Dear Friends, 

As I mentioned in my last post, I have now revisited our itinerary in Uzbekistan as the result of the things I learned in my recent visit. 


Itinerary (subject to change) 

Day 1: Arrival in Tashkent, Wednesday 
Arrive in Tashkent. Time to rest after the night flight and then visit Independence Square and sites and the city centre to kick off our trip in Uzbekistan. Overnight: Tashkent 

Day 2: Tashkent – Bukhara, Thursday

Today we will visit the Old City of Tashkent. We will see the Oldest Koran in the world, visit the synagogues of Tashkent and the local markets. In the late afternoon we will transfer to the airport for a 1.5 flight to Bukhara. 

Day 3: Bukhara, Friday

Today we focus on the countryside around Bukhara. We will visit a Sufi Shrine and hear about Sufi Islam, and its influence on the development of mystical schools in Judaism. We will also visit the summer palaces of the Emir of Bukhara before returning to the city to prepare for Shabbat. Evening at Jewish community Synagogue in Bukhara including Shabbat Dinner with local community. Overnight: Bukhara 

Day 4: Bukhara, Saturday
Morning with Jewish community in Bukhara and afternoon walking tour in the old city of Bukhara. We will see the amazing old Madrasahs and mosques, including the Lyabi Hauz Ensemble, Magoki-Attori Mosque, Chor-Minor Madrasah, trade domes, Kalyan Minaret, Kalyan Mosque and Miri-Arab Madrasah, Ulugbek and Abdulazizkhan madrasahs, Ark Fortress, Bolo-Khauz Mosque, Ismail Samani and Chashma-Ayub mausoleums. Finish the day with Havdalah in the old synagogue. Overnight: Bukhara.

Day 5: Bukhara-Samarkand, Sunday
In the morning depart Bukhara and drive along the ancient Silk Route to Samarkand by bus (5 hours). Arrive in Samarkand and transfer to the hotel.  Visit Ulugbek Observatory, Gur-Emir Mausoleum, Registan Square. Overnight at the hotel. At night an optional Kosher or Kosher/Vegetarian dinner at Nina’s, a member of the local Jewish community. Overnight: Samarkand.

Day 6: Samarkand, Monday
Start the second day in Samarkand with a visit to Samarkand Synagogue and guided walk in the Jewish quarter of the old city. Continue to Koni Ghil village to explore traditional way of making Samarkand paper from mulberry. Continue visits in Samarkand: Samarkand bazaar, Bibi Khanum Mosque and Shakhi-Zinda Necropolis and the Tomb of the Prophet Daniel. Overnight Samarkand. Optional Vegetarian Lunch will be offered at the paper mill. Overnight: Samarkand.

Day 7 (for those who are not on the extention): Samarkand – Tashkent-London, Tuesday

Morning drive to Tashkent (4-5 hours). Arrive in Tashkent. If there is enough time, lunch in Tashkent and some time in the market.  In the afternoon transfer to the airport, for your flight to London. End of the tour.


Optional Extension:

Day 7: Samarkand-Tashkent- Khiva, Tuesday 
In the morning visit local Museum in Samarkand. We continue by train to Tashkent for some free time in the local market. Transfer to airport for nighttime flight to Khiva. Overnight: Khiva 

Day 8: Khiva-Urgench-Tashkent, Wednesday 
Full day tour in Khiva. Visit Ichan-Kala Fortress which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The tour features visits to Mukhammad Amin Khan Madrasah, Mukhammad Rahimkhan Madrasah, Kalta Minor, Juma Mosque, Toshkhovli Palace, Pakhlavan Makhmud Mausoleum. Try climbing Islom Khodja Minaret, the highest minaret in Uzbekistan. Enjoy breathtaking panoramic views of Old Khiva in Kunya-Ark. 

Transfer to local airport (Urgench) in the evening for flight back to Tashkent. Arrival in Tashkent, transfer to the hotel. Overnight: Tashkent

Day 9: Tashkent – departure 
Transfer to the airport in the morning. End of the tour.

Flights: 

Uzbekistan Airways offers direct from London to Tashkent on Tuesday nights and return from Taskent on Tuesday afternoon. The main trip has been planned around these flights. 

Those choosing the extension will be able to return on Thursday via Frankfurt, Istanbul, Milan, Tel Aviv or Riga   as there is no direct flight to London on a Thursday. There is also an option to return on Friday directly to London, but this option is not appropriate for those who are Shabbat Observant. 

The flight schedule for 2015 is not yet available, and the programme is subject to change pending confirmation of the flight times. Further details about the flights will follow as they become available.


Cost: 

Basic trip: £890.  Single Supplement: £160.

Extended trip: £1190. Single supplement: £195

This price includes hotels on a B/B basis. Airport transfers. Coaches, guides, Shabbat meals with the local community, entrance fees and the internal flight from Bukhara-Tashkent or Khiva (Urgench) –Tashkent as appropriate. It does not include International Flights, travel insurance, extras in hotels, any other meals, visa fees or anything not specifically mentioned.


All my previous posts, including the updates from my Uzbekistan Trip and the Posts with flight details and Practical Tips are available if you Click Here.

A further update on the second part of the trip.


Day Six - Journey from Buchara:

After a very pleasant Shabbat with the handful of remaining Jews in Buchara, we got ready to set off to our last stop in Uzbekistan - the ancient city of Khiva. On the way out of Buchara, we visited the tomb of one of the great Sufi mystics, and met pilgrims from around the world who had come to receive blessings and inspiration at the holy site. The drive through the Uzbek desert, up along the border with Turkmenistan, was pretty long and arduous and took up most of the rest of the day. We might have to rethink this part of the tour! We stopped at the only stop on the way a few hours out of Buchara, and half-slept the rest of the way, but around sunset finally made it to Khiva and checked in to the hotel, just on the edge of the walled city. There were no lights outside, and after a short attempt to explore the city by ourselves, we came back to the hotel and contented ourselves with waiting for our guide in the morning.

Day Seven - Khiva:

Khiva is incredibly beautiful. The intricate geometrical artwork on blue tiles that decorated some of the mosques and mausoleums in other cities now covered every building we could see. Each building outdid the last in size, complexity and sheer beauty. We visited harems, prisons, labyrinths and palaces - some of which have been turned into small half-hearted museums dedicated to various crafts. Pedlars were selling camelskin socks and hand-carved bookstands, and it was apparently wedding season, because we met at least a dozen brides and grooms walking and dancing in every corner of the old city. We ended up in a farmers' market outside the city walls, where all sorts of things were bought and sold. We stayed another night in the hotel, tired but satisfied.

Day Eight - Out of Khiva:

We woke up early and checked out of the hotel, mentally preparing ourselves to say goodbye to Uzbekistan after a week of getting to know the wacky and fascinating country. But things didn't go exactly as planned. A thick fog had descended on the area, and after a cautious drive to the nearest airport in Urgench, we were informed that no planes could take off until the fog had lifted. Since we were planning to take a flight from Tashkent later that day, we were a bit worried, and as the day went on and the fog stayed, our worries were realised. As I write, it's now 4pm and we still haven't moved, and our tentative plan is to fly back via Istanbul tomorrow. We've almost finished all our crisps, and I'm near the end of my badly-translated book of Uzbek short stories. But the last week has been such a great experienced that it's hard to get too troubled, and I'm cautiously optimistic. If we ever make it home, we'll send this email update out to you...


I will be sending out a further email later with practical information about the trip.

Best wishes.

Chaim

Dear Friends,


Those of you who have been following my movements may know that I am in Uzbekistan this week with my son Josh, preparing for our visit next year. Josh has been jotting down some notes about some of the things we've been seeing. Over the next few days I will be sending out some more of our impressions - to whet your appetite and help you prepare for your visit.


Day One - Tashkent:

Never having travelled to Central Asia, I didn't know what to expect, and after a day in Tashkent I'm still trying to figure out what categories to place Uzbekistan in. We were met with a whole range of contradictions: huge Soviet-style buildings side by side with ancient tiled mosques and minarets; Middle-East style bazaars with a strong smell of pickled onions and horsemeat; the oldest Koran in the world and a contemporary art museum; rumours of a strict dictatorship, with friendly and open people and a thriving black market. The long plane ride (which was fairly comfortable, apart from an air hostess who told me she gave pillows to women and children only, before giving in and handing me one) coupled with the five-hour time difference might have added to the dreamy sense of wandering a new and strange part of the world, but we managed to see a fair bit of the city before coming back to the hotel and calling it a night (or a morning, or whatever).

Day Two - Samarkand:

The fabled golden road to Samarkand turned out to be a surprisingly modern high-speed train which sped through the Uzbek landscape, giving us glimpses of anonymous villages, donkey carts and lots of fields. People walking around wearing fur hats and silk robes reminded me of haredim in Jerusalem, and we were wearing the smallest kippot in the town. Samarkand has a long and rich history, and each of the sites we visited taught me more about the past and explained parts of the present that we were experiencing. We saw mind-bogglingly beautiful and huge mosques and madrassahs, an ancient observatory and the tomb of the Prophet Daniel, which was rumoured to grow by 18cm a year and is now phenomenally long. We also started to discover Jewish life in the city, met with some members of the local community, visited the synagogue (with chickens running around the courtyard) and heard lots of interesting stories, which prompted lots of questions we hope we'll manage to answer in the coming days.

Day Three and Four - Shabbat in Buchara:

We managed to fit in a few last visits and meetings in Samarkand before moving along the Silk Road towards Buchara. Buchara is also packed with castles, pools, dervish lodges, bazaars and ancient buildings, but our main focus was on building up a relationship with the Jewish community. The community used to number tens of thousands, but Communism and aliyah have seen it dwindle to around two hundred. We went through the alleys of the Old City until we found the synagogue, and then joined them for a nice Friday evening service. (Their tradition of serving tea and coffee in the middle of the service is something we could think about adopting back home!) We joined a young Jewish family for dinner, and even though our Tajik and Uzbek language skills aren't yet fluent, we managed to hold a conversation in a mix of languages, and swapped Shabbat songs. We also explored the city, and heard more of the story of Uzbekistan, which is finally starting to fall into place.



That's all for now. We are off to Khiva and there will be more to follow ina few days.

Chaim