No other far-flung city has so fired the imagination of English poets over the centuries as much as Samarkand – exotic, magical and mystical, a fairytale architectural citadel in the heart of Central Asia. Uzbekistan has been the playground and battleground of Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Emperor Temur and Peter the Great who laid the groundwork for Russian control a century later.
Today this ancient citadel is something of a tourism secret, with Uzbekistan now undergoing a renaissance having freed itself from the Soviet yoke through Gorbachev’s Perestroika revolution in 1991. It is remarkably undersold as a stunningly attractive and safe destination. It is also a flourishing trade hub, its economy turbocharged by copious gas and gold mining, making it a surprisingly alluring ancient and modern tourist hot spot.
