uzbekistan it might not be on your travel list and you might not know much if anything about
this central asian country but what i can tell you is that uzbekistan shocked me in a good way which
is why today i'm taking you with me as i explore the ancient silk road city of samarkand uzbekistan
revealing the city's rich history jaw-dropping architecture unique food and cultural marketplaces
to start off the day we are here at the shahi zinda necropolis which is a huge
complex full of tons of different mausoleums where many nobles and royal people were buried
one of the most prominent mausoleums was built for the cousin of prophet muhammad kusam ibn
abbas who came to samar khan to spread islam in addition some of amir timur's wives are buried
right here in this necropolis i'm going to talk a little bit more about amir timur later on
but essentially he was one of the greatest conquerors of all time compared to the likes
of alexander the great and genghis khan and this is a beautiful necropolis with tons of amazing
structures with blue teal tiles and incredible ancient alleyways so let's go ahead and explore
so not only in the shahi zinda necropolis are there
tons of beautiful mausoleums but there are also a couple of moss and i am outside one right now
it is beautiful the architecture the colors the calm tranquil atmosphere and this mosque behind
me is inactive so it's not currently in use but there is one on the other side of the necropolis
that is still in use today where people come and pray inside the shahi zinda necropolis
just a five minute walk away from the shahi zinda complex we have made it here to the sia bazaar
which is one of the oldest bazaars here in central asia and i am with my local friend assad assad
can you tell us a little bit about this bazaar we are now you know one of the oldest bazaars
in central asia like matt told you you can find anything you go inside the sea of bazaar and
from beginning you can find the uzbek halvas halwa if you know what's that it's a sweets as
a central asian special sweets the special samochan halwas nugas and after that bread
after that here is the dried fruits there is also milk products honey
anything you want you can find here perfect let's let's start exploring huh yeah all right so in
this section of the market we are in a bunch of baked goods and breads there are so many different
kinds of baked goods and breads here and a ton of different vendors each with their own stall
we've come across a stand with the traditional uzbek hats and my friend assad was just telling
me that the design of the hats actually indicates how old you are and how many children you have
and whether you have daughters or sons and how many so it's really interesting not only
is it a beautiful hat but it tells a lot about the person that you may not know yet
here in this section of the sia bazaar there are a lot of
dairy products mainly cheeses a lot of them are fermented cheeses
and they turn into balls sometimes they're flavored with different spices as well um so it's
really unique something i have not seen before uh the central asian region assalamu alaikum
and what are the options this is cheese yes okay
shalom babu hapa tablini
here in the bottom part of the bazaar we have tons of different
fruits and vegetables and here we actually have some fresh pomegranate juice that we got
it's delicious and here our friend is just making it squeezing it fresh
it's such an incredible feeling walking through one of the
oldest markets here in central asia and even to this day there are so many goods
being traded from bread to fruits vegetables household goods clothes and so much more
we have made it here to the guramir complex which is where amir timur and some of his descendants
are buried many people have heard of alexander the great and genghis khan
but few are familiar with amir timur who was one of the world's most famous conquerors he was born
not far from samarkand and built an empire stretching all the way from istanbul turkey
to current day india one of his many passions was building
large constructions and beautiful architecture wherever he conquered new land so of course
his mausoleum where he is buried is an incredible structure that we're gonna go check out now
so now we are entering the mausoleum of amir timur and the inside of this place is absolutely
incredible it's filled with such intricate design of blues and golds and there's a
huge dome check this out it's magnificent so my local friend assad was actually telling
me that amir timur originally wanted to build this complex in honor of one of his favorite
grandsons who passed away as they were trying to expand their empire into current day turkey
now amir timur his grandsons sons and some of his favorite teachers are all buried in this mausoleum
we have now made it to the bibi hanum complex bibi hanum is a nickname for one of amir timur's wives
and she was known as the smartest and eldest wife of amir timur and she built this entire
complex in honor of amir timur when he came back from one of his trips to india
within this complex you have three different mosques
right behind me is the main mosque that you see right when you enter the complex
and then you have two additional moss on either side with the beautiful blue dome architecture
and the detail is just immaculate so we are going to roam around and explore this incredible
complex this is one of the three mosques here in the bibi hunum complex
so we're gonna go check it out because the inside although it may not be as colorful and beautiful
as the outside it is beautiful in a different way
let me show you so i've walked into the inside of one of the moss here in the bibi honduran complex
and you can see in the top that they've started to restore with all the beautiful colors and detail
but then on the side you could still see what it may have looked like many many years ago
i think there's such a beauty when a building hasn't necessarily been restored and you can
use your own imagination for what to have looked like way back in the day
right across from the hunum complex is the bibi hanum mausoleum so this beautiful structure behind
me is where bibi hanum one of amir timur's wives was buried and this entire mausoleum
is dedicated to her it is a beautiful structure with the classic teal dome on top and it's just
an incredible sight to see and just experiencing all these structures and mausoleums and moss
really takes you back in time and makes you feel a little bit of what it was like back in history
all right so we are taking a little break from the sun and we have come to a special restaurant here
in samarkand to get some plav which is a famous dish not only in central asia but mainly here in
uzbekistan this is where it originates from and plav is a dish with rice carrots onions and some
type of meat in this case it is beef and look at what we got here this is incredible we have a huge
pot of plov and he's serving us some rice and then he's gonna throw in some meat and some vegetables
looks absolutely delicious this is some traditional uzbek food
which serves about 500 people
every single day and it's a huge operation here it's incredible i'm so excited to try it
all right so i am going to try plava for the first time i am really excited i have
my traditional uzbek plov here and then some samarkand bread so i'm gonna dig in
got some rice some carrots some beef some onion gotta get it all in one bite
that is really good really flavorful the meat is super tender super super good
and then you have the thick warm con bread delicious
wow that was some incredible plov it was my first
time trying plov and i really think i was spoiled it was absolutely delicious
if you come to uzbekistan you have to try the uzbek plav you won't be disappointed
all right so we have now made it to the famous reggie stone square the reggie sun square is
the most famous and iconic place in all of samar khan the square itself dates back to the ancient
silk road and is where many people from all over the world would come to exchange goods the square
is also a place for big celebrations and where public announcements were made nowadays there are
three main madrasas surrounding the square the word madrasa stems from arabic meaning
a place to learn or teach and many people would come to the madrasas to study islam
we are now in the first madrasa that was built here in registan square it was built by ulukbek
who was one of the grandsons of amir timur the great conqueror of central asia ulugubek built
this entire madrasa in just three years he was a famous astronomer scientist and mathematician
the classrooms where people would study islam are all around the bottom floor of the madrasa today
they have been turned into beautiful souvenir shops you can buy all things from silk to famous
calligraphy here in summer con and so much more but the architecture and the detail in the design
is really what makes this place so beautiful along with a history
so
so right behind me is the second madrasa that was built here in registan square
it was built many years after the first and was built by an old governor of samar khan
again the detail the color and the architecture is absolutely stunning at the top of the madrassa you
can see what many believe to be a tiger hunting a mountain goat and legend has it that this is
depicted here on this madrasa to enforce that you always need to be hungry to keep learning
and keep expanding your mind with that being said let's go check out the inside of the madrasa
hard to believe i know but the best of registan square is still yet to come i am now walking
across the square to the tilia cory madrasa which translates to goldsmithing or gold
work because the inside of this madrasa is supposed to be full of the most
beautiful and unique intricate gold designs i am so excited so let's go check it out
all right so we have made it inside the third and final madrasa here in the registan square
and what makes this place so special is that not only is it a madrasa where many people came
to learn about islam but it also houses a very beautiful mosque this mosque is currently not
active but the inside is absolutely stunning so let me show you guys what it looks like
the detail inside this mosque is like something i've never seen before there's
so much gold and blue and it is so intricate it is absolutely beautiful
that wraps up our tour of samarkhan uzbekistan
i hope you guys enjoyed taking a step back in history with me and following along the
journey if you did please make sure to hit that like button and of course if you are not already
subscribe down below and i will catch you guys next week from uzbekistan see ya