The British daily newspaper The Times published an article promoting the tourist destinations and historical attractions of Uzbekistan. The article was written by the content editor and travel writer of The Times, Lucy Perrin, prepared with the assistance of the ambassador of the tourism brand of Uzbekistan, Sophie Ibbotson.
After having a trip to Uzbekistan, the British journalist prepared this article based on his impressions about visiting Uzbekistan. She shares her impressions, and talks about Uzbekistan’s tourist attractions - historical architecture and natural landscapes, as well as modern tourist infrastructure being developed in various cities of Uzbekistan today.
The journalist describes Uzbekistan as a largely undiscovered country yet, located in the heart of the Silk Road, offering its visitors sophisticated madrassas and desert fortresses.
Lucy Perrin notes that Uzbekistan is not a popular destination among British people, where only about 10,000 travelers from Great Britain visiting Uzbekistan each year. She mentioned that was cautious about traveling along Central Asia on her own at first, however did not want to join a group, so decided to take a private tour with a local guide. As the journalist describes it was a great idea, taking into account the high-speed trains and affordable local flights, which made it quite convenient and easy to travel to Central Asia all at once.
The article notes that Uzbekistan, located a seven-hour flight from London, is at the heart of the Silk Road, a network of trade routes that linked the Far East with the Western world for more than 1,500 years. From the 2nd century BC to the 15th century The Silk Road crossed over 4,000 miles of mountains and deserts, passing through 40 countries and facilitating trade along the way. Much of this exchange was transactional and tangible—silk from China, gems from India—but it also spread the intangible: religious revelations and cultural practices passed on to each other by men like Marco Polo.
“Uzbekistan’s capital, Tashkent, was a popular spot for caravanserais and Chorsu Bazaar, located at a crossroads, was one of them. Today, the horses, wagons, and Marco Polo-types are long gone, but a thriving local market stands in their place. There’s a whole floor dedicated to desserts that showcase the sweetest of Uzbek traditions: elaborate engagement gifts made from halva (a cross between nougat and fudge) and mountains of crystallized amber sugar that mothers place on the tongues of newborns, believing the ritual will help them to sweet-talk future customers once they become traders. I spend hours wandering the equivalent of the middle of Lidl, a floor stacked with everything from brooms that are gifted as part of a dowry to sacks full of juniper leaves used to flavor meat while it cooks” – continues the author describing Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.
The process of baking the famous Uzbek bread is described by the journalist in a beautiful way, further portraying the Tashkent Metro – Subway, where each station is a work of art with decorations carved from alabaster and lit by glitzy chandeliers, and manned by equally immaculate workers in jade-green uniforms and square caps, as the author puts in into words.
In the article, the author calls ancient Khiva a magnificent city, essentially an open-air museum.
One of the most beautiful cities in Uzbekistan, ancient Khiva comes next in the article as a glorious walled city, which is essentially an open-air museum. The great monuments of Khiva hidden inside wooden gates are outlined as the destination that traders would have passed through in the days of the ancient Silk Road.
On the road from Khiva to Bukhara, the author saw abandoned citadels of ancient fortresses rising from the desert sands.
“We break the journey at Ayaz-Kala, a collection of three citadels that date back as far as the 4th century, and explore the remains of rooms where royalty once roamed. There’s not another soul in sight and the only guards are a group of hummingbirds that circle the ruins and keep watch from above,” The Times’ journalist shares her impressions.
The next destination along the trip to Uzbekistan is Bukhara: “The city’s original trading domes, which initially appear like a cluster of stone molehills. Beneath their curved roofs men embroider pomegranates — symbols of fertility — onto cushion covers and forge silver scissors into the shape of swallows” – is the way Lucy Perrin beautifully describes the ancient Bukhara.
Following Bukhara, The Times’ journalist travels to the magnificent city of Samarkand, admiring the ancient buildings of Samarkand as hypnotizing during the day, covered with thousands of mosaics, whereas equally magical spectacle opens in the evening, when the square glows with golden and green light at sunset, as she puts her impressions of Samarkand into words.
