We have travelled overnight for a good 22 hours to arrive in Almaty, formerly known as Alma-Ata, in Kazakhstan. We left Tashkent yesterday on train 369, Tashkent to Novosibirsk service, and after only 25 minutes of travelling we endured 4 hours of security and immigration checks at the Uzbek-Kazakhstan border. The dull proceedings were enlivened …
We had a leisurely walk across town this morning to find the stone Earthquake Memorial. Tashkent was seriously damaged by an earthquake in 1966. The memorial is very simple but poignant. On a block of basalt is the date and on another face of the cube a clock showing the time of the earthquake. The …
Today we indulged in some train spotting when we went to Temir Yo’l Texnikasi Muzeyi or Railway Museum. Here we found a good collection of steam, diesel and electric locomotives dating from the 1930s to 1970s. Where the cab door was open one could climb on board. There were small locomotives for shunting and some …
We moved on from Samarkand to the sprawling city of Tashkent. We left Samarkand on the 10:34 train, leaving the city shrouded in mist with a cool 5 C compared to yesterday’s 16 C. The gloom never really lifted until we reached our destination. Our train used the valleys to cross the low mountain range, known …
We awoke to a beautiful sunny morning heralded by birdsong. Samarkand is one of the most ancient cities of the world and a rare one as it has been fought over by three of histories greatest generals; Alexander the Great, Ghenkis Khan and Timur. The ancient part of Samarkand is situated on a hilly area …
We are in a small hotel called The Malika Prime which is located in parkland overlooking the Gur-Emir-Amir Mausoleum which is the burial place of Timur, his two sons and two grandsons. It has a fluted azure dome. Close by is the statue of Amir Timur. He played a major role in forming Samarkand as …
We had a last look at the old city of Khiva and managed to get to some sights that we had missed on yesterday’s visit. In particular we saw a timber and mud brick minaret by the west gate which gave us great views across the old city and along the western section of the …
Today we are based in Khiva at a hotel across the road from the west gate of a most amazing mud brick-walled city. It has colourful domes and minarets which today were piercing the brilliant blue sky. Legend has it that Khiva was founded when Shem, the son of Noah, discovered a well here and …
The formalities of border crossing made us forget that it is really Thursday though again sleep meant that we missed the end of the Steppe and the beginning of the desert. We could have slept longer but around 10:00 we were woken by what seemed like an army of itinerant traders selling food, drink, clothes, …
We left Volgograd at 19:59 yesterday by train and have so far travelled down the Volga River valley towards its delta and the Caspian Sea. North of Astrakhan at Aksaraiskaya at 02:25 this morning we arrived at the Russian border. Here immigration and customs formalities take place on the train and for more than 2 …