We then had a short drive around but it was difficult to see some buildings if they were on the "wrong side" of the coach. This beautiful dome is part of the newly opened Centre for Islamic Civilisation. Again Ian and I plan to visit on foot so hopeful of more photos.
A famous Uzbek writer Abdulla Qodiriy
The People's Friendship Palace, another example of Soviet Modernist architecture built in 1981.
Not on our itinerary but Farik and our local guide then took us on a metro station tour. Ian had already researched them for our free day and although none are probably as good as St Petersburg (the best are in Moscow but we've not seen them) there are a few worth visiting.
Known as the Memorial for Cosmonauts, this bronze sculpture is situated
at the entrance to the Kosmonavtlar Metro Station. It honours both modern space exploration by including
Uzbek cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov and historic astronomical figures like
Ulugh Beg, grandson of Tamerlane.
At least I knew who this one was - Valentina Tereshkova - the first woman in space and whose name, along with Yuri Gagarin, flashes me right back to my childhood.
We spent a good half hour visiting 4 stations which were all busy and the trains we travelled on were packed. Apparently it's a very inexpensive form of transport.
Compared to London stations, the decorations were impressive, but for me they were nowhere near the grandeur of the St Petersburg ones.
We went back above ground at Independence Square, where this structure symbolises noble aspirations, peace and good intentions for the city.
Also in the square is the Monument to the Independence of Uzbekistan; a large, golden sphere representing a globe on top of a stone pedestal at the base of which sits a mother holding a baby, symbolizing humanism and the motherland.
As usual with VJV's flowering prose, their idea of a visit and mine differ widely. We were supposed to visit the Navoi Theatre, apparently we did drive past it but neither Ian nor I recall. The local guide also made a big fuss about visiting the Museum of Applied Arts which wasn't on our itinerary but sounded interesting as it is located in a historic, intricately decorated palace and showcases traditional embroidery, jewellery and woodcarvings. Again, we just drove straight past it. A couple of snaps from the coach:
The Senate Building
Built in 1970 originally as the Lenin Museum this concrete lump now houses the State Museum of History of Uzbekistan.
Just around the corner to our hotel in Amir Temur Square is the Palace of International Forums which is used for major governmental and international events. Local guide was very excited to tell us of a free open air jazz festival being performed there - except it didn't start until after our tour had finished.
There was an optional visit to a performance at the Navoi Theatre and for a time it was advertised as Swan Lake which we would have loved to have seen. But the performances aren't finalised until 20 days beforehand and it ended up as 4 Uzbek sopranos so we decided to give it a miss, especially as we've been on the go now for approx 30 hours and have a 04:30 departure to catch a 07:00 flight to Urgench. Dinner and an early night will suit us better I feel.