Burnt out, I flew to Uzbekistan and found something I was missing

‘Why on earth are you going there?’

This was the question friends asked when I told them I was travelling to Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic sandwiched between Russia, China, and a host of fellow ‘Stans’.

I had many answers, most built on the country’s Silk Road history and the ancient mystique of a place that was Central Asia’s cradle of culture for more than two millennia.

But the simple truth? I was exhausted, burnt out by the London rat race having moved here from Sydney two years ago, and desperate to reawaken my fascination with the world we live in.

Plus, Uzbekistan was named by Lonely Planet’s Best In Travel guide in their Top Country category for 2024, with the publication describing it as a place where visitors travel from ‘oasis to oasis’ while ‘following the trading networks of centuries past.’

And with its spellbinding architecture, turquoise-tiled cities and spiritual sunsets, Uzbekistan did not disappoint.

Tashkent: City of Soviet hangovers

Our seven-day trip starts with a seven-hour flight to Tashkent, a capital city brimming with Brutalist architecture and hangovers of the USSR era.

Tatiana, the first of four guides on our Silk Road trail, takes us to standout sights such as Khast Imam Square – which houses what is said to be the world’s oldest Quran – and the bustling Chorsu Bazaar, a great place to watch local bakers make bread in traditional ovens.

We marvel at the façade of Hotel Uzbekistan, a shabby but imposing building that once played host to the top brass of the Communist regime. Later we stop for a drink at Pelikan Craft, a Soviet-style beer shop selling IPA and local lager on tap.

Sipping on a pint on one of Tashkent’s sprawling boulevards, I am struck by how incredibly safe this city of 2.4 million feels. Welcomes are warm in Uzbekistan, and it’s not long before we are joined by three young locals eager to practice their English.

British tourists are few and far between in Uzbekistan — only about 10,000 visit each year — yet it’s never been easier to get here.

Just a decade ago, Uzbekistan had a reputation for tricky travel, plagued by complex visa rules and corruption. But since the death of President Islam Karimov in 2016, getting a visa has been easy. Over 60 nationalities now qualify for 30 days of visa-free travel, including the UK, most EU countries, New Zealand, Australia, and South Korea.

Uzbekistan is now the most visited of the Central Asian republics — with good reason.

Samarkand

If I had any illusions about Uzbekistan’s modernity, they were quickly dispelled on our journey to Samarkand, the biggest drawcard for Silk Road architecture.

We take the high-speed train — the remarkably comfortable, Spanish-owned Afrosiyab — which boasts free tea and coffee, and considerably more leg room than Great Western Railway.

Our guide Rukhana meets us at the station and takes us straight to the mausoleum of Amir Timur, a fearsome commander and national hero who conquered large swathes of Central Asia in the 14th century. The hand-tiled mosaics and glittering gold ceilings of the enormous memorial make it clear that this man was a force to be reckoned with.

But the main event in the Silk Road’s most famous city is Registan, a spectacular square where mosques, madarassas and minarets meet. A friend of Rukhana’s who stops to say hello turns out to be the director of the oldest building — and offers us the chance to climb a minaret for a bird’s eye view of the square.

The climb is dizzying, the spectacle captivating, as we stare down at a scene of intricate mosaics and symbols of Zoroastrianism — the ancient Persian religion that was once the most practiced in Uzbekistan.

If Registan is beautiful by day, it comes alive at night, when locals bring their children to eat popcorn and listen to music in the ethereal glow of the square’s lights. Everyone is beaming; it feels like it must be a wonderful place to grow up.

I tell Rukhana about a recent study that ranked Uzbekistan the most miserable country in the world, and ask if she thinks it’s true.

‘Young people here often want to leave, but they don’t realise that life is good here. Or how hard it can be abroad, too,’ she says.

A taste of the Silk Road

The next morning we’re back in Afrosiyab’s spacious seats for the journey to Bukhara, a smaller and more intensely Islamic city 270km northwest.

Our two nights here are spent in a hotel in the Jewish quarter of the old city, which is built around a series of wells and caravaranserais, roadside inns along major trading routes on the Silk Road where merchants stopped for food, rest, and gossip.

Centuries old trading domes still provide shade for travellers browsing handwoven silk scarves and and suzani (embroidered textiles) stitched with pomegranates — symbols of fertility.

I almost buy a traditional titanium knife with an exquisite mother of pearl handle, before the international customs jitters get the better of me.

The best food of our trip was served at a Bukhara suzani maker’s house, where we dined on cauldrons of plov – a rice-based dish topped with beef or lamb, raisins and yellow carrots – and samsa, a savoury pastry packed with meat, which our guide Rimma described as Uzbekistan’s McDonald’s.

The golden arches haven’t made it to this part of Central Asia just yet (but they do have Wendy’s, and recently celebrated the opening of the first KFC).

There’s no doubt that eating in this part of the world is a little trickier for vegans and vegetarians, but the Uzbeks know how to make a salad — they also grow the juiciest tomatoes I’ve ever tasted. So don’t let the meat-heavy menu deter you.

‘Spellbinding’ Khiva

On the seven-hour drive to Khiva, we whizzed past sights that have largely vanished from western countries.

Women hoe the fields, a kaleidoscope of headscarves fluttering in the breeze behind them. Single cows ride along on pickup trucks, their heavy rubber wheels disrupting desert sand that looks like a sea of brown sugar.

Stacks of hay bales teeter perilously on top of cartoonish Damas vans. Our driver, Rahman, tells us they are known as ‘loaves’, for their bread-like shape.

Seven hours in the back of a Chevrolet feels unthinkable in the UK, but our journey through the Kyzylkum desert is surprisingly painless.

We arrive in our 2,700-year-old destination just in time to walk the old city walls at sunset, a truly magical experience that almost brings a tear to my eye.

The Independent’s Simon Calder called Khiva one of the most astonishing places on earth’ — and he’s really not exaggerating.

This ancient city may be famed for its astonishing Islamic architecture, but it still has plenty of great places to stay and eat, from rooftop terraces overlooking magnificent blue-domed mosques to cafes nestled under towering minarets.

We spend our final two days cocooned within the four walls of Khiva, exploring ornate madrassas where mathematical theories were first discovered and mosques supported by 1,000-year-old wooden beams.

Our final afternoon is spent awestruck by a family of local acrobats who walk a tightrope, one on top of another.

As the sun sets on our time in Central Asia, we share a drink with a group of six friends in their 60s who we keep bumping into along the Silk Road path.

‘People said to me, why the hell are you going there,’ one tells me over a glass of Saperavi wine. ‘Well why the hell wouldn’t you come here?’

I couldn’t agree more.

Alice Murphy was a guest of Trotting Soles (+44 (0) 7553 709314; info@trottingsoles.co.uk). One-week private tour, with standard accommodation, internal travel and guided sightseeing starts from £1,300 per person (based on 2 travellers), or £2,700 for the same package with luxury accommodation and transport.

Uzbekistan Airways flies direct from London to Tashkent from £503; Turkish Airways flies with one stopover in Istanbul from £623.

This article was originally published on April 28 2024.

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