In Uzbekistan, it was just as much about the travel as it was about the sights we were going to see. I was really excited to see what their high-speed train network was like, and I have to say it was really excellent.
High Speed Train
We had an evening train from Tashkent to Bukhara, where we walked to the train station on a Sunday evening through one of the new up-and-coming districts of the city with many locals out enjoying their evening. After a brisk walk, we were reunited with our coach and collected our luggage for the four-hour journey to Bukhara. There are some differences to how our trains work though, as you go through a security checkpoint entering the station, where all your luggage is scanned as you would normally find at an airport (although you don’t have to take out electricals or liquids!), before making your way through to the station concourse. It also felt quite odd because there were no screens either, and when I asked how do you know what train to get on – I was told that there is only one!
View from Fort
Although we were arriving at midnight, the transfer from the train station in Bukhara is a bit of a trek from the ‘Russian’ to the ‘Old’ part of the city, and then just a short walk to the conveniently located Shahriston Hotel. As a converted caravansarai in the centre of the old town, you couldn’t get anything more centrally located. Walk down the road for five minutes and you’re at the main square with its impressive mosque and minaret, especially when it’s lit up at night. As well as the old town is preserved, you do get a real sense of how the city would have operated at the time of the Silk Road, and the trading which took place.
Bukhara Old Town
We also visited a studio, which had a delightful restaurant upstairs which served a traditional Bukhara Plov, one of the major dishes of the nation comprising of rice, beef or mutton, and vegetables – namely red and yellow carrots. It is cooked in a large pan, layered with meat and rice and served on a dish with the meat on top of the rice. Think along the same lines as something like a more basic version of paella.
Bukhara – Summer Palace
The next day we got to venture a little further outside the city – to the Sitorai Makhi Khosa, the summer palace of Bukhara’s last emir, Alim Khan. It is a most impressive complex, incorporating Russian and Bukharan designs. Each room has a completely different atmosphere and design. We also stopped at the Mir-I-Arab Madrassah, Ismail Samani Mausoleum and the Ark of Bukhara.
