05/05 Tashkent Old Town and TV Tower

Claus, Tara’s husband, flew in last night to join the group so we are now a little group of six. 

Heading out today we drove by Independence Square where we got a couple shots of the fountains.  

We had a late morning start which was good as it helped us acclimate to the two-hour time difference from Istanbul.  Our first stop was the Earthquake memorial. It is a Soviet era memorial (and looks like it) that was erected to commemorate the Soviet help to the city when Tashkent was half destroyed in a 1966 earthquake.

Then it was back on the bus for touring Tashkent…

and our next stop which was the Applied Arts Museum.  It has a wide variety of arts and crafts from Uzbekistan.  There were intricately carved wooden doors,

ancient rugs,

embroidery, fabric and clothing,

and musical instruments.

Parts of the museum had been the home of a Jewish merchant and some of the rooms were beautiful with intricately decorated walls and ceilings.

And there were many other artifacts and displays.

There was a large courtyard with a mulberry tree.  Some of the group decided to inspect the interior of the tree’s canopy.

        *************************************
More Applied Arts Museum
*************************************

There was a small shop with craft gifts and Peiying agreed to be dressed up in one of the local costumes.  The black face covering was woven from hairs from the tail of a horse.  It was very stiff but was easy to see out off (but not in).

Then it was off for lunch to try the national dish, plov.  Plov is a nicely seasoned rice dish with garbanzo beans, carrots, onion, raisins, garlic, quail eggs, a lot of oil, and a large pile of meat (beef, lamb or horse).  We opted for vegetarian (no meat).  The place we ate was the largest plov restaurant in Tashkent and serves an average of 5 tons of plov a day.  The “woks” they make it in are absolutely huge.  The lunch came with a few fresh vegetable dishes and large loaves of bread.  A meal heavy on carbs but made in heaven.  Yummy.

From there we went to Old Town where we saw the Abubakr Kaffal-Shashi Mausoleum.  A number of Kaffal-Shashi’s disciples are also buried here.

Then we went to a complex that had a building housing the largest Koran in the world (no photos allowed), the Barak-Khan Madrasah (Islamic school),

a mosque that was under construction and the Khazrati Imam mosque.

We also wandered the lanes in Old Town.  The long streets were lined with the walls of homes.  The homes have central courtyards where all the windows open on to.

One of the doors was open so our guide assured us we would be welcomed (he didn’t know the family but insists that Uzbeks are very welcoming).  And we were.  The family there was doing preparations for a birthday party for Mom.  Mom eventually showed up while we were visiting.

On the drive to the hotel we were dropped off at Independence Square.  

There was a long, covered, wooden walkway,

lots of fountains,

and a memorial with an eternal flame, the Memorial of the Great Patriotic War.

After some down time at the hotel, we were picked up again for a trip to a local TV tower.  It is 1000 feet tall and has an observation deck at 300 feet. 

We had 360° views of Tashkent

and a sunset.

Interesting snacks at the souvenir shop at the top of the tower.

When we left it was dark and the tower was well lit and had lots of twinkling lights.

*************************************************************
Video of TV Tower
*************************************************************

After getting back to the hotel we headed out for dinner.  Very close to the hotel was a park where they were setting up for a flower festival.

Broadway Street, where we were heading for dinner, had a huge number of colorful lights strung across the street.

We ate at restaurant featuring Uzbek cuisine.  We picked a variety dishes to share.  And we listened to some music from an Uzbek trio.  Nice ending to a great day.

Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and it is a beautiful city.  The weather has been sunny and not too hot, the people are very friendly, and the city is vibrant and modern with a very western feel to it.  If it wasn't for the Cyrillic alphabet used on the signs one would think they were in the middle of Europe somewhere (they will soon be switching to the Latin alphabet...that will make it easier for westerners to get around).