I think I already showed a photo of the Palace of International Forums, just around the corner from our hotel.
We then walked up to the Alexander Navoi Theatre and it wasn't familiar to either of us, so presumably we were on the "wrong side" of the coach when we passed it on Day 1.
Without the fountains in operation it didn't look anything special and neither of us recall seeing it on Day 1
We then found our way to the nearest metro and visited a couple more stations. Whilst they're considerably better than London ones, they're not a patch on St Petersburg's.
We then got off the metro at the Chorsu Market, but although we had a good roam around it didn't seem nearly as interesting or exotic as it had the first time - familiarity I suppose.
This time we ventured down to the ground floor too but fortunately didn't have to walk past the stalls selling horse meat - Ot = horse
I bought a small quantity of unshelled macadamia nuts which I'd never had before and shelled ones are incredibly expensive at home. The guy kindly have me an opening tool too but I forgot to photograph it before giving it away so here's an internet image.
I don't think I've ever seen so many eggs!
We found our way to the bakery and latched on to another tour group just in case, but no one took any notice of us.
Once again the amount and variety of bread products on offer was amazing.
These are lochira, a traditional Uzbek bread shaped like a bowl and often used to hold stews or other dishes. The breads have a distinctive scalloped edge and are frequently topped with sesame or black cumin seeds.
And this is Sanzi, it's made by hand-coiling thin strands of dough into a distinct, fan-like, or stacked three-dimensional structure and the dough is then deep-fried to a deep tender yellow, creating a crispy texture.
Although the Centre for Islamic Civilization was only opened it March of this year, surprisingly it has been built in an area with absolutely no metro stations anywhere near and so we had rather a long walk through some very untouristy neighbourhoods to get there, but other than a few odd looks from the locals we were fine. We had planned to stop for a beer en route but there was absolutely nowhere selling it (probably because we were in a very Islamic area)
The magnificent building houses a museum, library, and research institute dedicated to Islamic heritage and holds a Guinness World Record for being the largest museum of Islamic civilization. We arrived first at the back of it and so it was almost devoid of people.
Personally I think it's wonderful that new buildings are being built in the historical style.
This is the front of the building.
On the far side of the square is the Khast Imam Complex, built in 2007 featuring traditional architectural elements designed in the style of the 16th century. It serves as the religious centre of the city and houses the administrative centre of the Mufti* of Uzbekistan and houses the Uthman Quran, believed to be the oldest copy of the Quran in the world.
* a mufti is a professional religious scholar and jurist who is authorised to interpret Islamic law.
Abdulla Qodiriy (1894-1938) playwright, poet, writer, and literary translator and one of the most influential Uzbek writers of the 20th century. He introduced realism into Uzbek literature through his historical novels and influenced many other Central Asian novelists.
Finding the nearest tube station to save another long walk we hit a snag, our credit card got rejected and because the fare was only 11p each we assumed it was a system fault. There was no other way to pay but luckily a very sweet, early 20s, young lady told us not to worry, she'd pay for us. But then when she tried to go through the barrier herself her card got declined too, but the ticket guard allowed her through - another nice gesture. We tried to give her some US$ but she wouldn't take any, saying it was just the price of a cake.
Yes, there really is a metro station named Milly Bog.
The nearest metro station to our hotel then gave us a walk past the Hotel Uzbekistan where we'd changed money on the first day and as it was a glorious afternoon we decided to go back up to the restaurant on the 16th floor to see if we could just buy a drink and enjoy the view (one of the group had done that whilst we were changing money). We happily presented the credit card not thinking there was a problem with it, only for it to be declined yet again so we used a different one (good job we carry two).
This isn't an alien spaceship but a sports complex known as the Humo Arena.
Back at the hotel I spent yet another 40 mins getting through to Halifax and sorting the card out.
For our last meal we went for a walk around the area near the hotel and found a nice pizza restaurant
When the time came to pay - I think you can guess where this is going - yup, the card got declined again.
It's a shame we wouldn't be heading for 3 days in Doha tomorrow but that's how it goes. We have to be at the airport for around 11:00 and I've checked with reception the best way to get a taxi; they can book an official hotel one for around US$50 or ask as we're ready to go and someone will order one through an App and it'll cost around US$3 and certainly no more than US$5. As you can guess we went for the latter option and although the guy was rather surly (Russian, I reckon) it only took around 15 mins to get there and he was overjoyed when we gave him US$5 and said keep the change (he certainly understood those words).
It's been a really excellent holiday here and I'm very pleased we gave VJV a chance to redeem themselves after the dreadful India trip last year. It's given me some hope that Mongolia will be a good one too.
Unfortunately I'm writing this blog some 3 months after we got back and I have absolutely no recollection of the journey home; I know it was with Turkish Airlines via Istanbul to Gatwick but the only bit I can remember is that, sadly, Wicked II wasn't showing as it had been on the way out. I'm sure all went well.