Uzbekistan is amazing. I had no expectations but it has exceeded them anyway!
Compared to Turkmenistan, it is delightful. The people are so friendly, all saying hello and asking where we come from. In the markets they are offering us all sorts of treats to try. I know they want to make a sale, but they don't seem too put out if we just try. They seem to be proud of what they have.
Uzbekistan, like Turkmenistan was invaded by the Russians in the late 1800's and became part of the USSR in the 1920's, gaining independence in 1991. They have a complex history before that, with invasion by Genghis Khan of Mongolia, Alexander the Great and then the Arabs from the Saudi Peninsula who brought Islam in the 8th Century.
The architecture in Uzbekistan is quite unique. The palaces, mosques, mausoleums and Madrasahs are decorated with colourful mosaics, religious symbols and geometrical patterns. Most of them have a huge rectangular facade, highly decorated with alcoves with 'stalactites' - shapes that are designed to amplify the sound. I loved it all the first time I saw the facades, but learned after the 3rd city in Uzbekistan, that they are everywhere.
The mosques all have domes in shades of blue and turquoise, some that were a bit different. The insides of the buildings are also highly decorated, with shapes made for amplification of sound, so for example in the mosque the Immam can be heard by all the worshippers.
The Madrasah's, university's for students to study the Koran and other subjects, are similar, in that they have multiple small rooms around a courtyard. We visited a number of different Madrasah's.
Most of the buildings fell into disrepair after the Russian's invaded, and were not used for their originally intended purpose. Many have now been renovated. Madrasah's have been turned into hotels and restaurants, any many of the rooms contain shops. There are some buildings still in use today, such as some working mosques. Worshippers do go to some of the mausoleums too.
At the time of writing, I have been to Khiva, Buhkara and Samarkand and visited many a mosque, mausoleum and madrasah. They are different sizes, have different sized domes and decorations. In Samarkand some of the domes are ribbed and in Khiva we saw the biggest minaret that is found nowhere else. They are the same but different and I have enjoyed all of them for the differences. I haven't stopped taking photos because they are all so beautiful.
Interested to see what Tashkent, the capital is like.
Other interesting things about Uzbekistan, the food is quite Russian and there is lots of meat! The choices are fairly limited. The fresh vegetables are delicious and I have loved the tomatoes, so tasty, and they do have a lot of salads on the menu.
We were shown the clothes of the women that lived here pre Soviet times, and found out that they had to cover their faces with something called a paranja. The overcoat they wore showed if they were married, single or widowed by how the sleeves were presented, and there were tassels to show how many children and grandchildren they had. They wore the paranja until the 20's when the Soviet's abolished it. Some of the first group of women that took off their head coverings and burned them in public, were murdered by their husbands when they returned home. Islam had a very strong hold in Central Asia.
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