Tashkent Market Bread Baking

Attractive and tasty bread is an important part of Uzbek life. Our tour leader, Abdu, took us to a part of the Tashkent Market where bread was being baked by a family. They seemed to know Abdu, so the photos capture some good-natured banter.

Tashkent Market

Food and spice markets in "non-Western" parts of the world are some of my favorite places for photography. The colors, the semi-orderly arrangement, the generally friendly merchants, and the personal way of doing business, all contribute to lively and attractive scenes.

Monument to the Tashkent Earthquake of 1966

Although Tashkent is centuries old, it seems modern. This is because it was destroyed by a magnitude 8.5 earthquake in 1966, and has been almost completely rebuilt. The heroic rebuilding is celebrated by the huge "Courage" monument, which was the first location to which our tour leader, Abdu, took us to begin our tour of Uzbekistan.

The black cube in the foreground shows a clock face with the time of the quake. The adjacent side symbolizes the rupture. Abdu stands at the foot of the statues, dramatizing the scale of the monument.

First Day in Tashkent

Our flight from Istanbul to Tashkent was met by a MIR representative, who took us to our hotel in a pleasant neighborhood with small government buildings, diplomatic residences, and shops. After unpacking and a short nap, we walked in the neighborhood - lower key than a comparable area would be in the West.

Amsterdam to Istanbul

Our Uzbekistan tour began in the capital, Tashkent, but to get there we had to fly KLM from Schipol Airport in Amsterdam to Istanbul, Turkey, and then Turkish Airlines to Tashkent. All this happened late at night and early the next morning, and looked like this.

KLM planes lined up for early flights from Schipol

Shopping carts in Concourse E of Schipol Airport

Duty-free shops at Istanbul International Airport, early in the morning.

Leiden Flowers

Finally, a couple of pictures of pretty flowers from Leiden. Next, off to Central Asia.

 

Leiden Bikes and Street Scenes

 The juxtaposition of bicycles and old urban buildings attracts my photographer's eye. Leiden has plenty of both.