Another beautiful cloudless cool day. Finally got to visit the tomb of Timur (Tamerlane), the Guri Amir Mausoleum (1404). My guidebook called the building "surprisingly modest" and I suppose given Timur's stature and power it might be. But it's also beautiful with a turquoise blue dome over a building of dark and light blue mosaic tiles. Inside shines with gold. The ceiling is gold honeycomb below which Timur, two sons and two grandsons, including Ulugbek, are buried. Timur's stone is a slab of green jade. To quote from lonely planet "Timur's stone (was) once a single block of dark green jade. In 1740 the warlord Nadir Shah carried it off to Persia, where it was accidentally broken in two - from which time Nadir Shah was said to have a run of very bad luck, including the near-death of his son. At the urging of his religious advisors he returned the stone to Samarkand, and of course his son recovered."
I'm quoting from Monuments of Central Asia by Knobloch: "In 1941 Timur's grave was opened by the Soviet Archaeological Commission, who found here the skeleton of a man who, though lame in both right limbs, must have been of powerful physique, tall for a Tartar and of a haughty bearing. The examined the skeleton and the remains, which included fragments of muscle, skin, and some hair of the head, eye-brows, red mustache and beard. The skull indicated Mongol features".
We dashed briefly next door to get a glimpse of the Ak-Saray Mausoleum (1470), a tiny gold honeycombed gem.
Then we walked for a bit through the town bazaar. It was surprising how neat and clean the place was; markets that sell fruits, vegetables and meats, etc., tend not to be. I bought some cumin, coriander and locally grown saffron for a total of $5. Women tended to be the vendors and they were quite friendly and agreeable when I asked for a photo. Scott even took one picture of me with two women who were selling honey. Bees were in the honeycomb next to me the entire time. We sampled the local bread hot from the oven. The bread is round, thick around the edges and thin and the center.
At lunch (at the hotel) we ate delicious vegetables: beets, cauliflower, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, zucchini, then vegetable soup, and then a main course of meat (??) rice and squash.
At 1pm boarded the bus for a 4 hour drive to Bukhara. On the way stopped at an 11th c caravanserai called Rabat-i Malik. The untiled but brick patterned archway was beautiful. The funny (read odd) thing is that we had been told that we had a pit stop coming up and this was the spot they were referring to. We were told to go behind the facade and find a private spot. Call me crazy but I found this strange given the fact that this was an historical monument. Crow Canyon trip this isn't! We came, we saw, we peed.
The road between Samarkand and Bukhara is surprisingly bumpy despite being a new. My guidebook says that the journey that takes us four hours would have taken six or seven days in the Middle Ages.
Funny things about our hotel room in Samarkand:
- We had a mini-bar but it wasn't plugged into anything. Scott investigated and found that the plug for the mini-bar didn't fit (i.e., didn't have the right prongs) to fit into any of the outlets in the room.
- We had the "control panel to nowhere" on the bedside consoles. There were five knobs and various switches that didn't control anything.
Checked into the Bukhara Palace Hotel. Quite the misnomer. This is really a trip back in time to the old Intourist Soviet Hotels complete with babushka on each hall who pops her head out when you exit your room to check on what you're doing. The walls have eyes here. To quote Scott, our room is quite the "love nest". Mattresses are hard as a board. The bottom sheet doesn't wrap around the top end of the bed so I fear moving around too much during the night and finding myself in direct contact with the mattress. Not a happy thought.
Went to dinner and were vehemently prohibited from sitting at a table when the entire restaurant was empty because three tiny tables had been allocated to our group. No other tables were to be used! This set the tone for the evening. Vodka was good and continues to be the best deal in town. I've had vodka each night have have yet to pay more then $1 for a glass. Some evening it's even free.
Oh yes, the mini-bar in our room here doesn't plug into anything either.
Did the mini-bar have any booz in it?
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