The train station in Tashkent was quite modern. We had assigned seats, and the boarding was pretty smooth. The journey was to be around four hours. It was quite exciting to be boarding an Afrosiyob built with Spanish Talgo technology and capable of speeds of 155 mph. Imagine, I thought, if the UK had such possibilities!
The landscape through the windows was flat and I half expected to see caravan of camels crossing the steppes as if I had been time warped onto the ancient silk Road track. We were heading back through the centuries as it was. Bakhara was according to the guidebook, one of the great ancient beautiful cities of the world. We arrived, jumped onto the bus for a short transfer that left us just outside the old marketplace. It reminded me of the entrance to the Turkish bazaar in Istanbul, but from there, everything fell away. People were relaxed, not pushing, and we wandered with our suitcases through the ancient market enroute to one of the more delightful hotels I had ever stayed at. Nothing fancy, very open and the rooms surrounding a beautiful courtyard. I climbed to the top of the hotel terrace, you could see the mosques, and minarets that dotted the city. We had organized a guide to pick us up at the hotel. She was delightful and so our journey back in time began. We had lunch in a place she recommended, and the food was fantastic. And we walked and we walked, and we walked. We walked through ancient mosques and mausoleums, not so colorful more terra-cotta but as the sun dropped down, the sunlight bounced off the main square and it became a kaleidoscope of shades of soft evening light.
Bukhara is a city of small streets, ancient bazaars, beautiful mosques, and a city that is so perfectly contained within its borders that you feel you could spend two or three days there. Yes, there were carpet traders because Uzbeky carpets made of silk are the most famous and treasured in the world. Here’s what amazed me. Nobody really tried to persuade us to buy. There was a magical moment in the bazaar when a shopkeeper picked up a typical Uzbeky musical instrument from his store and started to play it … just to play it, not to sell it. In my mind it was the jewel of Uzbekistan. More stunning because of its simple brick and terra-cotta and tiled buildings. There is a beautiful ornamental lake that sits in the center surrounded by tea houses. Figurines of camels surround the lake as a reminder that this was one of the great stopovers on the silk road. Today, it was my stopover, my oasis and I felt privileged to spend time here.