Day 4

Early departure from hotel and short ride to train station. The train station is pretty and well organized.  Our bullet train departed at precisely 8:00 am.  Very smooth ride and we got to 200mph. We got to Samarkand at 10 and started our tour of observatory, museum, mausoleum, madrasas, and tombs – all (except the museum, which depicted Samarkand from around 7^th century) were built during the times of Emir Timur (Tamerlane). We also visited the gorgeour Registan  (the main square) and a bazaar. The observatory was built by Uleg Beg , a XV century scientist/leader who explained many physical phenomenon. The whole day was exhausting and very hot, and we didn’t get into our hotel until after 5:30 pm (had to get up at 5:30 am for the train) so the 2 hours rest before dinner was most welcome. Dinner was at a restaurant in town and it was full of other groups, mostly French. Most tourists we’ve met here are from Europe – lots of French, German, Italian, and one Polish group.