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 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.

Margilan, Uzbequistan

A Tour of Uzbekistan's Handicraft Fabrics

Located in the far east of Uzbekistan, in the Fergana Valley, Margilan was one of the essential stops on the Silk Road. Since the 10th century, the silk products produced there have made it stand out on maps; today, haute couture brands compete for its fabrics. More than just a prodigious center of artisanal creation, Margilan values ​​and cherishes an ancient Uzbek way of life.
Believers greet each other in the Bukhara region.
City
Bukhara, Uzbequistan

Among the Minarets of Old Turkestan

Situated on the ancient Silk Road, Bukhara has developed for at least two thousand years as an essential commercial, cultural and religious hub in Central Asia. It was Buddhist and then Muslim. It was part of the great Arab empire and that of Genghis Khan, the Turko-Mongol kingdoms and the Soviet Union, until it settled in the still young and peculiar Uzbekistan.
Host Wezi points out something in the distance
Beach
Cobue; Nkwichi Lodge, Mozambique

The Hidden Mozambique of the Creaking Sands

During a tour from the bottom to the top of Lake Malawi, we find ourselves on the island of Likoma, an hour by boat from Nkwichi Lodge, the solitary base of this inland coast of Mozambique. On the Mozambican side, the lake is known as Niassa. Whatever its name, there we discover some of the most stunning and unspoilt scenery in south-east Africa.
Amboseli National Park, Mount Kilimanjaro, Normatior Hill
safari
Amboseli National Park, Kenya

A Gift from the Kilimanjaro

The first European to venture into these Masai haunts was stunned by what he found. And even today, large herds of elephants and other herbivores roam the pastures irrigated by the snow of Africa's biggest mountain.
Aurora lights up the Pisang Valley, Nepal.
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 3rd- Upper Banana, Nepal

An Unexpected Snowy Aurora

At the first glimmers of light, the sight of the white mantle that had covered the village during the night dazzles us. With one of the toughest walks on the Annapurna Circuit ahead of us, we postponed the match as much as possible. Annoyed, we left Upper Pisang towards Escort when the last snow faded.
Engravings, Karnak Temple, Luxor, Egypt
Architecture & Design
luxor, Egypt

From Luxor to Thebes: Journey to Ancient Egypt

Thebes was raised as the new supreme capital of the Egyptian Empire, the seat of Amon, the God of Gods. Modern Luxor inherited the Temple of Karnak and its sumptuousness. Between one and the other flow the sacred Nile and millennia of dazzling history.
Salto Angel, Rio that falls from the sky, Angel Falls, PN Canaima, Venezuela
Aventura
PN Canaima, Venezuela

Kerepakupai, Salto Angel: The River that Falls from Heaven

In 1937, Jimmy Angel landed a light aircraft on a plateau lost in the Venezuelan jungle. The American adventurer did not find gold but he conquered the baptism of the longest waterfall on the face of the Earth
Ceremonies and Festivities
Apia, Western Samoa

Fia Fia – High Rotation Polynesian Folklore

From New Zealand to Easter Island and from here to Hawaii, there are many variations of Polynesian dances. Fia Fia's Samoan nights, in particular, are enlivened by one of the more fast-paced styles.
Table Mountain view from Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa.
Cities
Table Mountain, South Africa

At the Adamastor Monster Table

From the earliest times of the Discoveries to the present, Table Mountain has always stood out above the South African immensity South African and the surrounding ocean. The centuries passed and Cape Town expanded at his feet. The Capetonians and the visiting outsiders got used to contemplating, ascending and venerating this imposing and mythical plateau.
Obese resident of Tupola Tapaau, a small island in Western Samoa.
Lunch time
Tonga, Western Samoa, Polynesia

XXL Pacific

For centuries, the natives of the Polynesian islands subsisted on land and sea. Until the intrusion of colonial powers and the subsequent introduction of fatty pieces of meat, fast food and sugary drinks have spawned a plague of diabetes and obesity. Today, while much of Tonga's national GDP, Western Samoa and neighbors is wasted on these “western poisons”, fishermen barely manage to sell their fish.
Pitões das Junias, Montalegre, Portugal
Culture
Montalegre, Portugal

Through Alto do Barroso, Top of Trás-os-Montes

we moved from Terras de Bouro for those of Barroso. Based in Montalegre, we wander around the discovery of Paredes do Rio, Tourém, Pitões das Júnias and its monastery, stunning villages on the border of Portugal. If it is true that Barroso has had more inhabitants, visitors should not miss it.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Sport
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.
Navimag Cruise, Puerto Montt to Puerto-natales, Chile
Traveling
Puerto Natales-Puerto Montt, Chile

Cruise on board a Freighter

After a long begging of backpackers, the Chilean company NAVIMAG decided to admit them on board. Since then, many travelers have explored the Patagonian canals, side by side with containers and livestock.
The Great Mosque of Portto Novo, built by Afro-Brazilian Agudás.
Ethnic
Porto Novo, Benin

An Unsafe Harbor at the Afro-Brazilian Crossroads

In 1730, the Portuguese added Porto Novo to their slave trading posts in the Gulf of Guinea and increased the number of slaves sent to Brazil. After Brazil's independence in 1822 and successive revolts, slaves and even slave traders created a movement to return to their African origins. Today, Porto Novo is the capital of Benin and one of the Beninese cities that has been influenced by these so-called slaves. sharp.

Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

life outside

Willemstad, Curacao, Punda, Handelskade
History
Willemstad, Curaçao

The Multicultural Heart of Curaçao

A Dutch colony in the Caribbean became a major slave hub. It welcomed Sephardic Jews who had taken refuge from the Iberia Inquisition in Amsterdam and Recife. And it assimilated influences from the Portuguese and Spanish villages with which it traded. At the heart of this secular cultural fusion has always been its old capital: Willemstad.
Porto Santo, view to the south of Pico Branco
Islands
Terra Chã and Pico Branco footpaths, Porto Santo

Pico Branco, Terra Chã and Other Whims of the Golden Island

In its northeast corner, Porto Santo is another thing. With its back facing south and its large beach, we unveil a mountainous, rugged and even wooded coastline, dotted with islets that dot an even bluer Atlantic.
Era Susi towed by dog, Oulanka, Finland
Winter White
PN Oulanka, Finland

A Slightly Lonesome Wolf

Jukka “Era-Susi” Nordman has created one of the largest packs of sled dogs in the world. He became one of Finland's most iconic characters but remains faithful to his nickname: Wilderness Wolf.
silhouette and poem, Cora coralina, Goias Velho, Brazil
Literature
Goiás Velho, Brazil

The Life and Work of a Marginal Writer

Born in Goiás, Ana Lins Bretas spent most of her life far from her castrating family and the city. Returning to its origins, it continued to portray the prejudiced mentality of the Brazilian countryside
Joshua Tree National Park, California, United States,
Nature
PN Joshua Tree, California, United States

The Arms stretched out to Heaven of the PN Joshua Tree

Arriving in the extreme south of California, we are amazed by the countless Joshua trees that sprout from the Mojave and Colorado deserts. Like the Mormon settlers who named them, we cross and praise these inhospitable settings of the North American Far West.
Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Autumn
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Flock of flamingos, Laguna Oviedo, Dominican Republic
Natural Parks
Oviedo Lagoon, Dominican Republic

The Dead Sea (nothing) of the Dominican Republic

The hypersalinity of the Laguna de Oviedo fluctuates depending on evaporation and water supplied by rain and the flow coming from the neighboring mountain range of Bahoruco. The natives of the region estimate that, as a rule, it has three times the level of sea salt. There, we discover prolific colonies of flamingos and iguanas, among many other species that make up one of the most exuberant ecosystems on the island of Hispaniola.
In the middle of the Gold Coast
UNESCO World Heritage
Elmina, Ghana

The First Jackpot of the Portuguese Discoveries

In the century. XVI, Mina generated to the Crown more than 310 kg of gold annually. This profit aroused the greed of the The Netherlands and from England, which succeeded one another in the place of the Portuguese and promoted the slave trade to the Americas. The surrounding village is still known as Elmina, but today fish is its most obvious wealth.
Heroes Acre Monument, Zimbabwe
Characters
Harare, Zimbabwewe

The Last Rales of Surreal Mugabué

In 2015, Zimbabwe's first lady Grace Mugabe said the 91-year-old president would rule until the age of 100 in a special wheelchair. Shortly thereafter, it began to insinuate itself into his succession. But in recent days, the generals have finally precipitated the removal of Robert Mugabe, who has replaced him with former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Santa Maria, Sal Island, Cape Verde, Landing
Beaches
Santa Maria, Sal Island, Cape Verde

Santa Maria and the Atlantic Blessing of Sal

Santa Maria was founded in the first half of the XNUMXth century, as a salt export warehouse. Today, thanks to the providence of Santa Maria, Sal Ilha is worth much more than the raw material.
Police intervention, ultra-Orthodox Jews, Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Israel
Religion
Jaffa, Israel

Unorthodox protests

A building in Jaffa, Tel Aviv, threatened to desecrate what ultra-Orthodox Jews thought were remnants of their ancestors. And even the revelation that they were pagan tombs did not deter them from the contestation.
The Toy Train story
On Rails
Siliguri a Darjeeling, India

The Himalayan Toy Train Still Running

Neither the steep slope of some stretches nor the modernity stop it. From Siliguri, in the tropical foothills of the great Asian mountain range, the Darjeeling, with its peaks in sight, the most famous of the Indian Toy Trains has ensured for 117 years, day after day, an arduous dream journey. Traveling through the area, we climb aboard and let ourselves be enchanted.
emperor akihito waves, emperor without empire, tokyo, japan
Society
Tokyo, Japan

The Emperor Without Empire

After the capitulation in World War II, Japan underwent a constitution that ended one of the longest empires in history. The Japanese emperor is, today, the only monarch to reign without empire.
herd, foot-and-mouth disease, weak meat, colonia pellegrini, argentina
Daily life
Colónia Pellegrini, Argentina

When the Meat is Weak

The unmistakable flavor of Argentine beef is well known. But this wealth is more vulnerable than you think. The threat of foot-and-mouth disease, in particular, keeps authorities and growers afloat.
Elephant walks above the beach and lagoon on the edge of Loango National Park
Wildlife

PN Loango, Gabon

On an Edenic Edge of Equatorial Africa

Almost 80% of Gabon's territory is made up of dense tropical forest. The Loango National Park is located at the lush confluence of this forest with the Atlantic coast. It is made up of lagoons, wide, dark rivers, and a savannah on sand dotted with pockets of mysterious jungle. Elephants, buffaloes, gorillas, chimpanzees, sitatungas, and wild boars roam it. An endless number of species from a protected and prodigious terrestrial domain.

The Sounds, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Fiordland, New Zealand

The Fjords of the Antipodes

A geological quirk made the Fiordland region the rawest and most imposing in New Zealand. Year after year, many thousands of visitors worship the sub-domain slashed between Te Anau and Milford Sound.