In the footsteps of Historical Legends

Medressa in Bukhara

Great names from the past have loomed over our travels for the past couple of weeks, from Cyrus the Great, Xerxes and Darius in Iran, we have now come to meet with the legacy of Tamerlane, who built an empire centred on Samarkand in the 15th century. The area has been repeatedly conquered from Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC to the ravages of Ghengis Khan in the 13th Century. We have just arrived in Samarkand - that city of legends, after visiting Shakhrisabz - Tamerlane's home city where he built a vast palace, and mausoleums for two of his sons.A couple of nights camping in the mountains provided a chance to do some necessary maintenance on the vehicle and to relax in the relatively cooler air. First impressions of Samarkand is that it is a modern cosmopolitan city, yesterday evening there was a concert to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Uzbekistans independence. One requirement in Uzbekistan is that we have to have a registration slip at least every 3 days, and the easiest was it to stay in a hotel - our travel in Uzbekistan is also limited as diesel is almost impossible to obtain, so we are limited to how far we can travel, and consequently will have to head directly to the Kazak border from here.