Samarkand was our last stop on our trip to Uzbekistan. We arrived in Samarkand by train from Bukhara later in the afternoon, and took a “taxi” to our hotel. We stayed at Diplomat Hotel, just blocks away from the Registan Square. After dropping off our bags, we headed straight out to check out the Registan Square. I was blown away when I first saw the Registan Square! My first thought was: “Why had I never heard of this place in my life before this trip!?”
Afterwards we headed out to grab dinner. Joe had read about the Emirhan Restaurant rooftop that offered the best view of the Register, so we headed there. Unfortunately, the rooftop was booked, but we still grabbed dinner there. Food was tasty, but portions were on the smaller size, and prices were way higher than anywhere else we ate. That being said, we paid about US$80 for several dishes and 2 rounds of beverages for all of us!
On our way back to our hotel, we accidentally timed the Register Square light show perfectly! To be honest, it caught us by surprise. As it turns out, every evening at 8 p.m. the Registan lights up with an impressive sound and light show not to be missed.
We had 3 full days in Samarkand, which was a good amount to see the main sights without being rushed. Like other cities in Uzbekistan, Samarkand was easy to explore on foot, though the distances were longer. In fact, most of the main sights are all basically connected by one road, making it easy to walk between all of them. These are the places we visited while we were there:
Registan Square
The Registan (“Sandy Place” in Tajik) was the commercial center back in medieval times. It is the most impressive site of the city, and some say it is the most beautiful in sight in Central Asia. The square is surrounded by three enormous madrasas that are among the world’s oldest preserved madrasas. These tilting monuments have survived many earthquakes over the years, but they are still standing. The scale of the square is massive, and pictures don’t do it justice. During their occupation, the Soviets worked to restore these buildings, and they even added the blue outer dome to the Tillya Kori Madrasa.
Note that your entrance ticket to the Registan Square is valid all day long, which means you can come back to photograph the monument at different times of the day. Make sure you tell the security guards that you are planning on coming back, otherwise they’ll tear your ticket and you will not be able to reuse it.
Tillya Kori Madrasa
This madrasa is at the center of the Registan. Its name means “gold-covered” and it was completed in 1660. When you enter the madrasa, head to the left hand side of the courtyard to visit the mosque. This beautiful mosque is delicately decorated with blue and gold all around. The roof is actually flat, but the design makes it look domed from the inside. Walk around and enjoy the many old photos of Samarkand that are on display there.
Sherdor Madrasa
Located on the eastern side of the square, the Sherdor Madrasa (Lion madrasa) was finished in 1636 after being under construction for 17 years. The outside is decorated with two felines that look like tigers, but are meant to be lions. What makes this madrasa unusual is that it depicts animals, which is prohibited by Islamic religion.
Ulugbek Madrasa
Opposite Sherdor Madrasa, the Ulugbek Madrasa was finished in 1420 after only three years. Ulugbek was said to be well-versed in mathematics, theology, astronomy and philosophy, and he is said to have taught mathematics in the madrasa. He made amazingly precise calculations about the planet and solar system. Among other things, he calculated the length of the astronomical year as 365 days, 6 hours, 10 minutes, and 8 seconds, which was only 25 seconds off from the time calculated with today’s equipment (and more precise than Copernicus). The stars decorating the portal show Ulugbek’s love for astronomy. Most of the madrasa’s former dormitories are now art and souvenir shops.
Bibi-Khanym Mosque
Just a 20-minute walk from the Registan Square you’ll find Bibi-Khanym Mosque. This mosque is unbelievably massive! It was almost impossible to get all of its facade into one photo!
This mosque was one of Timur’s favorite in this empire, and it was once one of the Islamic world’s biggest mosques–the entrance portal is 38 meters high! Built in the 14th century, the mosque partially collapsed in an earthquake in 1897. It was later largely rebuilt in the 1970s.
The interior courtyard contains a huge marble table to hold the Quran, and locals believe that any woman who crawls under the stand will have lots of children. The crawl space was closed when we visited. Not that I had any intention of crawling through it!
Siyob Bazaar
Samarkand’s biggest market is located just a 2 minute walk from the Bibi-Khanym Mosque. Like Chorsu Bazaar in Tashkent, Siyob bazaar has been well-known in Central Asia for a long time. The reason is that Samarkand was a capital city a few times in the past. During the 14th and 15th centuries, it was the capital of Tamerlane’s empire. In 1924-1930 it was the capital of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic of the USSR. This meant that Samarkand was historically a trade center with lots of merchants and shoppers coming from all over the region, and that continues to the present day.
We did a little bit of shopping at this bazaar. First, we bought about a kilo of dates for no more than $2, and our daughter bought a beautiful traditional hat here too. We also got the famous local bread, which is a delicious large circular and flat loaf (like a disc). If you are in Samarkand, you will not want to miss this bazaar!
Hazrat Khizr Mosque
After visiting the bazaar, continue heading Northeast across the pedestrian crosswalk and up the hill to the Hazrat Khizr Mosque. An 8th century mosque once stood on this hill, but Genghis Khan burnt it to the ground in the 13th century and it was not rebuilt until 1854. In the 1990s, an influential Bukharan restored it into what many consider to be the most beautiful mosque in Samarkand. Next to the mosque is the tomb of Uzbekistan’s first president, Islam Karimov, who died in 2016.
Shah-i-Zinda
Shah-i-Zinda is Samarkand’s most beloved site, and with good reason! This stunning row of mausoleums is adorned in some of the most beautiful tile work in the Muslim world dating back to the 14th and 15th centuries. The name means “Tomb of the Living King,” and refers to the original shrine surrounding the grave of Qusam bin-Abbas (a cousin of prophet Mohammed), who is said to have brought Islam to the region back in the 7th century. We loved this place so much that our kids were eager to check out every mausoleum within the complex.
Initially, a shrine to Qusam existed in this area for about seven centuries before Timur, and later Ulugbek, buried their family members and closest friends near the original shrine. The most beautiful tomb is the second on the left after the entry stairs– it belongs to Timur’s sister and niece.
After surviving more than seven centuries with very little work, several of the tombs were restored in 2005. It all looked stunning to me, regardless of whether it was restored or not. Shah-i-Zinda is an important place of pilgrimage, so be respectful and dress modestly if you plan to visit.
Tomb of Daniyar
Daniel was a prophet from the Old Testament and he is said to be buried in this tomb in Samarkand. The prophet is buried in an 18 meter long sarcophagus because as legend has it, his body grows by half an inch a year, so the sarcophagus has been enlarged over the centuries to accommodate his growth. His remains date back to the 5th century BC, and Timur claimed to have brought them from Iran to Samarkand.
Amir Timur Mausoleum
This is the resting place of Timur, Uzbekistan’s greatest conqueror. It is a beautiful mausoleum that we would definitely recommend seeing. Timur originally built this mausoleum in 1404 for his grandson and proposed heir, Mohammed Sultan who had died the previous year. Timur had built a simple crypt for himself in Shakhirizabz, south of Samarkand. However, when Timur died unexpectedly in the winter of 1405 in Kazakhstan while planning an expedition against the Chinese, the passes back to Shakhirizabz were impassable, so he was buried in this mausoleum instead.
A fun fact about this place is that Timur is buried under a massive piece of jade that supposedly bears the inscription: “When I rise, the Earth will tremble.” Apparently, the two times people have messed with the jade and the tomb, bad things have immediately happened–first to an Iranian ruler who carried off the jade causing such bad luck his advisors demanded he return it (which he did), and second when the Soviet Union opened the crypt and was then invaded by the Nazis hours later.
After three days in Samarkand we caught the afternoon high speed train to Tashkent to start our journey back home. We would’ve happily spent more time in Uzbekistan. There is so much to do and see there! I feel like we learned so much on this trip. It was like a crash course on the history of this region, and we really enjoyed it!
If you want to read about other places we visited in Uzbekistan, click here.
