Tashkent, Uzbekistan

In 1219AD Ghengis Khan flattened Tashkent, then part of the Khwarazmian Empire. In early August 2024, MB and daughter MB2 travelled to take a look.

Why Uzbekistan MB?

And why Tashkent?

Well lads, time for planning the trip was extremely short and MB & MB2 needed a destination that issued visa on arrival to Irish Passport holders, and needed to be within spitting distance of Saudi Arabia, where both were setting out from. Uzbekistan is trying to grow its tourism business in recent years, offers visa on arrival, and Tashkent provides a safe city to wander about as tourists. And also provides great value.

A flight from Riyadh to Istanbul and an onward flight to Tashkent, and MB and MB2 alighted from the plane.

Hello Tashkent!

The inter-related history of the Soviet Union and Uzbekistan has resulted in multi ethnicities living in the country and MB & MB2 were often mistaken for Russians during the 4-day trip, very often being addressed in the Ruskie language. Apart from ‘Spaciba’, ‘da’ and ‘neit’ and some sign language, MB’s Russian is on the ‘very’ end of limited, so those particular conversations did not really flow, but did generally end in smiles as MB pointed to his IRELAND t-shirt and hoped the Ruskies got the picture! MB2 did engage some Koreans in their native language during the trip however, Tashkent/Uzbekistan attracting many Korean tourists and MB2 being conversant in that particular tongue.

Tashkent has an interesting history. Rebuilt after the GK destruction, the city thrived as a result of its location on the Silk Road. Later it became a city state and later still part of the USSR, its fourth largest city. In 1966 it suffered widespread destruction from a powerful earthquake and was again rebuilt with donations from all over the USSR, many buildings having signs to this day indicating where the donations came from. Thankfully during the MB/MB2 trip the ground was solid as a rock and any tremors and shaking buildings that did occur were most likely a result of MB’s ever-so-sligh over-indulgence in the local wine and beer! Despite Uzbekistan being a Muslim majority country, the rule of law is secular and day-tours to the wine growing region are available for booking. Both local wine and beers that MB partook of were rather fine on the pallet, MB is pleased to report.

Tashkent has a population of approx 3M people and is spread over a large footprint. Thankfully, the taxis are very reasonably priced (Euro 7 from airport to city centre) and there is a great underground metro system which is easy to use, cheap and spotlessly clean. Indeed, the Tashkent Metro System is listed as one of the city’s tourist attractions and many of the stations are architecturally ornate and impressive and well worth a visit. They reminded MB of the Moscow metro from MB’s Moscow visit of some years back, although no Metro system in the world matches Moscow’s Metro Stations in MB opinion.

Anyway, MB and MB2 kept themselves busy walking the streets and taking in the scenery, the streets having an abundance of mature trees wherever one walks, offering shade and protection for the hot summer sunshine. Much sight-seeing was also done over the trip duration, and MBs post photos give a flavour of the action. The city parks offer nice walks and many small shops amongst the trees offering local arts and crafts, and great evening live musical entertainment and food in their many great-value restaurants.

In summary, MB & MB2 can report that the Uzbeks are a fine bunch of lads and lassies, and the country is well worth adding to your bucket list.

Bon voyage!