How many of you have seen an Opera performance? How many of you have taken a heritage metro ride? Have you ever seen the preparation process of a Central Asian staple bread? Don’t worry, we will take you on another exciting trip to the amazing city of Tashkent, Uzbekistan in this blog.
In case you don’t know who we are……
We call ourselves Travel Freaks……
Returning to our story, we had a great time at Samarkand the previous day. It was time for us to move to the capital city of Uzbekistan, Tashkent. We requested our Samarkand host to prepare the breakfast by 7 AM as we had a train to catch by 8:50 AM from the Samarkand Railway Station. As soon as we finished the delicious breakfast, we booked a cab and headed towards the Railway station.
Even though it was a sunny day, the temperature was close to 10 degrees Celsius. So we loved standing out in the sunlight. Slowly we entered the station complex by showing our tickets and ID cards. The train was on time and it arrived exactly 5 minutes before the scheduled departure time. This time the train was not a bullet train, unlike our previous journey from Tashkent to Samarkand.
Now you might want to know…
Table of Contents
1. How was the train journey from Samarkand to Tashkent?
The previous journey took two hours to travel from Tashkent to Samarkand. As this was not a bullet train, it took us almost four hours to reach Tashkent. This time the seat arrangement was a bit different and had 2×1 seats. Additionally, there were no complimentary food and beverages.
We even observed the route to be different from the previous journey. Also, the terrain was found to be different from the one we had experienced last time. The train seemed to travel from the town areas.
Even though the journey was long, still we enjoyed the countryside views. We got off the train by around 1 o’clock. As soon as we exited the station complex, the gates were closed. It seemed to be a usual process after every train arrived and passengers left the station complex.
As we have mentioned in our previous blog, the best part of travelling in the Central Asian Region is that you can book a Yandex Cab with ease and travel anywhere within the city despite not knowing the local language. We were no different either, we booked a cab and reached our hotel which was hardly 2 km from the station.
Now that we reached our hotel, you might want to know…….
2. Where was our stay at Tashkent?
Our stay was at “Alisher Hotel by Sosh” close to the Oybek Metro Station which was hardly 1 km from the stay. Additionally, there were many good restaurants in proximity of the stay. There were many banks located nearby where you could exchange your currency.
All the staffs of this hotel were very friendly and helpful. The lounge area had a fountain and a few swings to relax. We will definitely recommend this place to our readers while you are in Tashkent. They can even help you with your local sightseeing plans.
Soon we checked into our rooms, kept our luggage, freshened up and left for lunch followed by local sightseeing. It took us 20 minutes to reach our lunch place. It was an Indian restaurant named after the yesteryear famous Indian Actor Mr Raj Kapoor.
The lunch place was quite renowned among Indian Celebrities visiting Tashkent. We had a sumptuous lunch over there and then we continued exploring the city of Tashkent. The first on our list of attractions was…….
3. Hotel Uzbekistan
It may sound a bit weird to see the name of a hotel as a tourist attraction. But this has been the centre of attraction since the 1970s when it was opened for the first time. Once you visit this place you will fall in love with the Soviet-era architecture of this building.
We had to walk for about 15 minutes to reach the Hotel Uzbekistan from our lunch place. We took a few snaps and the setting sun against the backdrop of the city looked amazing.
There was our next attraction just opposite the Hotel Uzbekistan, it was…….
4. Amir Timur Square
We just crossed the road and took a left turn to reach the entrance to the beautiful park. There was no entrance fee. Many visitors were taking an evening stroll in the park.
The centre of the park had the statue of the founder of the Timurid Empire, Amir Timur riding a horse. The park is surrounded by government buildings and monuments. As it was getting dark, the mercury started dipping rapidly. It was quite freezing on the outside.
We quickly booked a cab for the Tashkent Bus Terminal as we had to make a bus booking for travelling to Shymkent, Kazakhstan the next day. It was an hour’s ride from Amir Timur Square.
As we reached the bus terminal we were informed that there was no bus service between Tashkent and Shymkent, we had to book the bus for the entire route till Kyzylorda which was 450 km ahead of Shymkent.
The bus fare was around 13 USD per person. In case you are travelling to Shymkent, do visit the bus terminal by yourself and you can save your penny. Online booking of the bus is not available.
Soon after booking the bus, we were off to our next attraction…..
5. Alisher Navoi Theatre
It was another 20-minute ride from the bus terminal. As soon as we got out of the car, we hurried towards the ticket counter, it was about to start as we could understand from the gesture of the theatre staff. It was almost 6 PM, so we understood that the show was from 6 PM.
The ticket prices were about 350 INR per person. Soon we entered the theatre, and there was a sudden transformation from freezing weather to warm one. The theatre staffs guided us towards the seats where we sat and enjoyed the next two hours.
It was a first-time experience of such a unique show. Never before have we experienced an Opera performance. The show had a few breaks of 10 minutes in between where the audience and the performers could relax a bit.
It was a stunning show and the stage was so beautifully set up that it caught our attention. The central portion of the theatre was beautifully lit up.
Though we could not understand the play due to the language barrier, however, we did make out what they were trying to portray through their gestures. The entire play was based on some fictional historical events.
A fantastic two hours came to an end. It was around 8:10 PM when we got out of the theatre. We booked a cab and got off close to our hotel at a restaurant named Istanbul Restaurant.
It was around 8:30 PM when we reached the restaurant. Even though there were quite a few restaurants, we loved the ambience and the vibe of the place.
After another fabulous dinner, we strolled our way towards our hotel to end our day on a high note. It was within walking distance of a few minutes. Another tiring day came to an end.
Wait! We have a lot more to explore here in Tashkent, which we will continue in the next part of the blog.
We are not going anywhere without this last question……
6. What kind of help are we going to provide?
Let us inform you that we prepare itineraries not only for anywhere in India but also for Asia. We have been travelling since we were toddlers. So here in our blogs and stories, we will give you a glimpse of our journey and help you plan your trip.
Read about our Uzbekistan blogs.
Read about our Kazakhstan blogs.
Read about our Singapore blogs.
Read about our Vietnam blogs.
Read about our Cambodia blogs.
Read about our Bali blogs.
Read about our Kuala Lumpur blog series.
Read about our Sri Lanka blogs.
Read about our Nepal blogs.
Read about our Char Dham blogs.
Read about our Ladakh blogs.
Read about our day trip to Hyderabad.
Read about our Madhya Pradesh blogs.
Do follow our Instagram handle @mindfulllofvacations and watch for the next destination story of a new place. For any query related to any trip, drop a mail at @mitkau007@gmail.com.
by mitkau