Samarkand, Uzbekistan

I really liked Samarkand. We stayed there just one night but had the better part of a day and a half. It rained the afternoon we arrived. We got soaked and our clothes/boots stayed wet for a good part of the remainder of our trip. The rain seemed to have let up at one point, so we tried to fit in seeing another mosque but then the rain came back with a vengeance! We stood under a tree until we were able to grab a taxi... then we had to attempt to describe how to get to our hotel that the taxi driver did not know about, and then we had to run the 50+ meters from the taxi to the hotel's front door! It was an adventure full of laughs. We camped in that night and made a dinner out of all the snacks we could conjure up. Thank goodness for Donna's sweet care package when we arrived in Tashkent - her biscuits and peanut butter were much enjoyed!

The old part of the city is very walk-able and the massive mosques covered in detailed designs of blue tiling are just incredible to see. Samarkand was a major stop along the Silk Road and has been an UNESCO World Heritage site since 2001.

Walking along a wall on the outside of the Registan:

Precarious scaffolding!

Awkward lunch where we are the only ones in the entire restaurant:

The restaurant served one 3-course meal.

We (obviously) went with that - it was tasty and cheap!

Attempting shortcuts in Samarkand:

Beautiful fabric shop! I bought a dress  : )

10-cent soft serve ice cream!

It was more like frozen sugar.

Ordering the ice cream was hilarious.

We tried ordering just vanilla but ended up with a rainbow mix of every flavor!