Sarmakand was one of the most important cities along the silk road.
SAMARKAND
Samarkand is a city of legends and blue domes.
During my trip there I focused on a few places that I decided to visit several times at different times of the day to better savor the charm of the past and to have the opportunity to experiment with light and take photographs at the best moment of the day.
ROBERTO VECCHIONI’S SAMARKAND SONG
Original version
“…Il soldato che tutta la notte ballò
Vide tra la folla quella nera signora,
Vide che cercava lui e si spaventò…”
English
“…The soldier who danced all night long
He saw that black lady in the crowd,
She saw that she was looking for him and got scared…”
Roberto Vecchioni’s song is certainly very famous and you have certainly listened it a few times, but do you know the story that this famous song tells?
THE ABLE SOLDIER AND THE BLACK LADY
The song is inspired by an ancient story of the Arab countries that Roberto Vecchioni found in John O’Hara “Appointment in Samarra”.
A skilled soldier, who survived the war, meets along his fate, in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, a black lady who looks at him insistently during the celebrations for the end of the war. He’s scared, he’s afraid that the black lady wants to kill him and he doesn’t want to die just after surviving the war. He must flee! He asks the king for the best horse and thus tries, escaping with his horse “Corri cavallo, corri ti prego…” (”Run horse, run please…”), to leave behind that black lady by riding towards Samarkand, far from Tashkent. But fate is impregnable and causes that the black lady, the death, was actually waiting for him in Samarkand right where the soldier escaped.
Original version
“…Cosa ci facevi l’altro ieri là?
T’aspettavo qui per oggi a Samarcanda
Eri lontanissimo due giorni fa,
Ho temuto che per ascoltar la banda
Non facessi in tempo ad arrivare qua…”
English
“…What were you doing there the day before yesterday?
I was waiting for you here today in Samarkand
You were so far away two days ago,
I feared that to listen to the band
If I didn’t have time to get here…”
Samarcanda – Roberto Vecchioni
THE Silk Road
Samarkand was one of the main centers of the Silk Road. It is located in the heart of Central Asia, in today’s Uzbekistan country. It is shrouded in legends and mystery. But what is certain… is its colorful beauty.
“Samarkand is a noble city, where there are beautiful gardens, and a plain full of all the fruits that man can desire. The inhabitants, part are Christian, and part are Saracens, and they are subjected to the dominion of a nephew of the Great Can.” Thus wrote Marco Polo.
Just in Samarkand, Tamerlane chose to establish his capital, enchanting us with the sumptuous palaces and majestic monuments that he had erected himself. The lively market and the ancient history of the city create a magical atmosphere, making this place unique in its kind.
WHAT TO SEE IN SAMARKAND IN TWO DAYS?
Surely in Samarkand there are many attractions that deserve to be visited, but for those who want to grab the best in a short time here are my tips.
Photographing what you see in Samarkand is not easy because there are always many tourists. So, sometimes, it is necessary to focus on two or three attractions and return several times to the same place, perhaps at different times of the day to experiment with the light and composition that will allow you to capture the best image.
These are the ones I recommend the most.
Registan square
The most photographed and fascinating place in the city of Samarkand is undoubtedly Registan Square. This Tajik name, meaning ‘sandy place’, reveals its former importance as a trading center in Samarkand’s medieval era, when the square was probably entirely occupied by the bustling bazaar.
It’s fascinating, it’s engaging. If it weren’t visited by many tourists, one would feel transported back in time. For this reason, the best time of day to visit it is very early when it opens or you should stay until late when the lights go on and every building lights up in the evening.
Shah-i-Zinda Necropolis
Shah-i-Zinda is the second place I recommend. It is certainly one of the most evocative places in Samarkand. This is the street of graves belonging mainly to the family and intimates of Tamerlane and Ulug Bek. It is said that one of these tombs holds the rest of a cousin of the Prophet Mohammed. Shah-i-Zinda, which means “the living king”, is the name associated with this legend concerning Kusam Ibn Abbas, the cousin of Mohammed.
These tombs are real works of art, made with magnificent majolica tiles. Over the course of more than nine centuries, from the 11th to the 19th century, the Shah-i-Zinda complex developed from strength to strength, now including more than twenty extraordinary buildings.
To visit this fantastic complex it is again preferable to go there early in order to avoid as much as possible the many tourists who visit it every day.
Luca Oliveri 
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