The name of Samarkand still evokes smells of exotic spices and images of camel caravans across the desert but, unfortunately, that is quite far from current reality. Many travelers choose this city as the destination of their long-distance journeys across Asia and I just hope they know that camels and spices are long gone...What is there in Samarkand today?
From my point of view, there are four outstanding examples of Timurid architecture and a big Soviet-style city, one of the biggest in Uzbekistan and Central Asia. So forget about spice bazaars and get ready for broad endless avenues... although you will go back home with a few great pictures if you visit those monuments with the right light. That is exactly what I did, going to the four of them at sunset.

The first monument is the Gur-e Amir mausoleum, right next to the hotel where I stayed at. This is where Timur, the greatest Central Asian conqueror after Genghis Khan, found a final resting place. This structure became a model for other later Muslim mausoleums, the most famous of which is Taj Mahal in India.

Then I went on to the Bibi-Khanym mosque, which carries the name of Timur's wife and pushed the construction techniques of the time to their limits. Not unexpectedly, it partially collapsed during an earthquake at the end of the 19th century and the Uzbek SSR later decided to restore/reconstruct the mosque.

Then came the Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, the farthest monument from the town center. I found the best views from the hills of the cemetery next to it and that is where I took the following picture of its different domes from.

The Registan is the most famous sight in Samarkand and I did visit the complex at sunset but was not satisfied with the light and returned in the morning. This monument comprises in fact three separate madrassas, each with blue domes, massive arches and millions of tiles. Inside one of them, I was surprised by the fact that it had not been heavily restored and kept some original decay, which made it look more real.

After Samarkand, I went to the capital Tashkent to apply for a Tajik visa. I saw nothing interesting in the city and fortunately I got the visa on the same day I applied, after paying a non-official 50 USD fee. In any case, I was ready to leave the country towards Tajikistan but, right before I crossed the border, the police stopped me and I had to bribe them... the same situation with the police happened many times before in different countries but I always talked my way out of it (except once in Turkey where they fined me but I never paid the fine). This situation was different since those policemen took me away from the road to a small clearing where their car was parked, told me some bullshit about my speed and asked for my passport, all the time in an angry and loud tone. When it was clear they were not going to return my passport until they saw some cash, I gave them the smallest note I had in my wallet... unfortunately that was 50 euro.

After that unpleasant event, I started searching for the border and, believe it or not, since Uzbekistan does not have good relations with Tajikistan, there are no signs pointing to any border checkpoints. I had to ask locals who did not know because checkpoint locations change every second year, was given wrong directions and I almost ran out of gasoline because Uzbekistan is also in bad terms with Turkmenistan, their main oil supplier, and I had to visit five or six gas stations until I found one that sold me some fuel. In short, when I left the country, I felt a similar relief that was familiar from the Turkmen experience.

Will Tajikistan be the same story?
I strongly hope it would not...