Uzbekistan

Journey through the Uzbekistan Pseudo-Roads


time frame
Soviet-era side about to cross an entrance gate in Ellikkalla, a village between the fortress of Ayaz Kala and Khiva.
camelid shearing
Rano Yakubova receives an excess hairball for the summer from Talgat that Talgat had removed from the Micha dromedary.
soviet propaganda
Soviet-inspired billboard reads: "Let's grant our citizens a beautiful life on the basis of freedom and the ability to trade and exchange ideas."
fake brigade
Fake police car used to limit speed on a road connecting Yangikazkan to Samarkand.
chashma
The religious complex of Chashma, built as a result of the miracle performed by Ali, Mohammed's son-in-law, who gave birth to a spring there.
3 generations
Uzbek family visiting the ruins of Toprak Kala, one of the ancient capitals of the Korean civilization.
back to force
Rano Yakubova at the door of one of the gers in his Ayaz Kala camp.
an adobe maze
Uzbek family scattered across the ruins of Toprak Kala.
gers in the desert
The Ayaz Kala ger camp, managed by Rano Yakubova.
at the ger table
Ravshan, Nilufar and hostess Rano Yakubova share a meal at the table in one of the largest gers in the Ayaz Kala camp.
Uzbek snacks
Uzbek specialties on a dining table.
Soviet Memorial
Nurata Monument to Soviet participation in World War II.
hidden bride
Bride of Norata behind a traditional Uzbek veil.
Hidden Bride II
Bride, mother and other lady in the house in front of the bride's bedroom door.
a lake rest
Couple swims in Lake Aydar, the largest in Uzbekistan.
Centuries passed. Old and run-down Soviet roads ply deserts and oases once traversed by caravans from the Silk RoadSubject to their yoke for a week, we experience every stop and incursion into Uzbek places, into scenic and historic road rewards.

The deeper we get into Central Asia, the Uzbequistan and In yours Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakistan, but the unavoidable false-increase of these stops seems to do them justice.

We continue along the road along the edge of the Kizilkum Desert, which is dusty and yellowish, even if the various Turkish dialects define it as “red sands”.

muynaq and the Aral Sea they had been left behind. We anticipated the arduous path from Nukus to Khiva. Left to their own devices by the 1991 Soviet Union implosion, Uzbek politicians did not seem to see maintaining or improving the roads a priority.

Fake police car between Yangikazkan and Samarkand, Uzbekistan

Fake police car used to limit speed on a road connecting Yangikazkan to Samarkand.

The kilometers followed one another, bumpy and muffled, along the bed of the Amu Dária, the great river that crosses much of the country.

We felt we were grinding and fraying at the same speed as Ravshan was driving his Chevrolet, part of the successor fleet to the historic but decrepit armada of the nation's Ladas, Volgas, and UAZ(es).

We arrived mid-morning. The sun turns the car's plate into a grid and melts what was left of the asphalt. It is with relief that the driver announces, in German, a detour, that Nilufar, the young guide and translator, confirms that we are on the verge of the old fortress of Toprak Kala.

Toprak Kala ruins, Uzbekistan

Uzbek family scattered across the ruins of Toprak Kala.

An Interlude by the Historic Roadside

All this expansion of almost oases, between the south of the dying Aral Sea and the deserts of Karakum and Kizilkum were once the domain of the Iranian Korasmian civilization and of a succession of kingdoms from which the mighty Persian Empire stood out.

For, as Nilufar prepares us for the place, Toprak Kala stood out from this civilization between the XNUMXst and XNUMXth centuries AD and remained its capital for at least the entire third century AD.

The ruins revealed in 1938 by Sergey Pavlovich Tolstov, an archaeologist from Saint Petersburg who dedicated a good part of his life to his study.

Today, the structures Tolstov unveiled are more accessible than ever. Even so, one of the frequent missteps of the irrigation channels removed from the Amu Dária, forces us to jump too long and to get our feet wet.

A hidden path leads to what was left of the adobe walls of the old fort. As we passed inside, we were amazed at the complexity of partitions and corridors built with mere local clay that, favored by the arid climate, had resisted millenary destruction and erosion.

The Uzbek Family visiting Toprak Kala

Two young European friends walk and investigate the complex from corner to corner. In addition to Ravshan and Nilufar, the visitors “from the house” were represented by a large family that we see approaching in single file from one of the walkways, ascending to the nook where we stood and climbing to its highest threshold to, from there admire the view around.

Two ladies wear long dresses. They are paired with fur sandals and scarves that they wear in pirate fashion. The three men and two children who accompanied them were wearing little or no traditional clothing, except for the duppi – the sort of cofió of Central Asia – with which the patriarch signaled his Muslim faith.

One by one, they pass us and greet us. Without realizing it, we photographed them contemplating the panorama from the edge of the Amu Dária. Without great fears, they invite us to align ourselves with them and, proud of their identity and small tourist community, they take photographs with us.

3 generationsWe didn't stay long. Ravshan worried about the distance we had to cover. And the inevitable discomfort that the atrocious road and the summer heat would continue to subject us to.

Another Fortress and a Lunch at the Retreat of a Great Yurta

We left the shore of the Amu Darya. We veer north from Beruni, with Ayaz Kala in sight. Ayaz Kala was another stronghold, which was once the Korásmian capital. It appeared to us on the top of an unexpected and arduous plateau, like Masada Uzbek. We contemplate it and its secular solitude, for a time, from a distant rocky cliff.

Ayaz Kala ger camp, Uzbekistan

The Ayaz Kala ger camp, managed by Rano Yakubova.

Nearby, the Ayaz ger camp promised us a well-deserved rest and a lunch to match.

There, Rano Yakubova, owner of the establishment, receives us with courtesy and a saturated blush that contrasted with the large white scarf in which she was sheltering.

Rano Yakubova at his camp in Ayaz Kala, Uzbekistan

Rano Yakubova at the door of one of the gers in his Ayaz Kala camp.

Aware of the force, Rano hurriedly shows us around the camp and invites us to the largest of the gers, the one that used to function as a communal restaurant.

At that late hour, we were already the only guests. We sprawled on the floor covered with large red carpets, padded around a long table that displayed a delicacy worthy of a royal caravan.

Lunch in a ger in Ayaz Kala, Uzbekistan

Ravshan, Nilufar and hostess Rano Yakubova share a meal at the table in one of the largest gers in the Ayaz Kala camp.

Rano accompanies us for most of the meal. He interrupts the conversation with Ravshan and Nilufar only for strategic round trips to the kitchen tent where he used to renew some of the cold salads and the lepeshkas, the large flat loaves in the shape and tone of a solar disc that cannot be missing from an Uzbek table.

Uzbek snacks

Uzbek specialties on a dining table.

When the meal was over, the chatter vanished. We all shared the urge to land and let ourselves sleep there for the rest of the afternoon. And the same awareness of how far we needed to get to Khiva, tonight's destination.

Uzbek Desert Pets

Okay, we got up. We abandoned the ger's thermal truce. We soon found Talgat, a boy that Rano Yakubova explains to us is her husband's son, not hers. Talgat looked after Micha, a juvenile dromedary, one of the five camelids who served the camp.

With Central Asia reaching the height of its torrid summer, the camelids of the region shed the abundant fur that warmed them during the winter. For, in different parts of Micha, including under the long neck, on top of the back from which the large hump protruded, and in the upper section of the legs, the process was incomplete.

Talgat knew the inconvenience that this inconvenience caused the animal. Without much else to do, she kept pulling it out and petting the pet gratefully.

Dromedary shearing in Ayaz Kala, Uzbekistan

Rano Yakubova receives an excess hairball for the summer from Talgat that Talgat had removed from the Micha dromedary.

Rano, Ravshan and Nilufar emerge from the ger and join us. Talgat passes Rano a large ball of fur he has gathered. The stepmother holds, guards her from the wind and is absent for a moment. When she returns, she is free of the wool that was in the way.

He says goodbye to us with the desire to welcome us again during the winter or autumn when – he assures us – Kizilkum and its camp are much more welcoming and charming.

At six o'clock in the afternoon, we arrive at Khiva, another ancient korah capital of these parts, today one of the central historical cities of the Uzbequistan. There we spent two days in the delicious atmosphere of the Silk Road era, dazzled by the grandeur and architectural elegance with which its Khans and similar rulers endowed it.

De Khiva, we traveled almost 500km still and always along the edge of Kizilkum. So we moved to Bukhara, a rival city and just as majestic as Khiva.

From Bukhara, in turn, we point to Samarkand, another star in the constellation of fortresses steeped in history, walls, madrassas, mosques and imposing minarets that make the Uzbequistan an unmissable nation in Central Asia.

Part of the route, we complete it along the Estrada Real, which was used between the two former capitals. But instead of going straight to Samarkand, we scale in Nurata.

The enigmatic bride at the gates of Nurata

On the edge of town, a outdoor Soviet prophesies: "We grant a beautiful life to our citizens on the basis of freedom and the ability to trade and exchange ideas”. Even outsiders, we feel benefited by this civilizational privilege.

Monument to Soviet participation in World War II, Nurata

Nurata Monument to Soviet Participation in World War II

We stopped for another lunch at the home of a well-known Ravshan family. There we are presented with a young woman about to get married. Shy, obedient to tradition, the bride refuses to speak to us.

She doesn't even remove the long, pink veil that covers her from the top of her head to her arms, above a glossy yellow dress, full of multicolored sequins.

Hidden Bride II

Bride, mother and other lady in the house in front of the bride's bedroom door.

It is, in fact, rare to lift the face of the single and promised sobriety in which it should be maintained. Even so, as we say goodbye, we get permission to photograph her, in these same ways, together with her mother and another lady of the house, at her bedroom door.

We congratulate the ladies, give them a gift in Sums (Uzbek currency) and point to the center of Nurata.

In the Footsteps of Alexander. The big.

Rather than a khan of Mongol origin or descent, Nurata was founded, in 327 BC as Nur, by the adventurous Macedonian king Alexander the Great. To Nurata, Alexander the Great, bequeathed the military fortress from which, despite the many centuries that have passed, shapeless vestiges survive.

Today it is the religious complex of Chashma that we admire from the top of the ruins. Chasma summons the newcomers. Its mosque and crystalline spring full of trout that no one can fish, serve as a preamble to the sacred graves of believers.

The Chashma Religious Complex in Nurata, Uzbekistan

The religious complex of Chashma, built in function of the miracle performed by Ali, Mohammed's son-in-law who gave birth to a spring there.

At least for those who saw the (later sanctified) son-in-law of the prophet Mohammed hit the ground with his staff and caused a miraculous spring to flow.

We paid them our photographic tribute and tasted the pure water from the local aquarium fountain. Shortly thereafter, we returned to the car and departed for Yangikazkan.

Yangikazkan rises along the western edge of Lake Aydar, the largest in Uzbekistan at 250km by 15km. In recent times, new ecological ger camps have made these stops famous.

We installed ourselves in one of them. Until sunset, we cool off in the lake and ride a camel. During after dinner, around a campfire, we watched an exhibition of popular love songs, played by a picturesque Kazakh musician, under the overcrowded firmament of Central Asia.

Lake Aydar, Uzbekistan

Couple swims in Lake Aydar, the largest in Uzbekistan.

The next day, still and always cooked by the Kizilkum brazier, washed down by the poor roads of Uzbekistan, we enter the mythical Samarkand.

More information about Uzbekistan on the respective page of Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Samarkand, Uzbekistan

The Astronomer Sultan

The grandson of one of the great conquerors of Central Asia, Ulugh Beg, preferred the sciences. In 1428, he built a space observatory in Samarkand. His studies of the stars led him to name a crater on the Moon.
Margilan, Uzbekistan

An Uzbekistan's Breadwinner

In one of the many bakeries in Margilan, worn out by the intense heat of the tandyr oven, the baker Maruf'Jon works half-baked like the distinctive traditional breads sold throughout Uzbekistan
Khiva, Uzbequistan

The Silk Road Fortress the Soviets Velved

In the 80s, Soviet leaders renewed Khiva in a softened version that, in 1990, UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site. The USSR disintegrated the following year. Khiva has preserved its new luster.
Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan, The Nation That Does Not Lack Bread

Few countries employ cereals like Uzbekistan. In this republic of Central Asia, bread plays a vital and social role. The Uzbeks produce it and consume it with devotion and in abundance.
Samarkand, Uzbequistan

A Monumental Legacy of the Silk Road

In Samarkand, cotton is the most traded commodity and Ladas and Chevrolets have replaced camels. Today, instead of caravans, Marco Polo would find Uzbekistan's worst drivers.
Aral Sea, Uzbequistan

The Lake that Cotton Absorbed

In 1960, the Aral Sea was one of the four largest lakes in the world. Irrigation projects dried up much of the water and fishermen's livelihoods. In return, the USSR flooded Uzbekistan with vegetable white gold.
Masai Mara Reservation, Masai Land Travel, Kenya, Masai Convivial
Safari
Masai Mara, Kenya

A Journey Through the Masai Lands

The Mara savannah became famous for the confrontation between millions of herbivores and their predators. But, in a reckless communion with wildlife, it is the Masai humans who stand out there.
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 5th - Ngawal a BragaNepal

Towards the Nepalese Braga

We spent another morning of glorious weather discovering Ngawal. There is a short journey towards Manang, the main town on the way to the zenith of the Annapurna circuit. We stayed for Braga (Braka). The hamlet would soon prove to be one of its most unforgettable places.
The Little-Big Senglea II
Architecture & Design
Senglea, Malta

An Overcrowded Malta

At the turn of the 8.000th century, Senglea housed 0.2 inhabitants in 2 km3.000, a European record, today, it has “only” XNUMX neighborhood Christians. It is the smallest, most overcrowded and genuine of the Maltese cities.
Totems, Botko Village, Malekula, Vanuatu
Adventure
Malekula, Vanuatu

Meat and Bone Cannibalism

Until the early XNUMXth century, man-eaters still feasted on the Vanuatu archipelago. In the village of Botko we find out why European settlers were so afraid of the island of Malekula.
knights of the divine, faith in the divine holy spirit, Pirenopolis, Brazil
Ceremonies and Festivities
Pirenópolis, Brazil

A Ride of Faith

Introduced in 1819 by Portuguese priests, the Festa do Divino Espírito Santo de Pirenópolis it aggregates a complex web of religious and pagan celebrations. It lasts more than 20 days, spent mostly on the saddle.
Alaskan Lumberjack Show Competition, Ketchikan, Alaska, USA
Cities
Ketchikan, Alaska

Here begins Alaska

The reality goes unnoticed in most of the world, but there are two Alaskas. In urban terms, the state is inaugurated in the south of its hidden frying pan handle, a strip of land separated from the contiguous USA along the west coast of Canada. Ketchikan, is the southernmost of Alaskan cities, its Rain Capital and the Salmon Capital of the World.
Singapore Asian Capital Food, Basmati Bismi
Meal
Singapore

The Asian Food Capital

There were 4 ethnic groups in Singapore, each with its own culinary tradition. Added to this was the influence of thousands of immigrants and expatriates on an island with half the area of ​​London. It was the nation with the greatest gastronomic diversity in the Orient.
Sun and coconut trees, São Nicolau, Cape Verde
Culture
São Nicolau, Cape Verde

São Nicolau: Pilgrimage to Terra di Sodade

Forced matches like those that inspired the famous morna “soda” made the pain of having to leave the islands of Cape Verde very strong. Discovering saninclau, between enchantment and wonder, we pursue the genesis of song and melancholy.
Spectator, Melbourne Cricket Ground-Rules footbal, Melbourne, Australia
Sport
Melbourne, Australia

The Football the Australians Rule

Although played since 1841, Australian Football has only conquered part of the big island. Internationalization has never gone beyond paper, held back by competition from rugby and classical football.
Jeep crosses Damaraland, Namibia
Traveling
Damaraland, Namíbia

Namibia On the Rocks

Hundreds of kilometers north of Swakopmund, many more of Swakopmund's iconic dunes Sossuvlei, Damaraland is home to deserts interspersed with hills of reddish rock, the highest mountain and ancient rock art of the young nation. the settlers South Africans they named this region after the Damara, one of the Namibian ethnic groups. Only these and other inhabitants prove that it remains on Earth.
Ethnic
Pentecost Island, Vanuatu

Naghol: Bungee Jumping without Modern Touches

At Pentecost, in their late teens, young people launch themselves from a tower with only lianas tied to their ankles. Bungee cords and harnesses are inappropriate fussiness from initiation to adulthood.
Sunset, Avenue of Baobabs, Madagascar
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio

days like so many others

Garranos gallop across the plateau above Castro Laboreiro, PN Peneda-Gerês, Portugal
History
Castro Laboreiro, Portugal  

From Castro de Laboreiro to the Rim of the Peneda – Gerês Range

We arrived at (i) the eminence of Galicia, at an altitude of 1000m and even more. Castro Laboreiro and the surrounding villages stand out against the granite monumentality of the mountains and the Planalto da Peneda and Laboreiro. As do its resilient people who, sometimes handed over to Brandas and sometimes to Inverneiras, still call these stunning places home.
Gran Canaria, island, Canary Islands, Spain, La Tejeda
Islands
Gran Canaria, Canary Islands

Grand Canary Islands

It is only the third largest island in the archipelago. It so impressed European navigators and settlers that they got used to treating it as the supreme.
St. Trinity Church, Kazbegi, Georgia, Caucasus
Winter White
Kazbegi, Georgia

God in the Caucasus Heights

In the 4000th century, Orthodox religious took their inspiration from a hermitage that a monk had erected at an altitude of 5047 m and perched a church between the summit of Mount Kazbek (XNUMXm) and the village at the foot. More and more visitors flock to these mystical stops on the edge of Russia. Like them, to get there, we submit to the whims of the reckless Georgia Military Road.
Almada Negreiros, Roça Saudade, Sao Tome
Literature
Saudade, São Tomé, São Tomé and Principe

Almada Negreiros: From Saudade to Eternity

Almada Negreiros was born in April 1893, on a farm in the interior of São Tomé. Upon discovering his origins, we believe that the luxuriant exuberance in which he began to grow oxygenated his fruitful creativity.
Merganser against sunset, Rio Miranda, Pantanal, Brazil
Nature
Passo do Lontra, Miranda, Brazil

The Flooded Brazil of Passo do Lontra

We are on the western edge of Mato Grosso do Sul but bush, on these sides, is something else. In an extension of almost 200.000 km2, the Brazil it appears partially submerged, by rivers, streams, lakes and other waters dispersed in vast alluvial plains. Not even the panting heat of the dry season drains the life and biodiversity of Pantanal places and farms like the one that welcomed us on the banks of the Miranda River.
Sheki, Autumn in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Autumn Homes
Autumn
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

Lost among the snowy mountains that separate Europe from Asia, Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's most iconic towns. Its largely silky history includes periods of great harshness. When we visited it, autumn pastels added color to a peculiar post-Soviet and Muslim life.
savuti, botswana, elephant-eating lions
Natural Parks
Savuti, Botswana

Savuti's Elephant-Eating Lions

A patch of the Kalahari Desert dries up or is irrigated depending on the region's tectonic whims. In Savuti, lions have become used to depending on themselves and prey on the largest animals in the savannah.
Missions, San Ignacio Mini, Argentina
UNESCO World Heritage
San Ignacio Mini, Argentina

The Impossible Jesuit Missions of San Ignacio Mini

In the century. In the XNUMXth century, the Jesuits expanded a religious domain in the heart of South America by converting the Guarani Indians into Jesuit missions. But the Iberian Crowns ruined the tropical utopia of the Society of Jesus.
View from the top of Mount Vaea and the tomb, Vailima village, Robert Louis Stevenson, Upolu, Samoa
Characters
Upolu, Samoa

Stevenson's Treasure Island

At age 30, the Scottish writer began looking for a place to save him from his cursed body. In Upolu and the Samoans, he found a welcoming refuge to which he gave his heart and soul.
view mount Teurafaatiu, Maupiti, Society Islands, French Polynesia
Beaches
Maupiti, French Polynesia

A Society on the Margin

In the shadow of neighboring Bora Bora's near-global fame, Maupiti is remote, sparsely inhabited and even less developed. Its inhabitants feel abandoned but those who visit it are grateful for the abandonment.
Mtshketa, Holy City of Georgia, Caucasus, Svetitskhoveli Cathedral
Religion
Mtskheta, Georgia

The Holy City of Georgia

If Tbilisi is the contemporary capital, Mtskheta was the city that made Christianity official in the kingdom of Iberia, predecessor of Georgia, and one that spread the religion throughout the Caucasus. Those who visit see how, after almost two millennia, it is Christianity that governs life there.
Train Fianarantsoa to Manakara, Malagasy TGV, locomotive
On Rails
Fianarantsoa-Manakara, Madagascar

On board the Malagasy TGV

We depart Fianarantsoa at 7a.m. It wasn't until 3am the following morning that we completed the 170km to Manakara. The natives call this almost secular train Train Great Vibrations. During the long journey, we felt, very strongly, those of the heart of Madagascar.
Tsukiji fish market, Tokyo, Japan
Society
Tokyo, Japan

The Fish Market That Lost its Freshness

In a year, each Japanese eats more than their weight in fish and shellfish. Since 1935, a considerable part was processed and sold in the largest fish market in the world. Tsukiji was terminated in October 2018, and replaced by Toyosu's.
Saksun, Faroe Islands, Streymoy, warning
Daily life
Saksun, StreymoyFaroe Islands

The Faroese Village That Doesn't Want to be Disneyland

Saksun is one of several stunning small villages in the Faroe Islands that more and more outsiders visit. It is distinguished by the aversion to tourists of its main rural owner, author of repeated antipathies and attacks against the invaders of his land.
hippopotami, chobe national park, botswana
Wildlife
Chobe NP, Botswana

Chobe: A River on the Border of Life with Death

Chobe marks the divide between Botswana and three of its neighboring countries, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia. But its capricious bed has a far more crucial function than this political delimitation.
Passengers, scenic flights-Southern Alps, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand

The Aeronautical Conquest of the Southern Alps

In 1955, pilot Harry Wigley created a system for taking off and landing on asphalt or snow. Since then, his company has unveiled, from the air, some of the greatest scenery in Oceania.
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