To the Fergana Valley and back to Germany - The caravan moves on - Uzbekistan 2026 - 7
To the Fergana Valley and back to Germany
The hotel in Tashkent [↗] is actually quite nice. Unfortunately, it’s completely geared toward tour groups, which doesn’t have to be a problem in itself. But since the international flights leave very early, there’s a constant coming and going all night long. I didn’t get much sleep because of that. Shortly after 5:30 a.m., I give up and hop in the shower. Unfortunately, breakfast isn’t served for another hour.
At 7:15 a.m., we meet and head to the train station. We leave our large luggage at the hotel. Everything we need for today and tomorrow goes into our backpacks. There’s hardly any traffic, so we still have almost 45 minutes at the station before our train departs.
Fifteen minutes before departure, we head to the train, which is already waiting on the platform. Express trains now run on some routes. Ours, however, is still a classic slow train. The route to the Fergana Valley [↗] hasn’t been around for very long and winds its way through the mountains. For the return trip tomorrow, we’ll take cars and drive over the pass.
There’s not much to see for the first hour. The view is just as boring as along the highway. After that, the train slowly climbs, and things get more interesting. On one side, there’s an open-pit mine; a few minutes later, on the other side, a huge reservoir fed by a raging mountain river.
After a good two hours, we stop in Angren [↗], and then the route goes through a tunnel for about 20 minutes, followed by several smaller ones. At an altitude of about 900 meters, we continue at a leisurely pace across a plateau heading east. Then the track slowly heads downhill again; the landscape becomes greener and more monotonous. The speed picks up, and we reach 110 km/h, which is probably the train’s top speed.
Around 12:40 p.m., we arrive in Kokand [↗], where we’ll be spending the night. For us, however, the journey continues for just under three-quarters of an hour to Margilan [↗].
All in all, the trip was a pretty boring affair. We would have been better off taking the train from Samarkand to Tashkent yesterday and making the round trip to the Fergana Valley by car. That way, we also could have stopped by the beautiful river.
From the train station, we take a minibus straight to lunch. By the time we reach our first stop of the day - still in Margilan - it’s already past 3:30 p.m. We spend an hour watching a demonstration of silk production.
It’s the usual sales pitch I’ve seen in countless countries. There are apparently two huge silk-production factories in the city. But the fabrics and clothing in the big store are, of course, all from their own production 😉.
An hour later, we’re in Rishton. A porcelain factory is on the agenda here. This is a bit more interesting than the previous visit, but of course it’s still a sales pitch. Some people even buy a little something. At 6:20 p.m., we finally set off for Kokand, which we reach at 7:00 p.m.
The next morning, I wake up early even without an alarm and try the online check-in for my morning flights. Turkish Airlines has assigned me a window seat for the flight to Istanbul. They charge a few dollars for a change, even at check-in. So far, so bad - but when it comes time to pay, they don't want to go through with it. The whole thing ends with a message saying, “The boarding pass could not be issued; please check in at the counter.” Tomorrow, I'll find out there at the counter that there's no such thing as a baggage drop-off here. So you might as well skip the online check-in.
Of course, the whole thing took some time. Still, I could have gone out before breakfast and taken a few photos. After all, we’re not leaving until 9 a.m. today either. But the only thing near the hotel is the palace. The rest of the area, as I saw yesterday on the way to the restaurant, isn’t worth seeing. So I’ll skip it.
Today we have a car and a slightly smaller minibus. The size of the vehicle we had yesterday isn’t allowed over the mountain pass. I’m back in the car with one of the group members and our guide. Fun fact: Buses aren’t allowed over the pass, but heavy trucks are.
First, we’re heading to a Koranic school again. Right next to it is a large cemetery with old and newer graves. The section with the old Shah tombs [↗] has a hall with a beautiful ceiling.
From here, we head to the local bazaar. This one is much more to my taste than, say, the one in Samarkand. The Fergana Valley lies off the beaten path. A few tourists were on the train with us yesterday, and I saw two at the restaurant last night. But that was about it. As a result, this market caters mainly to the local population. There are, of course, the usual sweets, spices, and nuts. But mainly, there are staple foods: fruit, vegetables, rice, meat, …
In the back section, there’s a veritable wholesale market. Entire trucks full of onions are sold by the bag to vendors, who fill their minibuses with them. Rice and other items are also sold directly from large bags.
From the Friday Mosque [↗], with its wooden columns and coffered ceiling, we head to the house museum of Khamza Khakimzade Niazi [↗], a local writer and poet. I’m slowly losing interest. I’m no longer even listening to the stories; instead, I retreat to the courtyard and spend my time writing this report.
At noon, we reach our final destination here in Kokand, the old royal palace [↗] - or rather, the half of it that’s still standing. The entire harem no longer exists. A decorative garden has been laid out on the former market square in front of the palace. The palace itself has some beautiful ceilings and walls, but nothing we haven’t already seen over the past two weeks. Here, too, I skip the guided tour of the almost obligatory museum, take a look at the parts that interest me on my own, and then wait on a shaded bench in the courtyard.
Around 12:45 p.m., we set off for the mountains. This also marks the start of our return journey to Tashkent and on to Germany.
The mountain pass road, like the railway line, was completed in 2016 and is in good condition. Even further on toward Tashkent, the road will be significantly better than in western Uzbekistan. Just past the pass, we stop again for photos, coffee, and cake. In Tashkent, we head straight to a restaurant for an early dinner. Tomorrow, most of us have to get up early to catch our flight.
I’m at the hotel by 7:45 p.m. Now it’s time to back up my photos and repack my suitcase for the trip. And then hopefully get a little sleep before the alarm goes off in the middle of the night.
I actually managed to doze off for a few hours. But around 1:30 a.m., I’m finally fully awake again. Earlier than planned, but that’s okay. When I show up in the lobby, our guide happens to be there. We’d actually already said our goodbyes last night. He only wanted to stop by one last time to check on those flying later.
There are only three of us for the very early flights. But it’s good that he’s here. Our driver would have messed up the pickup time. Now he’s only 5 minutes late, and we head to the airport at 3:05 a.m.
The line at Turkish Airlines is long, but it’s moving steadily. All my efforts yesterday morning were for nothing. I’m sitting by the window on the first leg after all.
The security checkpoint is empty, but I do have to completely empty my backpack. The hour until boarding - which again starts ahead of schedule - flies by. We take off 15 minutes late. Still, we arrive in Istanbul on time.
I now have an hour here before boarding for Frankfurt begins. This time, transit passengers have to go through security. Coming from Frankfurt, you could just walk right through. I guess there’s a certain level of trust there.
What hasn’t changed over the years is that Turkish Airlines uses planes with a wide variety of interiors. The plane to Frankfurt is at least one, if not two, generations older than the aircraft I had on the corresponding outbound flight.
Although we take off 25 minutes late, we arrive in Frankfurt on time, but end up circling the tarmac until we find a gate to dock at. A Lufthansa Boeing has retracted its nose landing gear at the gate and is lying with its nose on the ground. Dozens of fire trucks and other emergency vehicles are surrounding it, blocking the way.
To my great surprise, the luggage arrives relatively quickly this time. Our flight, however, seems to have been the exception. The two families who were with me on the shuttle to the parking lot are complaining that they had to wait the obligatory hour for their luggage.
