Editor’s note: this concludes TRT writer Sam Spector’s amazing look into Uzbekistan. To read the rest, click on the links in the first paragraph below, or click here to visit his index page.

When visiting Uzbekistan, most people visit the three main Silk Road cities: Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva, with maybe a day to fly in and out of the capital Tashkent. However, there are a couple of off-the-beaten path destinations in Uzbekistan that make excellent side trips. If you have read my other articles (click on the links above for those), then you may be familiar with the name Amir Temur, who reigned and conquered much of the world from 1370 to 1405. In particular I wrote about him extensively in the city that he built as his capital, Samarkand. However, a little under two hours south of Samarkand is another city that is deeply associated with Temur, Shahrisabz.

Shahrisabz was the city where Temur was born and spent his childhood. Upon arrival, you will find the massive ruins of the Ak Saray (White Palace), which has two towers that once made up the gates that were 50 meters in height, and at one point connected by a 22-meter archway. You can still see much of the magnificent blue tile and patterns along the sides of the former palace and it is easy to imagine how, when Temur built it in the 14th century, this was one of the more impressive structures in his empire. This palace stood until the emir of Bukhara ordered it destroyed in the 16th century, yet the ruins are still impressive. In front of the ruins is the third of the three large Temur statues in Uzbekistan (Tashkent and Samarkand being the other two). The area between the palace and the tombs used to be full of historic homes and markets, but, like in Tashkent, the Uzbek government decided to level all of this area and put in fancy homes and landscaping to “beautify” the area, but in doing so, rid much of it of its historic charm, which led to the site being listed as endangered by UNESCO and to international condemnation.

A bit away are the tombs of many of Temur’s family members; here you can find his father’s tomb, as well as the impressive tombs of his two eldest sons who preceded him in death. One of the tombs that is most ornate is the Mausoleum of Sheikh Shamseddin Kuylal, who was Temur’s childhood teacher and spiritual advisor. In the Dorus Saodat complex, there are burial tombs of dozens of Temur’s relatives, which have great views from them of the Ak Saray.

Temur’s grandson, Ulugbek, also built many of the great structures and tombs in Shahrisabz. Make sure to check out the blue-and-white-tiled Gumbazi Seydon Mausoleum that Ulugbek built for his descendants. Ulugbek also had constructed in 1435 a large Friday mosque, which is still used to this day. In front of the mosque is a tranquil courtyard that contains large trees, one of which dates back to the time of Ulugbek. Throughout Shahrisabz, there will be many women trying to sell their handicrafts, and they are worth checking out. Not only are they cheaper than what you will find in more touristy Samarkand and Bukhara, but Shahrisabz is known nationally for having a unique type of embroidery that they will stitch into purses and pillowcases.

One of the places that you will see in Shahrisabz is the tomb and large marble sarcophagus of Temur in an underground room with inscriptions from the Quran on the archways. This crypt was discovered in 1963 by archaeologists. You may be confused upon reading this, because if you read the Samarkand article, you would know that Temur was buried in Samarkand in the grand mausoleum of Gur Emir. Temur wanted to be buried in his hometown of Shahrisabz; however, he died in the wintertime, when conditions were too harsh for them to make the trek through the Takhzakaracha Pass that separates Samarkand from Shahrisabz. Additionally, it is said that despite Temur’s desires, his wife, Bibi Khanym, wanted him to be buried in Samarkand.

In traveling between Samarkand and Shahrisabz today, you will still take the Takhzakaracha Pass, which weaves through valleys and mountains. Still, to this day, the pass is too dangerous to travel during the winter and is closed for a few months. Everyone who makes the journey between the two cities of Temur will tell you that the car ride alone is worth the trip as you weave through valleys and mountains and are treated to spectacular views. Make sure to have lunch at one of the cliffside Uzbek restaurants. Not only will you be treated to the most delicious, authentic food, but you will be given panoramic, jaw dropping views of the Uzbek countryside.

While Shahrisabz makes a great day trip, for a weekend getaway, make the either 5-hour journey from Samarkand or the 3-hour journey from Bukhara to Lake Aydarkul. With the disappearance of the Aral Sea, Lake Aydarkul is now the largest lake in Uzbekistan. While the car ride is long and not as impressive as the trek to Shahrisabz, it is still pretty, in particular in the springtime when fields of red poppies dot the countryside. One little town worth making a brief pitstop in is Nurata. The town was founded in 327 BCE by Alexander the Great, who stopped there, and to this day, you can still see a fortified wall that Alexander had built on the hillside of the town that you can hike up to. At the base of a hill is a shrine where many of the early Muslims who knew the Prophet Muhammad are buried, making it a place of pilgrimage for numerous Uzbeks. Beneath the town is an ancient aquifer that created a stream by the shrine and there are what are dubbed “holy trout” in the waters that you can see swimming about.

Eventually you will arrive at beautiful Lake Aydarkul, a manmade lake spanning 160 miles in length and 9 miles in width. There are great beaches there where locals and tourists alike will swim, and restaurants overlooking the lake to enjoy more Uzbek cuisine. However, the reason we went is that around the lake an entire industry of ecotourism has sprung up that includes staying in yurts. The yurt is emblematic of Central Asia. While it is more common in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Mongolia today, it is a neat experience to sleep in a traditional yurt while you are in that region of the world. For me, I felt the journey and the yurt experience was worth it, but in full transparency, my wife thought it was an awfully long way to go (especially with two little kids) to sleep in hard twin beds just to say we slept in a yurt, but you be the judge!

While there, you will have the opportunity to ride a Central Asian camel. While I am more familiar with the Middle Eastern camels I see in Israel and the Arab world that have short hair and one large hump; these camels have long hair and two humps. Seeing them lumber in with their hair bouncing is quite the spectacle as they look like creatures out of Star Wars, and my kids had a blast going for the camel ride. At night, the camps provide traditional Uzbek music by a campfire and you will be treated to seeing an endless array of stars after having watched a beautiful sunset on red sand dunes.

Tourists are flocking to Uzbekistan to see Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva on the Silk Road, but nobody really goes there for Shahrisabz and Lake Aydarkul. While the other cities I mentioned will likely leave more of an impression, much like churches in Europe, everything can start to blend together. I encourage you to break up your trip with a couple of these destinations; you will get away from mass tourism, and be treated to gorgeous scenery and parts of Uzbekistan that are unique and off the beaten path.

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