This is the day I have been longing for since travelling across Asia on a motorcycle in the mid to late 90s. Then I was hoping travel the silk route avoiding Iran (and Afghanistan!) through the various former Soviet republics and then China. Unfortunately then, China would not allow anyone to travel with one’s own vehicle. I therefore had to chose the southern route that went through Iran and Pakistan and onto India. I have no regrets about that route which turned out to be memorable but I had been longing to travel to Samarkand since then. It turned out to be even better than my expectations. Getting there was fairly uneventful. It was mostly motorway driving and the only excitement came from the drivers who passed us while taking pictures, would then slow down to film us and finally move on.
As soon as we arrived we went across the street to visit the first sights. Across from our hotel was the Guri Amir and Ak-Saray mausoleums. The former was remarkable for it’s refined Persian influenced design. Similar in design but on a much grander scale is the Registan, a complex of mosques and madrases that we visited the next day together with Steven Harris (Porsche 356), professor of architecture at Yale. Though he confessed a lack of knowledge of the specific buildings, he offered precious and insightful comments as we made our way through the various buildings. We also climbed up one of the minarets. It’s normally not allowed but one of the guards (!?!) let the three of us up for $10. It was an almost scary experience going up at least sixty plus very tall steps in a very narrow space where a normal sized person could just fit. Once you reached the top you stuck up your head through the roof. The view from above was truly spectacular. I came back down walking backwards, as if on a ladder. Missing one step going forward would have meant rolling and bouncing against the wall all the way down to the bottom.
Once back down we visited several of the tiny shops located within the walls of the Registan. There were some very elegant scarves, hats and bags. For the first time since the beginning of the rally we actually find stuff worth buying!
After lunch we split up. Mattia and I continued to the enormous Bibi-Khanim mosque, the local bazaar and then on to the Shah-I-Zinda (tomb of the living king). It is a narrow avenue of blue tiled mausoleums one of which is said to contain the remains of a cousin of the prophet Mohammed who is believed to have brought Islam to this area in the 7th century.
Later in the afternoon we joined a number of the crews to celebrate Catriona Rings’ birthday (co-driver of Alistair Caldwell on Alfa Romeo 6C) at a café located within a recently developed pedestrian zone/park/shopping centre near the mosque and the Bazaar. Lots of appetisers, drink and great camaraderie.
hey, where are the pics of the architectural marvels???
))