We also went to Shahrisabz, 100km south of Samarkand. This was Tamerlane's birthplace and he built a good number of buildings there including the biggest palace up till then (and perhaps up till now). Only a collapsed arch is left standing from the palace, but at 120ft high, it gives you a vivid idea of what the place would have been like. Not surprisingly, Uzbekistan is Tamerlane-obsessed and this is seen most clearly in Sharhrisabz, which has the biggest statue of the medival ruler. Apparently it is THE spot to get your wedding picture taken and when we were there there were about four wedding processions cycling through on their way to dancing in local cafes (to the macarena, among other things, which seems to have just made it here, minus the dance moves)
Our gold-grilled driver who took us to Sharhrisabz
One of many weddings beneath the Tamerlane statue
View from the remains of the palace
Man selling "Erik sharbati" (plum juice) in front of a mosque
Children playing in a masoleumn
A woman (trained in the Tashkent foreign language academy) showing us a mosque and tomb complex built in Tamerlane's time
One of the most active mosques in this part of Uzbekistan. Men were coming in for their afternoon prayers and this one is greating the mullah
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