Dreams Come True: A Trip to Samarkand

Our country’s ancient and eternally young cities, this land’s unique nature and rich culture have been attracting the mounting numbers of tourists from across the globe. On these warm spring days one can come across the myriads of travelers in many towns throughout the nation. The reporter of UzA – National Information Agency of Uzbekistan has enquired into impressions of some of those foreign guests.

“The consistent wide-ranging reforms and the creative efforts under the leadership of the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov have been crucial in bolstering tourism in your country,” says Tobias Erman from Austria. “Your world-famous cities of Samarkand, Bukhara, Tashkent, Khiva, Shahrisabz are rich in unmatched architectural monuments and shrines. The hotels, cafes and restaurants in Uzbekistan provide excellent services. The diverse fruits in markets are distinct with their environmental safety and marvelous taste. Uzbekistan’s youth are remarkably keen in education. This is visible in their good knowledge of foreign languages.”

Tiju Sok Yong from Singapore says in particular that “the student exchange established between Uzbekistan and Singapore has been yielding considerable effects. I have befriended an Uzbek guy, a fellow student. I have come to this country at his invitation. For this past period, I have been guest in Uzbek families and at wedding parties. I am glad that my greatest dream has come true – I have traveled to Samarkand. This city is justly called a pearl of the East. There is probably no person around the world who would not dream of enjoying the beauty of this town, trying its limpid water, inhaling its clean air and seeing its extraordinary monuments. I am awfully happy to have had a chance to take pleasure in the wondrous splendor of the Registan, the Amir Temur Mausoleum and the Mirzo Ulughbek Observatory. I have come to believe that this country has paid a great attention to the preservation of historical and cultural values and the promotion of folk crafts. I was very much impressed by visiting the process of producing paper by ancient methods. It turns out that even clothes and some household items can be produced from the paper made of mulberry tree rind. And I will never forget the taste of Samarkand bread.”

“I was in Uzbekistan seventeen years ago,” says Gaspar Caballero from Spain. “This time around, I was awed by the transformed Tashkent that has become even more gorgeous. By the sight of magnificent palaces and buildings that have cardinally changed the appearance of the city, I got a clue of the extent of construction works underway in this country. I have also traveled to Khiva, an undeniably unique museum in the open air. The town is many centuries old, yet this amazing city has hardly ceased to be fascinating and marvelous, which attracts any tourist. I have become convinced by personal experience that the hospitality business is developing at high pace in your country. Not only big cities, but also remote areas boast modern hotels offering tourists with quality services.”

“I am a historian, and thus whenever I travel, I try to study the local culture, traditions and architectural monuments,” suggests Colin Becker from America. “I have discovered that the word Toshkent can be translated from the ancient Turkic language as ‘firuza’ (turquoise). And indeed, Tashkent suits its name.

Its modern buildings combine with a great taste the national architectural traditions with cutting-edge architectural style. The high ingenious potential of the Uzbek people is brightly manifest in the perfection of urban infrastructure and wide-scale housing construction.”