored tiles in different designs. It`s truly remarkable. Unfortunately what used to be student dorms inside the medressas are now souvenir stalls. The souvenir salespeople take away a bit of the enjoyment of being inside the buildings. But they`re not very intrusive so it`s not too bad.

A little bit away is the giant Bibi-Khanum Mosque. It was built in the 14th century to be the masterpiece of Timur Lenks empire. It holds up to 10000 people. Also this mosque has undergone extensive restorations during the Soviet era. Yet a bit further away is the Shah-i-Zinda group of mausoleums. It was built by Timur Lenk to be the burial site for his relatives and close friends. Among others Kusam ibn Abbas, the cousin of the prophet Muhammed is buried here. It`s probably the most impressive of all the sites in Samarkand. There are over 20 buildings in the group and they are all clustered very closely to each other. So it`s almost like being completely drowned by blue majolica tiles. Everywhere you look are these ceramic tiles in different designs. I must have spent half the day there at least just looking at the buildings, I probably walked around the site 3 times before I had had enough.

Apart from these sites there are other places as well to see. Like the Mausoleum of Timur Lenk, Ulug Beks observatory, old mosques, a 10th century mausoleum. As I was in Samarkand I got news from home that my cousin had died in a car accident. And all of the sudden sightseeing seemed pointless. A few days later I decided that I should go home to be with my family and booked a flight to Copenhagen from Tashkent. The flight wasn`t for another 5 days so I caught the train up to Bukhara first.