Saturday, 26 September 2026

 

just ambling about for a few hours in the afternoon

 

 

Yesterday, we had visited the modern centre of Tashkent, today we wanted to see the old town. That meant the Hazrati Imam Complex and, in case we were not too exhausted and still up for it, the grand bazar, the largest indoor market in Central Asia. The choice of words I use might give the discerning reader a clue to the fact that in the end we did indeed NOT go see the grand bazar. It's a market. Probably noisy, smelly, full of touters who want to sell you stuff. The fact that it's the biggest just multiplies the aforementioned disadvantages.

 

After two scary cab rides yesterday, I was hellbent on driving to the old town in our own car. But we couldn't find a parking garage or lot on the map and in the end, I was too worried to end up driving in circles in narrow alleyways, looking in vain for a safe spot to leave the car. So I resigned myself to my fate and booked one more YandexGo.

 

 

 

 

Luckily, this guy was driving fast but smoothly. We watched the tree-lined avenues flash by. At a red light, Sonia pointed to a row of colourful houses. "That must be Magic City!" Never heard for it. Apparently, it's a large fun fair inside the city. In Central Asia, such places usually are located inside a green park, like in Astana. At first view, this looked like the entrance to a German theme park.

 

 

After 25 minutes, we alighted at a park. "Old town" is a bit of a misnomer. In the last two decades, the whole area has been restructured and the religious sites are now sitting in a beautiful large park. If there ever were souk-like alleyways around, they are gone now. A girl in an impossibly long dress was doing a photo shoot. Just when Sonia took a picture of me, her dress ballooned up. The Marilyn Monroe of Tashkent (picture 2).

 

As this was an active place of worship, we had dressed for the occasion: long sleeves and scarves. Other tourists had no such qualms. We walked towards the impressive tall gate of the Barak Khan madrasa (picture 1). A madrasa is an Islamic centre of learning. A young woman had just walked out of it in T-shirt and shorts. Slightly perplexed, we stepped through - and found ourselves in the middle of a clothes and souvenir market. Bags with "I love Toshkent", traditional caps and dresses, long colourful scarves, a million different bling and blang. Roll on up for my price is down / Come on in for the best in town. Yep, an uncovered head or female kneecap would certainly not desecreate this place. We had a perfunctory look around and then beat a hasty retreat.

 

 

Next building on the square: the Muyi Muborak Library. It houses over 3000 rare manuscripts of which some are on display. Specifically, a facsimile of the Uthman Quran. It was written on deer-skin in the 7th century, so shortly after the founding of Islam itself. The original that is, not the facsimile. The latter is probably from last year. Be that as it may, I wanted to visit the 16th-century building.

 

A group of Europeans entered with their tour guide. They were all handed scarves to put on their head. A woman in capri pants approached the door. A guard pointed to her knees. A discussion ensued. The guard bent down and began to fumble at her rolled-up pants. Street theatre. In the end, she entered with one pant leg half rolled down. We bought our tickets. "Where are you from?" "Luxembourg!" "Ah, banks!" Yep, that's the one. The guard wished us a nice visit and put his hand to his heart. Nice bloke. I reciprocated the gesture and entered.

 

 

After only one minute, we had the place to ourselves, as the European group had already finished their blitz-tour. The ceiling was beautiful and the calligraphy of the prominently displayed Quran quite interesting. All around, doors led to side rooms where more Qurans were exhibited. A tiny one in Persian, a few in Chinese, in Russian, French and German. I have a similar one in our school library, Sonia said, pointing to a Soviet-era book. Small world.

 

 

The last building on the square was the large Friday Mosque, named after Hazrati Imam. Beautiful from the back (picture 4), it was even more scenic from the front (picture 5). Maybe because I prefer trees and shade. A quick time-check: 20 minutes until afternoon prayer. I did not want to be in the mosque at prayer time. The patio was unexpected: bricks and woodwork instead of the usual tiles. I felt out of place. Inside the mosque, people were praying. We made our visit a quick one. Later, I read that this particular mosque was only built in 2007. The surrounding buildings are centuries old, but it seems much of this part of the "old town" is spectacularly new!

 

 

On to the huge Centre of Islamic Civilisation (picture 6 and 7). This very interesting museum has only been open to the public for a few months. Unfortunately, for the moment it can only be visited with a strictly timed guided tour, so we already knew we would skip it. Maybe next time when we're in Central Asia.

 

We walked past a large entrance with a barrier. It looked suspiciously like an underground parking garage. Why was this not on any map? On further inspection, it seemed to be private though.

 

 

"How about we walk to the bazar after all, and take the subway there to this Magic City?" I proposed. Sonia was up for it, so we set out. It was less hot today, a light breeze cooled the skin and generally Tashkent did not seem to share Almaty and Bishkek's smog problem.

 

Maybe this was a partly recent part of the old town, but all the buildings looked brand new. Not really what I imagined a medieval Silk Road town to be like. I had expected more Cairo, less Doha. Not that I was complaining. In the end, we did not make it all the way to the bazar. My knee complained, and there was no point hobbling at snail pace towards a crowded market. So we called a cab and just five minutes later found ourselves in Pepsiland.

 

 

 

 

Pepsi advertisements everywhere! The entire funfair seemed to be sponsered by the American soda brand. The place made for a nice counterpoint to the vast religious complex we had just visited. At first glance, we felt transported back into the Phantasialand of our childhood.

 

 

It didn't have the big rides though. There was one street full of clothing stores and bookshops, another one filled with food joints. Then there was the "Scream Fountain". The louder you yell, the higher the water goes up. Yes, you guessed right: it was a big hit with the kids. Of course we had to make a video of the little buggers screaming their lungs out.

 

 

Next to the fountain, we found a Moskva ice cream parlour. They had all sorts of flavours: banana, mango, vanilla, chocolate - and all in soft ice form, with my beloved soft wafer cones, not the dry waffles they mostly use nowadays in Europe, if you can find soft ice at all, that is.

 

I ordered a small caramel-flavored one. We sat down outside and I relished my treat. Sooo good. I love Russia! Sonia made a picture of me being my old self again (picture 10, above). "Don't pose like that, just eat it", she said, unhappy with the result. So I ate my ice cream, no theatrics for the camera, just the way I normally would. Sonia snapped away. The result was devastating. "Is that what I look like when I eat ice cream?" I howled. "Like a shark biting into a stone!" Sonia was cracking up. What a loving sister. Below, a sample of my shame. :D

 

 

 

The Magic City area was really quite large. There were Wild West shooting stands, a cinema, a sensory show, a Believe-it-or-not and much more. Suddenly, someone swooshed past us, just above our heads. They had a Tyrolean zipline! It started up at the fairytale castle, went all over the lake and ended right between two fast food joints. Neat! I tried to take a pic, but the person ended up double on it. Can you spot him? (picture 13, above).

 

 

We had another ice cream at the Moskva (yes, I'm all good again!) and then I decided to have dinner on a terrace. Sonia wasn't too thrilled about the idea but finally agreed to a plate of shashlik. ... We ate some of it. Yes. ... Let's just say, we won't be having any more shashlik on this trip.

 

 

"That street is called "De Wallen", Sonia pointed out. Funny, a Dutch moniker. We found another street named "Faubourg Saint Germain". They all seemed to have a European theme. And finally, tadaa, we were back in Berlin!

 

When it was getting dark, the lights came on. Light fountains played on the lake, music sounded and the atmosphere changed into something truly magical. There was dance music coming from around the aquarium. We followed the sound and found ourselves on a dance floor with Pepsi cans swinging the leg. I was in dancing mood. This was a great day. Let's say it with the bags that they sell in the madrasa: I love Toshkent.

 

 

Later, we took a ride back to the hotel, the speediest so far. Who needs rollercoasters when you can hail a cab. The bloke burned a deep red light, I literally fell onto Sonia when he rounded the roundabout on squealing wheels (no, no hyperbole) and right before turning into the hotel entrance, he saw fit to floor the gas pedal one last time, in order to come to a suitably neck-braking full stop. Wohoo, Tashkent, what a ride!