May 21 Samarkand On Our own

We were off early in the morning to walk to the Shah-I-Zinda (avenue of mausoleums) which was only about a mile away though some back alleys and pedestrian walkways. There were many more tourists there this time, but we listened in on other tour guides speals and learned other facts that our tour guide did not give us. We took many more pictures, focusing on the tiles. This is really a sight to see. We would like to understand more about the tile making techniques, but will need to look online for that information.

We then crossed the busy street and went to the Siob Bazaar to once again look for ikat fabric. It is becoming obvious that we should have made that purchase in Kashgar. The choice available in the market focused more on what the women here like to wear - velvet with lots of glitter and bling in the form of crystals and large rhinestones. Red seems to be a favorite color. Even the street-sweeper ladies are wearing velvet or bright ikat.

 The womens dresses are either  mumu shapeless things with pants showing a little around the hem, with the younger version having a  more defined neckline, more shaped and ends mid calf so that the decoration on the pant cuffs is more visible. There are many women wearing the cheaper printed Ikat. Interesting that the printed Ikat is coming from China and Indonesia with the most expensive being the Indonesian.

Arts Cafe Studio

   We also saw 2 children walking with squeaky shoes. The bazaar was closing at noon so  we headed to lunch at the Arts Cafe Studio which combines the shop of  of Nargis Bekmuhamedova with her cafe. Nargis reworks vintage textiles into modern clothing and accessories. The tablecloths, view of Bibi-Khanum, and the lovely local blue, white and gold teapots, teacups and plates featuring the cotton motif were a visual delight. Food was good too and we enjoyed excellent small dumplings. We tried two of the local deserts as well.

Sugar and flour "almond" candy

The Paranji we now own

We walked on to the Registan area to go back to the Tilla -Kari Medressa to check out the antique store we had been in before and seen a paranji (body veil) that we wanted to check out again. After the purchase of said article we then went onto another medressa in the square.

The Medressa is an Islamic school building that usually consists of classrooms around a large inner court yard. In the Medressa there may or may not be a mosque. There can also be a second story that can be rooms for students to live in or the rooms can be used as class rooms. The Medressa's in the Registan are beautifully decorated both outside and also in the court yards. Shops now fill the old class rooms.

Today we had the time to browse in all the shops that we had not been in before. One gentleman had a considerable amount of knowledge about the motifs used in the Suzani embroidery work done by the women. Men in previous times did the embroidery work using gold thread ---they believed if women worked in the gold thread that the thread would tarnish.

Another purchase from the embroidery expert

Needless to say we walked many steps today! We walked back along the pedistrian road enjoying the cooler weather and stopped for a light supper before heading back to our hotel. We were glad we had organized an extra day here in Samarkand to really explore it on our own.