Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Ah, the ‘stans. I really liked this part of the world.

After a wild series of connections through Addis Ababa, Beirut, and Istanbul, I arrived in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, mor than a day later.

Boarding the flight in Istanbul was pretty funny. Anyone with a western passport had to get in a different line and show proof of visa. With a Brazilian passport, miraculously, you don’t need a visa. However, the agents at the check-in desk kept saying all western countries needed a visa, and that I should step aside while they called someone.

Hilariously, the person in line behind me also was traveling on a Brazilian passport and had a letter from the embassy confirming he didn’t need a visa. “I’m with him!” Off we go.

Tashkent was easily walkable. And it had the staple features of capital cities in former Soviet republics: a really deep metro, lots of monuments, parks, a large tower, and some type of eternal flame.

My taxi driver from the airport was a makeshift tour guide, and we took the scenic route to the hotel, swinging by some main plazas and even a photo in front of the TV tower.

The next morning, after breakfast, I headed out on foot. I passed the national library, which was next to my hotel, and through some nice parks on my way to the WWII memorial.

The memorial was really nice and had the names of people who lost their lives in the war.

The memorial was built in a U-shape around a statue of a mother crying over her son lost in the war, accompanied by an eternal flame.

Just down the road, I came upon the independence square.

And of course I started stumbling on lots of monuments.

Across the street, there was the palace of Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinovich, banished to Tashkent for stealing jewels from the Romanovs in Russia. It was closed to visitors this day, and the Google reviews make it seem like that’s a common occurance.

Across the street was the president’s office, with the congressional offices next to it.

More monuments in a former Soviet republic? What are the odds…

I thought this monument to courage during the 1976 earthquake was interesting.

It was about not only the earthquake but also the rebuilding effort afterwards. And these fake trees were definitely interesting.

There’s also a museum about Amir Temur, seen as one of the greatest people in Uzbek history and one of the last rulers of a nomadic people’s empire in the region, in the 14th century.

However, I was told very little of the museum had signs in English, so I wound up skipping it.

I wound up stumbling on an outdoor fair and some fountains near the opera, which were both nice.

On type of rides and typical carnival games, there was also an area with art installations near the back side of the opera house.

From here, I caught a taxi down to a complex with several mosques and religious schools. These include the Hazrati Imam mosque and Barak-Khan Madrassa.

I found this lip in the tiles odd, as it seemed like an easy way for lots of people to trip. There was also a monument in the back of the grounds, honoring a religious leader named Abu Bakr Kaffal that I wasn’t familiar with.

Just down the road, they’re building a massive new mosque-meets-“Islamic civilization center.” Not exactly sure what that is, but it looks huge.

I caught a taxi back to my hotel for a bit before grabbing some dinner that night. Tashkent was really nice.

Little trinkets in the stores and the lights over the road, plus all the monuments and typical former Soviet things offered a lot of what I had expected. And the people were really friendly. I’d like to go back and see more of Uzbekistan, but this was a great first experience.