Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
8
Getting¨Around
Minibuses 1 and 4 run along Rudaki from Elina
guest House, past the museum to the bazaar
and on to the bus station.
a vast unfinished new mosque site, then
left on Tursunzoda to find the
Abdullatif¨
Sultan¨Medressa
(Kök gumbaz; Tursunzoda)
,
centrepiece of a working Islamic school
whose eye-catching Timurid architecture
gives it its nickname Blue Dome. Walk-
ing another five minutes west brings you
to a major road along which marshrutka
3a links between the bazaar and Chor
Gumbaz.
Chor¨Gumbaz¨
ISlAMIC
(Said Nizomaddin Hoja Mazor)
In the northwest
corner of town is the one-room Mazar-i-
Chor Gumbaz whose four tin cupolas con-
ceal some of Tajikistan's most impressive old
painted ceilings. If locked, ask at the house
behind.
Sary¨Mazar¨
ISlAMIC
(Yellow Tomb; marshrutka 11, 3a)
Old grey-
bearded men shaded by even older
chinar
(plane) trees survey a pair of small but or-
nately stucco-fronted 17th-century tombs
beside a mosque and appealingly authentic
chaikhana. From the bazaar take marshrut-
ka 3a, get off 300m beyond the cross-sabres
gateway, walk straight along Ehsan (15
minutes), then ask!
4
¨Sleeping
Sadbargi¨
HOTEl $
(
%
91-988 70 48; lenin 101b; tw 190TJS, s/tw with-
out bathroom 65/90TJS)
By far the best option
in town. Upstairs above a big modern wed-
ding hall, well-furnished ensuite rooms are
ample-sized with comfy beds, kettle, tea,
towels and shampoo provided. When not
full, single occupancy costs half the twin-
room price. Cheaper rooms are neat, sim-
ple affairs sharing a semi-clean toilet and
shower. During weddings, music rumbles
the rafters.
Hotel¨Jasnovar¨
CRASH PAD $
(
%
24 961; r without bathroom 40-50TJS, r with
bathroom 80-120TJS)
Though once attrac-
tive, the simple rooms now range from
dishevelled through grubby to objection-
able. Only consider this if the Sadbaghi is
full. It's 300m south of the Penjikent taxi
stand.
Istaravshan
ИСТАРАВШАН
%
3454 / POP 50,000
Called Kir by the Parthians, Cyropol by Alex-
ander the Great and Ura-Tyube by the Rus-
sians and Soviets, Istaravshan has a small
historical core that is a little better preserved
than most in Tajikistan. That isn't saying a
great deal, and Bukhara it's certainly not.
But then, there aren't any tourists either.
1
¨Sights
Mug¨Teppe¨
FORTRESS
The city's grassy, flat-topped former fortress
hill rises northeast of the centre. Stormed by
Alexander the Great in 329 BC and Arabs
in 772 AD, only minimal mud-wall traces of
the original remain. These, however, have
been grandly augmented since 2002 by a
blue-domed brick entry gateway, built for
Istaravshan's 2500th anniversary celebra-
tions. Though quickly becoming dilapidat-
ed, it looks great from afar and clear-day
views show off the city's mountain horizon
to great advantage. Access is from the first
traffic lights north of Sadbargi hotel.
Bazaar¨
MARKET
(lenin;
h
7am-3pm)
The vast, colourful cen-
tral bazaar is a town unto itself. Don't
miss the 12 blacksmith workshops which
make top-quality knives using remarkably
archaic-looking equipment. They're in the
sick-green, low-rise building across from the
three-storey, triple arch of the main mus-
tard-yellow bazaar building.
Shahr-e-kuhna¨
OlD TOWN
The old town is a gently intriguing maze
of lanes, with interesting houses often tan-
talisingly hidden from view behind straw-
and-wattle plastered walls. Access is via
Krupskoe or Tursunzoda streets heading
west from 102 or 98 Lenin respectively,
either side of the photogenic
Hazrat-i-
Shah¨Mosque
(lenin 98)
. Walking along
Krupskoe for around 10 minutes you'll
spot the 1910
Hauz-i-Sangin
mosque
(Menzhinski 9, at Krupskoe)
to the right. Peep
in to see its attractively painted ceilings.
Backtrack one block, then walk south past
8
Getting¨There¨&¨Around
Dushanbe
Shared taxis (100TJS per seat, four
hours, 276km) leave from the southern end of
the bazaar. A full charter taxi with an overnight
in Iskander-Kul starts at around US$150.
