Journey to Samarkand
Trip Start
Nov 15, 2006
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Trip End
Jul 15, 2008
Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Samarkand, Uzbekistan
We arrived late last night and went to the Malika Hotel for a room with bath for $50; a very nice modern hotel, in fact it so nice that we were luck they had a room for us last night. We have to move out today because they are booked up for the rest of the season. We moved today to the Antica Bed and Breakfast which is the LP travel guide's author's pick for Samarkand. It is in a restored 19th century traditional home. It is delightful staying here because of the all the ornate woodwork and trim. Arvid got some great ideas how we can redo our bedroom, but Irina will have to learn how to operate a lathe. There are no international ATM we can use here either.
You might be concerned that Samarkand could be a disappointment to us, especially after the big buildup in the beginning of our blog with Flecker's poem, "The Golden Journey to Samarkand"
13-01
. But we always knew that the Samarkand of the poem was and is only a metaphor really. It wasn't the goal but a state of mind. We are reminded of the final advice from another the poem with a traveling metaphor: "Journey to Ithaca", by Cavafy: "And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not defrauded you.
With the great wisdom you have gained, with so much experience,
you must surely have understood by then what Ithaca means."
This doesn't mean our trip is over. We just have to come up with a new metaphor. Maybe it should be Ithaca, a small town about an hour south of our home, where our friends Mike and Roxanne live. But it'll take some time before we get to see them again.
The real Samarkand is a bit touristy but if you just concentrate on the great buildings and remember how long ago they were built, you will be amazed. The architecture is grand and the details are complex. The restoration work has been good, but we didn't get the feeling that you're standing in the footprints of time. It feels too commercialized. We do not get the gritty sense that the ghosts of history are still here, like we did at Balkh where there were only mounds of mud, or at Taxila where only the outlines of the buildings have been excavated. Still the architecture and detail of the Timurid era buildings are inspiring. So now we've seen it. This was Timur's party town, next we're headed to Bukhara, Timur's intellectual center. Hopefully, we'll find an ATM that works for us there.
