Cultural programme

The route began in the old city. At the Khazret Imam complex the group saw the necropolis associated with Abu Bakr Muhammad al Kaffal Shashi, a early Muslim scholar and poet. The Barak Khan madrasah, built under the first ruler of the Sheibanid dynasty, and the Tellya Sheikh madrasah, also called the Khast Imam mosque, stand in the same quarter. The latter holds the Osman Quran. The Juma mosque completes the old city sequence.

The modern city followed: the Navoi opera square, Independence square, Amir Timur square, the Courage monument that marks the centre of the 1966 earthquake, and the Applied Arts museum.

The published itinerary left Tashkent at 08:00 on the Afrosiab train and reached Samarkand around 10:10. The guided route included the Gur Emir mausoleum, the Ruhabad mausoleum, Registan square with its three madrasahs, the Shahi Zinda necropolis, the Bibi Khanym cathedral mosque, the Siyob bazaar and the Ulugbek observatory.

Lunch was served at a local restaurant at 13:00. The group returned to the railway station at 17:00 and reached Tashkent around 20:10. Train times were subject to change.