Uzbekistan
The blue-tiled Silk Road cities of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva, a train ride apart.
Overview
About Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan's appeal is concentrated in three cities, and the tilework is the reason. Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva were Silk Road capitals, and what survives is a body of glazed brick and majolica in deep blue and turquoise, at a scale found nowhere else.
The three differ in character. Samarkand is monumental, arranged around the Registan. Bukhara is denser and more domestic, a working old town rather than a set of monuments. Khiva is a walled city small enough to cross on foot and almost entirely intact.
Good to know
Worth Knowing Before You Go
- Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva are each UNESCO-listed for their Islamic architecture.
- The Registan in Samarkand is a public square framed by three madrasas built between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries.
- Khiva's walled inner town, the Itchan Kala, can be crossed on foot in a few minutes.
- A high-speed rail line connects Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara.
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