Shakhrisabz and the drive to Tashkent - The caravan moves on - Uzbekistan 2026 - 6
To the Fergana Valley and back to Germany
Shakhrisabz and the drive to Tashkent
Today we’re going on a trip to the mountains. Our destination is Shakhrisabz [↗]. Instead of the minibus, we’re using three passenger cars today. That’s obviously much more comfortable. We already said goodbye yesterday to our bus driver, who lives here. Someone else will take over the drive to Tashkent tomorrow.
It takes us about 20 minutes to leave the last suburbs behind. Samarkand has just under 600,000 residents and covers 120 km².
The landscape gets greener, and the first mountains come into view. The trip is a nice change of pace from all the cities, mosques, and Koranic schools.
After an hour, traffic comes to a complete standstill. The “clever ones" try to drive past the traffic jam on the left. But of course, this only blocks oncoming traffic, and soon nothing moves at all. Tensions are running high, and in other countries, the whole thing would probably have ended in a brawl.
After 30 minutes, the traffic jam clears, and we slowly start moving again. “Slowly,” because, of course, there are also “experts” on the other side blocking the lane. The cause, by the way, was a funeral in the next village.
At 11:30 a.m., we arrive in Shakhrisabz. After it had been a bit cooler in the mountains for a while, it’s 37°C here. There are significantly fewer tourists than in the big cities, even though Timur’s former palace is also a World Heritage Site. Still, there isn’t much to see. But that’s something I already knew. Today, the journey itself is the destination. At 1:30 p.m., when we get back in the car, the temperature has risen to 39°C. To make matters worse, it’s also quite humid. In Germany, the next thunderstorm wouldn’t be far off.
Shortly before 3:00 p.m., we make another stop at a local family’s home. We’re served soup, fruit, and a few sweets. After half an hour, we continue on, and around 4:30 p.m., we’re back at the hotel in Samarkand.
The next day, our trip to Tashkent [↗] is coming up. The drive is supposed to take 6 hours. We have a new driver, and the minibus is different, too. This time it’s even a Mercedes. The legroom, however, is worse than in our last one. I’m lucky - I’m able to switch seats with our guide and am now sitting behind the driver. Since he hasn’t pushed his seat all the way back, I have a little more room there. The driver’s son is sleeping in the double seat next to the driver.
Although the road has four lanes, it’s mostly a patchwork of repairs. I give up on the idea of killing time with photo editing pretty quickly. There isn’t much to see, either. The area is predominantly agricultural. Many fields are worked by hand; every now and then, a horse is harnessed to a plow. Tractors - often of Soviet design - are only visible in the large fields.
What you do see frequently are storks. At times, every pole of the power line running parallel to the highway is occupied by one. By the way, vehicles here are primarily fueled by methane or propane.
At 1:00 p.m., we take a one-hour lunch break at a nicely air-conditioned restaurant. I pay some 5 euros for two meat skewers with fries.
We've barely gotten back in the car when the driver remembers that he has to fill up the tank. So the time adds up, and by the time I'm in my room in Tashkent, it's already past 4 p.m. The meeting time for dinner is actually set for 6:30 p.m., since we're starting at 7:15 a.m. tomorrow to make it in time for the train that will take us to the Fergana Valley [↗].
When we finally arrive at the hotel, our guide postpones the dinner meeting to 7:00 p.m. That takes a little pressure off the schedule. I’d actually like to ride the metro a bit more and visit a few of the stations still on my list. Right away, I take my suitcase to the room, switch my camera from my backpack to my shoulder bag, and off I go.
I ride the green and blue lines around the area for a good hour. The whole thing costs me a mere 12 cents. By 6 p.m., I’m back at the hotel, so I have enough time not only to take a shower but also to back up the photos without looking at them.
