| Page Views: 3,733 Last Visit to Tashkent: August, 2006 | Tashkent - full of life, color and so much charm by Trekki - last update: Apr 18, 2007 |
Update: April 18, 2007:
erm... I needed to correct a horrible typo - Tashkent has 2,1 million inhabitants and not 21 million..... oh my, my brain left me forever .... Thanks Tim for telling me :-)
Tashkent is the city, you’ll most probably arrive and depart from if you plan to visit Uzbekistan.
I was here in summer 2006, in the beginning and end of my trip through Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
In the meantime, and generally, please read what Leyle of the WanderingCamels wrote about Tashkent .
She was the one who “brought” me to Uzbekistan and Tashkent with what she wrote here on VT. |
|  | A troubled life As so many other cities of Central Asia, Tashkent didn’t have “a life of it’s own”, but was conquered and reigned by many of the ancient cultures of east or west.
It was first mentioned already quite early, in Chinese manuscripts, as it has an almost perfect location with Tien Shan mountains in the east and the vital line of Syr Darja in the west. Around in 7th century, it was reigned by the Turk Khanates, later on conquered and destroyed by the Arabs and gained a tiny bit of importance in Timurid period, although Timur had chosen Samarkand his capital city. Shaybanids did have another positive influence in 16th century, and later, it was captured by the Amir of Bukhara, but handed over to the Russians end of 19th century, where it did play an important role in what is known today as “The Great Game” – the cold war between Russia and England over property and exploiting of ressources. In Soviet days, it finally “won” over Samarkand and became capital of Uzbek SSR.
Since 1991 and independence of the Central Asia countries, it remained capital of the new state of Uzbekistan.
It did never reach the importance of Samarkand, Khiva and Bukhara as knots of silk roads, but must have had beautiful buildings in its old days. A lot of them had been destroyed in Soviet times, replaced by ugly monumental architecture.
But the worst fate of Tashkent was the big earthquake of 1966, which left more than 300.000 people homeless and destroyed nearly 40.000 buildings. Rebuilding started slowly, but it was mainly the not very much appealing monumental Soviet cubes that replaced the old buildings.
Now, as Mr. Kharomov has decided to be Mr. Timur’s heir, the building style is more “Uzbek” or modern tradition. |
| Tashkent welcomes you :-) |
| | And the modern days Today, Tashkent is a lively city with around 2,1 million of inhabitants, a homogeneous mixture of all ethnic groups, Central Asian, Uzbek, Tajik, Russian, Korean and others. This reflects in the food, you’ll find in bazaars and restaurants and in the cultural development. Many parks invite for relaxing weekends, a huge cultural program is offered in the many theatres and operas, shopping possibilities are endless and a lot of museums invite to teach (or brainwash in the case of Amur Timur Museum…) about Uzbekistans past, present and artwork.
So – go and let’s discover Tashkent and its hidden charm.
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All pictures have been taken by myself, if not marked otherwise.
Please do not use any of them without my permission.
The same applies for my writings here.
Thanks.
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| Pros: | "Mixture of all ethnic groups - lots of variety in food and entertainment - lovely and open people" | | Cons: | "Not that much of ancient architecture, if it is that what you are looking for" | | In A Nutshell: | "Charming :-)" |
Trekki's Tashkent Travel Tips
 Trekki's Tashkent Travelogues | | | |
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 Comments for Trekki about Tashkent | | | | |
MM212 Tue Oct 20, 2009 04:25 UTC
Fascinating page! I've always been intrigued by Uzbekistan. Will return to read the rest of your pages. best, Momo | LoriPori Tue Jul 7, 2009 22:03 UTC
Delightful Tashkent page Ingrid. Great restaurant, shopping and warning tips. I don't think too many could pull the wool over your head - brilliant & quick response to excess kilos (scam). Ah! Ali Guesthouse - truly one-of-a -kind. | By_darek Sun Jan 25, 2009 14:42 UTC
price for metro is 300 soums (september 2008). tram ticket is also 300 soums and it is payed to boy who walk through car. also, taxi is very cheap, cca 3000 soum (2$) per car for some 15 min. drive. | pchamlis Mon Jun 2, 2008 00:39 UTC
Interesting peek at a place far, far from Florida, Ingrid. I enjoyed my visit. :) I have to agree with you one thing for sure.... five vodkas to start a day would really make things tough. |
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