Samarkand

We are now in our final city- Samarkand. Guess what? More buildings that are all blurring together…. Samarkand is bigger and more spread out than Khiva and Bukara, so we are spending more time on the bus.

So, today we went to an observatory built in the 15th century. It was destroyed by the Mongols, or some other destructive people, so not much remains– just a portion of a giant astrolaub (how do you spell that?) Anyway, it was built by Ulubek, and he calculated the number of days, months, minutes in a year down to a minute and a half accuracy. The Uzbeks are rightly proud of this guy.

We also went to a holy site that has a leg bone of Saint Daniel. The leg bone has grown a centimeter a year and is 18 meters long. It’s in a really long coffin, so I couldn’t see it to verify this information. But anything is possible. This is an important pilgrimage site for Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike. For those of you keeping track, This is the Daniel in the Bible who didn’t get eaten by lions. The Muslim religion prohibits worshipping people and religious relics, but Daniel is special.

There is also an Iranian Pistachio tree that was planted in the 1500s at the Prophet Daniel’s leg bone tomb. This tree evidently flourished until the time of the USSR. Then it quit growing during the Bolshevik revolution, because there was no religion under them, and they threatened to cut it down. Then, miraculously, once The Iron Curtain fell, the Pistachio tree started to grow again. I was a bit confused, but the people of Samarkand are very superstitious. There is also a well of holy water here– our guide begged us to not drink any of it.

There was also a museum of Zorastrian cave paintings– they were discovered when they were building a road in the 1960s. These paintings were done in 600 AD. They are 1500 years old. Amazing. Zorastrianism was around before Islam– starting around 400 BC until the spread of Islam in the 700s. Zorastrianism believed in fire– so they always had a fire burning 24-7. We can thank them for candle lit dinners and fireplaces. I am sure that I have mangled that history, but just don’t go double checking my facts, and life will be good. ok?

Of course, the absolute highlight of the day was a surprise stop our guide arranged for us. Bread making at the top bakery in Samarkand! This is freaking amazing. We got there right as they were putting bread into the oven. So, first they make the dough balls inside. Then they pass them out this little drive thru type window to the guy who is standing at the tandoor oven. This guy then shapes the bread over a bowl, slaps some holy St Daniel water on it (see above), and puts it in the oven. Except this oven is like a giant mud and brick dome that is waist high. They practically put their whole bodies into this oven to stick the bread on the sides of it. There are no oven racks here. They have a blanket to cushion the oven, and they lean over at the waist, kicking one leg up into the air so that they can reach the sides, much like Olympic synchronized swimmers. Quite frankly, thetwinsontour do not understand how these guys do not lose their balance and fall in. Or at least lose a flip-flop when they throw their leg into the air. Oh, and it should be mentioned that only men make bread. Their shift starts at 4 am, and they work until 4 pm. They work 15 days in a row and then they have 7 days off. There are 4 ovens, and the bakery makes about 5,000 loaves of bread EVERY DAY.

This was one of the most amazing things that thetwinsontour have witnessed. Once the oven is full (about 60 loaves), they cover up the hole on the top and let the bread bake for 20 minutes. They spritz it every once in a while with more holy water that they squeeze out of a Coca-Cola bottle. Holy water is of course the secret ingredient. Then it is time to take the bread out of the oven. They do not have to climb into the oven for this part– they have a long pole with a basket shaped hook that they use to scrape the bread off the side of the oven. They can get up to 3 loaves at a time, which they then dump on the side of the oven for someone else to take and stack on a table to cool. This bread is hot! It gives a while new meaning to fresh out of the oven. We got to sample a piece, and it was so wonderful. This is actually the 3rd time we have witnessed bread making in Uzbekistan–always a different style though. Uzbeks love bread. They especially love this Samarkand bread we witnessed today. If my suitcase wasn’t so full of camel hair scarves, I would have brought a loaf home. It only costs 15,000 cym, or about $1.50 a loaf. And it weighs a couple kilos.

Oh, and something else we have learned. Twins are good luck, and if you take your picture with twins it means you will have twins. The owner of the bread bakery wanted his picture with us. He already has 6 kids, so I was a little worried for him. However, our guide told us it was OK because Uzbeks never stop having children.

What else did we do? Ah yes. We went within 10km of the Tajikistan border! Ten km! Unbelievable! No pictures because we weren’t close enough to see it, but 10km! We actually went to a winery to sample wine and brandy. This winery specializes in dry wines, but the twinsontour have a sweet tooth. They were ok, but I just can’t drink the brandy. It’s too strong!

The shopping has slowed down considerably. We didn’t but anything on our last day! (except for some candy at the mini market). The places we went just didn’t have much going on in the way of craft centers and souvenirs.

To end our trip, we took the high speed train from Samarkand to Tashkent. It is supposed to take 2 hours 20 minutes, but our train was about 20 minutes slower. I think this was just to give us some variety and to help avoid bus time. Because after dropping us at the train station, the bus took off for Tashkent with our luggage and made it there by the time dinner was over. It’s about a 5 hour stop with potty breaks, but the bus drivers are able to do it much quicker without a bus full of people.

And that does it for our trip to Uzbekistan. I can’t remember the last time we actually finished writing about our trip. Let alone, before we get on the plane. We are rock stars! If only we had wi fi at the airport…

Our train

Today is another travel day as we head from Bukhara to Samarkand (Samarqand in Uzbek). Luckily the roads are a lot better (but not great), so we are making much better time. (Edit, I think I may have spoken too soon. This road is bumpy, bumpy, bumpy.)

Well we were making better time until we stopped at the ceramic factory. We watched them make some pottery and talk about the kilns and bought some little ceramic tidbits. Hey, they haven’t has any tourist groups there in 15 days (probably the our guides previous tour group), so we truly were supporting the economy. They have a little garden in the courtyard with some Pomegranate trees, cotton, random stuff, and a grape arbor covered with vines. Hanging from the grape arbor are what looked like some cloth covered lanterns. But then we noticed some hanging from the balcony, and the 7th generation ceramacist overhead us say that. He pipes up that the cages have quail in them, and that is his hobby. He pulled down one of the cages to show us the quail inside. He proceeded to tell us about singing competitions. So many questions, right? Bird singing competitions? It’s a little fuzzy about how you make them sing, but these are wild quail–captured in the desert in April when they are migrating. He doesn’t breed them to make baby quail because wild male quail sing the best. He just goes to the desert and captures unsuspecting migrating quail. Since they are all male, he doesn’t get any quail eggs to make teeny, tiny omelets with. He just has a bunch of wild captured male quail that he enters in singing competitions. They have to feel safe and cozy before they will sing. Hence the covers over the cages–the homemade cages. What is a bird singing competition? Well it means that you take your bird cages to the local tea shop and your buddies take their birds to the tea shop too. (I’m not sure of the logistics of this. In a car? on a bicycle? tied to a pole over his shoulder?). Then they make them sing somehow. Who judges the competition? Blake Shelton and Kelly Clarkson? No! The oldest man in attendance is the judge. And of course there is a pool of money involved, so whoever has the best (longest? most mellifluous? harmonious?) wins the jackpot. Of course there are national championships and special Telegram groups (similar to Facebook, I think) dedicated to the art of bird singing. I still have so many questions, but this is all I know. I think they were surprised that we were so interested in bird singing competitions, but, seriously, who wouldn’t be fascinated by this?

Our other excitement of the day was our potty break and visit to the mini market. I know! The fun just doesn’t stop! But we did make a Tik Tok video while we were there, so this is really just an opportunity to say WHY HAVEN’T YOU FOLLOWED THETWINSONTOUR YET ON TIK TOK YET? WHY?

All right, back to sightseeing I guess. Once we made it to Samarkand, we went to Registan Square. Just when you think things can’t get more amazing, Uzbekistan proves you wrong. Every. Single. Time. The square consists of 2 madrasas and a mosque. Did we ever provide a definition of madrasa? Our itinerary refers to it as a center of Islamic learning. In other words, it’s like a combination monastery and school because you just live there for your education, not forever. Anyways, the madrasa on the left was built in the 15th century (that’s the 1400s) and the one on the right is a lot newer from the 17th century (1600s). The mosque is also from the 17th century. It’s always incredible to me to think about how old these things are and what was going on in the rest of the world.

So the newer one was built by an Indian ruler or Indian craftsmen or something like that. This is quite obvious when you look at the facade because there are giant tigers in the mosaic work. Islam doesn’t allow animals to be depicted so that’s why they always just have geometric patterns. But the Indians have some Hindu influence, ergo the tigers and also a few stylized swastikas.

Neither of these madrasas are still functional. They are craft centers (i.e. SOUVENIR SHOPS!). I just love the way the Uzbeks take advantage of old spaces and make it relevant to their needs. And I love to look at the souvenirs!

Ok, I think that is enough for one day.

Love,

thetwinsontour

Bukhara

My days are starting to run together, and I am really not even sure what day it is. So, we are now in Bukhara. There is some wonderful history there, but not a single McDonald’s. Evidently there are no McDonald’s in the entire country, just KFC.

Bukhara was a stop on The Silk Road– a very important stop for caravans and markets. Markets? Did someone say markets? thetwinsontour love markets! It seems like a lot of our walking tour of the city was based on markets! First up was the blacksmith– there were no demonstrations of blacksmithery, but there were knives and scissors. Cute little scissors shaped like storks, that they will engrave for you! Amazing! I might have bought a pair– now I don’t need to worry about my sister stealing my scissors and claiming them for her own BECAUSE I GOT MY NAME ENGRAVED ON MY SCISSORS! They are so cool! And sharp!

Honestly, I’m not sure what we did. I’m currently on information overload. Our guide is wonderful and gives us lots of information, but quite honestly I am too busy absorbing all of the beauty of the buildings and taking pictures to concentrate on the important information he is imparting to us. Even more distracting is that most of these ancient buildings have been turned into what Davron refers to as “craft centers” which thetwinsontour refer to as souvenir stands. We try to be good, but sometimes it’s so hard not to buy something.

Everything is so beautiful. We went to the main sites in the old town during the day and at night. The ancient minaret there in Bukhara is amazing, but at night it is absolutely breathtaking when it is lit up against the night sky.

We also went to the Summer Palace of the last Khan of Bukhara (maybe because of the Bolesheviks?). It was beautiful, but it was built in 1905. A 116 year old building is nothing in comparison to what we have seen.

For our dinner, we went and watched them make Plov. What is Plov? Well I am glad you asked! It’s the national dish of Uzbekistan. There are many different minor variations, but the important thing to know is that Plov cooked on an outdoor oven is far superior to indoor Plov. And outdoor Plov is traditionally cooked only by men even though it was a woman that gave us the demonstration. Plov is rice (but they don’t have basmati in Uzbekistan, carrots (preferably yellow carrots so it’s not as sweet), raisins, and meat (lamb, beef, or chicken). And then as extras you can have chickpeas and quince fruit (Asian Pear if you find it at the grocery store I think) and quail eggs. Obviously, this is absolutely delicious. It’s so good! The beef in our Plov literally just melted in your mouth. It tasted even better than 3 day old pot roast (because everyone knows that pot roast is better on the 2nd day, and if you are lucky enough to still have leftovers by day 3 that is the absolute best!) Such a tragedy that we have only had Plov once.

That pretty much sums up our time in Bukhara: shopping, beautiful buildings, great food.

Love,

thetwinsontour

Today’s installment of thetwinsontour will be action packed and full of adventure! Ha, just kidding. We spent 8 hours on a bus, with a few brief bursts of photo-frenzy excitement. We had an 8 hour bus journey to get from Khiva to Bakhara. The distance itself isn’t that far, but the roads…..

So, we left our hotel bright and early at 9 am, and headed off towards the horizon. After driving a very short time, we made it to our first Kodak moment– a field of cotton! Woo hoo. Cotton– the touch, the feel of cotton, the fabric of our lives… We only got 5 minutes here to snap a few selfies, and then it was back to the bus.

Uzbekistan is proud of their cotton. They are the number 5 producer of cotton in the world, behind the USA, China, and I don’t remember who. Most of this cotton is picked by hand, so as you drive along the road, you see fields and fields of cotton. And people hunched over picking cotton by the kilo. They get paid by the kilo, and pick from 10-50 kilos a day. I am pretty sure all the cotton fields are owned by the government, so all this cotton is shipped out of the country. Uzbekistan started growing cotton under the USSR. Cotton takes A LOT OF WATER to grow, so now there are ECOLOGICAL DISASTERS– like dust storms and such. (For interesting reading, look up The Aral Sea.) Apparently cotton production has been decreased by 25% since Soviet rule and is only grown were there is sufficient water, but I didn’t really notice any water around. And by the way, we were only able to stop at a field with no workers in it due to a French photo journalist expose about child labor.

Next up was a quick pit stop at a roadside melon stand! That’s right! We had the chance to behold the beautiful, delectable Uzbekistan melon in person. These Uzbekistan melons are amazing. thetwinsontour do not like melons, but thetwinsontour make exceptions for Uzbek melon. It is so amazing. And, we could have purchased a melon for the rock bottom price of 50 cents! But, since we have not yet been to the knife shop, we were strong and did not purchase a melon despite the bargain price and deliciousness. Evidently, Uzbekistan produces way more melons than they can eat, so the turn it into dried fruit. This is intriguing to thetwinsontour, but we haven’t yet seen this phenomenon. We will keep you posted.

Sounds like a pretty exciting day so far, huh? Cotton and melons. But wait, there’s more! What is that we spy in the distance?! Why, it is Turkmenistan! Another -Stan that we are so close to, yet so, so far away. I swear, our guide likes to torment us by telling us how close we are to all these other countries we aren’t visiting…. And, just to torment us more, we had a photo stop at an abandoned roadside building to take pictures of ourselves at the “border.” Evidently, Turkmenistan was actually about 15 km away, but there is a wide buffer zone between the 2 countries. “Turkmenistan is complicated.” Despite it’s close proximity to Uzbekistan– and indeed, thetwinsontour could see it off in the distance– Uzbeks do not go to Turkmenistan. It is harder for an Uzbek to get a Visa to Turkmenistan than it is to get a US visa. So, that was our brush with Turkmenistan. And, if that wasn’t enough to torment us and our passports, we then had a coffee break at the border! We stood around for another 30 minutes eating cookies and candy while Turkmenistan taunted us from a distance– nanny, nanny, boo boo! you can’t catch me! Fortunately, there was a donkey wandering around, and he posed nicely for photos. thetwinsontour love to photograph wildlife.

Speaking of wildlife, I did see (and probably stepped on) what my highly trained eye identified as impala dung. But I said to myself, self this cannot be true. But wait! As I was sitting on the bus flipping through a book on the flora and fauna of Uzbekistan, I saw that the GAZELLE is one of the mammals native to Uzbekistan. And the gazelle is pretty darn close to an impala! So I was correct! I love it when that happens (which is pretty much always). My animal dung knowledge reins supreme!

On the road again, on the road again. Sorry Willie, but I am not remembering the rest of the words at the moment. There is a small stretch of highway that has been completed. Our guide is very proud of this road. But, it is not a very long stretch at all. It wasn’t long before we were off the new, paved road and on the old road. We could see a road being built off to the side, but it was still in the dirt leveling stage. Our guide seemed confident that it would be finished in a few months. thetwinsontour did not see any construction crews, so our bet is it will be a few years.

We were literally in the middle of nowhere. Our lunch stop was at a roadside building where we ate a picnic lunch box. And, there was watermelon that I am pretty sure the bus drivers bought at the photo stop melon stand. Why they would buy watermelon when there is Uzbek melon is beyond thetwinsontour. But, guess what, there was a goat there! You know how thetwinsontour feel about wildlife.

thetwinsontour want to take this opportunity to advise our legion of fans that you are one in a melon. Please, don’t un-fan us.

That pretty much summarizes our day. Even though we were on the bus all day long, my Garmin Vivo Fit thinks I got over 10,000 steps. These Uzbekistan highways leave a lot to be desired. They really shake you up like salt and pepper.

Love,

thetwinsontour

Today was spent in Khiva. Our hotel is right outside the Old Town, so we were able to walk everywhere! Our guide keeps telling us the temperature in Celsius, so I have no idea what the temperature is. However, on thetwinsontour temperature scale, the brisk, windy weather rated a pair of cuddle duds. That is the official thetwinsontour temperature rating: cuddle dud weather.

Let me just say this– Khiva is an Instagram Paradise! Everywhere thetwinsontour looked, there was such great selfie potential– it was glorious! And, if we are being perfectly honest here, thetwinsontour were way too busy soaking up the gloriusness to pay too much attention to our guide. But, this city is old. I can tell you that. And, we visited Madrassas, Harems, Minarets, Mosques, and so much more! Everything was covered in tiles– in amazing shades of green, blue, and turquoise. thetwinsontour could really have spent 12 days there happily taking selfies. and shopping. Oh, wait? Did someone say shopping? thetwinsontour love shopping! (and we have even taught other members of our tour group that “want equals need!” Yep, those are words of wisdom from thetwinsontour!)

So, while we are looking at these historical, Instagramable, amazing places, there are vendors set up around them and even inside them. It is fabulous. You can look at a Madrasa, take some selfies, and buy a camel wool scarf all in one fell swoop. That is multitasking at it’s finest! And, do you know what really makes a selfie pop? A camel wool scarf!

And, do you know what else is great in Uzbekistan? The Uzbeki tourists! They love to come stand in the middle of our tour group and start taking video of us as we are just standing around! Phones have been shoved in my face so many times– I just smile and wave! I could be a movie star and not know it yet. I am sure that I am at least a viral sensation in Uzbekistan. And, they like to pose for selfies with Americans, too. These are my kind of people!

This afternoon we accidentally bought a loaf of bread. As we were walking back into the old town we passed 2 ladies and a little girl standing behind their house making bread and they said something to us in Uzbek and they were inviting us to have a piece of bread. So we walked over and the lady tore off a chunk of bread for us (remember, you are supposed to tear it not cut it). It was warm and delicious, fresh out of the tandoor oven! We asked if we could take a picture, so we stood there watching her make a loaf of bread. Blink and you might miss it–she was so fast. Grab a ball of dough from the bowl. Roll it out with a rolling pin so that it looks like a pizza crust –this part takes approximately 7 seconds. Take your bread pattern maker thing and stamp your pattern on the bread. Lay the bread on the bread mold. Hand it to your bread-making partner. Then the partner takes it and sticks it to the wall of the oven to bake. I’m not sure how long they need to cook because there’s a bunch of bread in the oven, so you just watch them and pull them out when they are done. It’s a fascinating process.

So while this is happening, a cute little boy comes up with some postcards to sell. How can I ever say no? So as I am handing him $2 for some grubby looking postcards that have had a rough life, the bread lady says to my sister $2. So I dig out another $2 thinking they want to charge us for taking their pictures, but no, they hand us a folded up loaf of bread. We tried to say that we didn’t need it, but they looked so crestfallen and disappointed that we had no choice but to take the loaf of bread and head on our way.

As luck would have it, we ran into our tour guide, so we were like, Hey Davron do you want some bread. And he was like, sure! Then he reaches to tear a piece and he’s like it’s still warm! And then we are like, here take the whole loaf. And he’s like don’t you want it. And we are like no, what are we supposed to do with it? We are on our way to climb a tower for a view of the city from above, what are we supposed to do with a loose loaf of bread? So that is the story of how your fair heroines accidentally bought a loaf of bread and then skillfully disposed of it (because it was awkward, not because it wasn’t delicious.)

Ok that’s enough for one day I think!

Love,

thetwinsontour

Uzbekistan, Day 2

Today started with the worst possible words a traveler can hear: 4:30 am wake-up call. ugh. 4:30? thetwinsontour don’t even get up that early for Black Friday Shopping anymore since the best deals are all online. But, some things are worth getting up at 4:30 am– and I am not referring to the boxed breakfast from the hotel– an apple, an orange, banana, a weird crust-less sandwich, sparkling (intolerable) water, and a yogurt with no spoon. No, I am talking about hopping on a plane to Urgensh! (which I just spelled wrong, but per above, I am sleep deprived.)

So, you may wonder, what is in Urgensh? I am wondering that still, too. But, we hopped on our old-people tour bus, and off we went. We saw lots of fields of cotton– evidently it is world class cotton– that the Soviets started growing in the days of the USSR. Now the Uzbeks have cut their cotton production by about 25% to only grow it in places with enough water. After driving through the countryside for 2 hours (and a few wrong turns) we arrived at our first destination– a true cultural experience that lives up to the dreams of thet

winsontour– BREAKFAST IN A YURT!! Hot-diggity-dog! Oh, yeah! That is what I needed (the breakfast box just didn’t cut it). I don’t really even know what I ate, but it was finger-licking good. Literally, it was finger food. And, the only beverage was tea. thetwinsontour don’t do tea. But, this was slightly tolerable. And you drink it out of a little bowl. And I might have refilled my cup. Because I was eating breakfast in a YURT. It is a yurt, just for tourists. I’m a tourist, and I loved it! The apricot jam, the fried bread, the candy. It was delicious.

Like any self-respecting yurt, this yurt was out in the middle of the desert. I think I still have sand in my teeth from all of the wind. It was so windy and cold. I was super glad I dug my trusty Eddie Bauer (hey can I get a sponsorship here?) down coat out of my suitcase before we left the airport. That way I was able to run around and take a few pictures on the swing set (yes swings!), the camel that was hiding, and the fortress ruins across the way from the 3rd century BC.

What about these ruins? Words, words, words, really old, words, words, words. Invading tribes, words, words, words. But, they are old and pretty darn neat.

Then we drove a while more and went to a slightly more modern fortress ruin that we were able to climb on and around. These ones were from the 5th century AD. They have been repaired and/or partly reconstruced recently. How do I know this? Because the hay sticking out of the mud walls did not look 2,000 years old. You can’t fool thetwinsontour! We are pretty dang smart. It’s still amazing that these ruins still exist at all, and that we are able to walk around amongst them. All that history!

Oh and I forgot to mention, when we got on the bus our guide told us that in addition to the standard bottled water, they also have hot water for tea and coffee if we want that. I think maybe I should suggest that they also offer Ramen noodles too. That would be a nice surprise, but maybe not as much of a surprise as when he told us they also have vodka on the bus for us whenever we want it. It was a little early for me to partake, but maybe later. We’ve got some long bus rides coming up. And it’s Uzbek vodka, so that would be a cultural experience to try that.

We don’t eat lunch until like 3 o’clock, so we have very long mornings with lots going on. I don’t know if that is a contributing factor to lunch being so damn good. Seriously, lunch today was so good. Like I wish I was still eating it. We’ve been eating a lot of cooked eggplant. thetwinsontour absolutely adore eggplant in all its forms.

Our afternoon was spent in Khiva, which is pronounced Xiva. We had a bit of free time, so we went exploring. And when thetwinsontour explore, you can be sure there will be lots of selfies. And shopping. We may have bought camel wool scarves. Because we needed them! If you are ever presented with a chance to buy a camel wool scarf, you should do it. That is my new motto in life. Thus far, I am doing quite well at following it, too. I always say, if you are going to do something, do it well. And let me tell you, thetwinsontour are great at buying camel wool scarves!

On that note, that is enough for day 2. We need to save some juicy tidbits for Day 3– selfie-palooza in Khiva! So fun! Hang on tight for the next installment– you don’t want to miss it!!

thetwinsontour

PS I don’t know what pictures are going to show up on here. I am currently seeing pictures from the Torino Olympics in 2006. I decided they are great pictures and deserve to be seen again and it is too much work to correct them. So enjoy.

This trip may be detrimental to well-fitting pants. You see, our hotel room came equipped with a bathroom scale. Thank goodness it is in kilos because I weigh half what I thought I did. However, and this is a really big however, I weighed myself in the morning and then by bedtime I weighed 1.55 kilos more than in the morning, and my (apparently) fat sister weighed 2 kilos more. That means she put on approximately 4 pounds in a 14 hour period. And we didn’t even eat any of our purse snacks or backpack snacks yesterday!

If you read about the typical food of Uzbekistan, you will be nodding your head saying, yep that is some thetwinsontour food for sure. Uzbekistan is double land locked so they don’t really eat seafood (hallelujah!). They do eat a lot of lamb though which I managed to avoid so far.

After breakfast we went on a city tour starting out with a visit to the oldest Koran in the world. It was written in the 7th century on deer skin paper which has evidently shrunk over time. It is still huge though. The remaining pages that haven’t been pilfered over the past 1,400 years weigh about 35 kilos. It’s not like an illuminated manuscript with little drawings and fancy letters. It’s just writing that no one can read anymore.

Guess what we did after that? If you said eat, you are wrong despite the 2 kilo clue above. We went shopping! An hour into the day and we got to stimulate the Uzbek economy. Heavenly! My sister picked out this gorgeous silk scarf with camel hair wool applique flowers (forgot to get a picture yet) that she will probably never, ever wear and cost too much money. You know I hate it when she gets something nice and I don’t, so I picked out one too. We also got some very affordable hand painted earrings for only 60,000 Som (about $5.64 based on the current exchange rate.) Don’t worry, I bought several pair! And we bought hand painted magnets, so I don’t have to spend the rest of the trip looking for the perfect magnet for my collection. I probably still will because that’s what I do, but I don’t HAVE to.

After this we made a quick tour of the Bazar (think food markets with veggies, spices, raw meat…) Did you know that you can buy horse meat at the market? Slightly appalling. Luckily I don’t think that Mr. Ed will be part of any of our dinner plans. We did buy a meat pie (beef don’t worry) that was absolutely delicious except for that large piece of gristle I couldn’t chew or swallow. That deliciousness was only 12,000 Som or $1.13. What a deal! And we split that. Our money will go far in Uzbekistan so long as we can avoid the silk camel wool scarves! Did I mention that I am a millionaire? Yes, that’s right. A millionaire. I did not win the Powerball. This was much easier. All I had to do was visit the ATM in the hotel lobby. I pulled out 2,000,000 Som. Yes, 2 million! And it only cost me $188! But I digress. Where was I?

Oh we also went to the bakery where they bake the bread in fire powered brick ovens. Somehow they get the bread to stick to the sides and roof of the oven to bake. It’s just plain bread with flour, yeast, salt. The bakers are pretty fond of selfies. And I only saw 2 pigeons flying around in there, so that’s a good thing. Oh and bread has to be torn by hand. You can’t cut bread with a knife. There’s a lot of other bread rules that I have already forgotten because I wasn’t paying that much attention (because I was busy taking selfies.)

After that we got to ride on the World Famous Tashkent subway. It’s not very deep because of the ground water levels, but the stations are all pretty ornate with different tiles in each one. We only went to two stations though. And the subway tickets cost about 13cents. Yes, 13 cents. Unbelievable! I am pretty sure you are supposed to wear masks on public transportation, but we were some of the few people following the rules.

There was also a quick museum thrown in there before lunch. If you are thinking that is a lot to do before lunch, keep in mind that we didn’t eat lunch until after 3pm. We had some salads, grilled eggplant (yum, yum, yum), and kebab meat, lava cake and ice cream. I didn’t do a good job of food pictures yesterday. Apologies.

After that, we needed a nap before dinner at 7. But dinner, that was scrumptious. I cleaned my plate! Rice and shaved beef with onions. So tender, and no gristle like in the dollar meat pies.

Anyways, I am now realizing that I don’t have enough adjectives to be a successful culinary blogger, but at least my mother knows I got enough to eat today. You know she worries about that.

Good night from Uzbekistan.

Love,

thetwinsontour

678 days. 678 long days since thetwinsontour were last on an airplane. I thought I was never going to get to wear the official travel shirt again. If ever there were a time to use the much overused word unprecedented, it is now. But that 678 day streak has come to an end! We are on a plane to Uzbekistan!

We originally booked this trip for 2020, but of course that got canceled. So we booked it again for this year. There have been lots of scary, last minute moments when we thought we weren’t going to get to make it. Like when the Uzbekistan website where you get your e-visa went down for maintenance on September 6 and is still down. Or perhaps when we sent our passports FedEx along with an exorbitant amount of money to a company in DC to get our visas directly from the embassy. And don’t forget when we checked in at Kansas City and were told they couldn’t check our bags all the way to Uzbekistan or even give us boarding passes for the last leg of the trip.

But the most terrifying part of our journey to Uzbekistan was when the gate agent at Uzbekistan Airways in Frankfurt told us that we couldn’t go because our PCR test was more than 72 hours old! We knew a PCR test was required (that’s the Covid test, but not the rapid ones. You can still get them at CVS and Walgreens.) But we had read 72 hours before you leave your HOME. But they checked it every single flight. Guess what. By the time we made it to the third flight it was way past 72 hours. Of course it was! After lots of pleading and explaining to her that you can’t get PCR test in an hour and a half like in Germany and that it takes 1 to 2 days and lots more pleading, she finally made an “exception” and let us continue on rather than being abandoned in the Frankfurt airport for 10 days. Can you say heart attack?

In other news, our international flights had lots of empty seats. Lots of empty seats. So many empty seats that we each got our own bank of seats on both flights. I didn’t have to sit next to my sister! The Premium Economy (that you pay an upcharge to sit in) seats were packed like sardines (somewhat spacious sardines), but the cheap economy seats at the back turned out to be a better deal. Oh the irony!

Well that’s the highlights of our return to flying!

More to come from Uzbekistan later. Did I mention we got a tik tok? We have no idea how to use it yet, or if our nationwide 2G data through Tmobile can support it. So right now we are just begging for followers. There may be some videos. There may not. It’s the mystery that is the allure there, not necessarily the content.

Love,

thetwinsontour

Hola from The Canary Islands! So we’ve been here 2 days now, but I just can’t keep up with daily blogs and keep track of Momma at the same time. Its exhausting trying to avoid stairs and making sure that we have enough time to cross the street before the light turns red and my mother gets taken down by a runaway taxi.Our 3 star hotel is literally a block from the beach and my toes have yet to touch the sand! Today was to be our beach day, but we woke up to rain! The sunny skies of yesterday have disappeared! So after a late breakfast, we headed to the Casa Colon (Christopher Columbus museum) in the Old Town on the public bus (yeah for even more public transportation!). We got our moneys worth out of that bus ride, 1.40 euros, because at the advice of the old Spanish man on the bus we went alllll the way to the end to the Cathedral. And the little old ladies on the bus chimed in too to make sure we were getting off at the correct stop. The people here are so friendly and helpful. They are also amazed by my mad Spanish skillz! Mad skillz! And that was a looooong bus ride. It felt like we were on there for an hour (but it was probably more like 57 minutes). So our first destination was the cathedral. They started building it at the beginning of the 1500s, so that means its really old. We paid 1.50 euros to ride an elevator (not from the 1500s) up the tower for a scenic vista of the town on one side and the ocean on the other. It was a little cloudy, but the view was fantastic! We probably spent too much time up there taking selfies, but I wanted to make sure I got my moneys worth and enough selfies. Then after we paid 1.50 to go up the tower, we had to pay 3 euros each to get into the church and museum. That’s a pricey church! I thought it would be covered in gold and jewels from the New World, but I guess the conquistadors took all of that straight to mainland Spain and didn’t leave any in the Canaries. I didn’t see a speck of gold plate on the soaring gothic ceiling or walls–just the standard gold on parts of the altar.I don’t have to write about lunch because my mother is here with me so she knows exactly what I ate.So after lunch we went to the Casa de Colon (house of Christopher Columbus). He didn’t live here, but he stopped here on his first expedition to fuel up and get supplies because he knew that he wouldn’t be allowed to stop at any of the Portuguese islands. It was a fantastic little museum. Absolutely fantastic. The first rooms were built to look like the deck of the Nina and Columbus’s cabin. They even had an original journal written by Columbus. Maybe the neatest part to me was the replica globe from 1450. It had Europe and Africa, then across the wide expanse of the Atlantic was what they thought Asia looked like because the Americas hadn’t been “discovered” yet. Really, really neat. They also had some macaws in the center patio (macaws can live forever, so I wonder if these are some that Columbus brought back from his voyages?), and in the cellar they had a bunch of pre Colombian artifacts and they played traditional indigenous music with birds chirping to set the mood.Then we walked down the main pedestrian shopping street to get back to the bus station (which mind bogglingly they call a guagua here, just like in some Caribbean countries instead of autobus–this should be an interesting language factoid for about 4 of you out there).Standing there in front of a long line of taxis and staring across the street at the bus station we decided that we didn’t want to spend another 57 minutes on the bus. So we hopped in a taxi and were back at our hotel in less than 6 minutes for practically the same price as the bus! It was 5.20 euros where as we had paid 4.20 for the 3 of us to ride the bus. I think if we need to go somewhere too far to walk, we will definitely take a taxi! My time is valuable!And then when we got back to the hotel, we realized that we didn’t actually walk around the official old town. We just did a loop around the church and that was it. Oops!Ok, what else have we done? We got here yesterday, took a beach selfie from the boardwalk, ate a yummy tortilla española over looking the beach for lunch, walked along the boardwalk visiting souvenir shops, ate some gelato, came back to the hotel to use the wifi to plan the rest of our stay, fell asleep at 430, woke up at 8 to shower, ate a granola bar and fruit snacks, then went back to bed to sleep until 9:00 this morning. We were worn out from the plane ride to get here! Especially my mother who watched too many movies to sleep on the plane.But before that, we spent the day in Chicago. Our flight left Sunday at 6pm, so we could have flown to Chicago that morning and then sat at the airport for 8 hours waiting to check in for our flight. No thank you! This is why we did the smart thing and left for Chicago on Saturday so we could have time to do something. What did we do? First of all we hopped onto the L Orange Line from the airport to the city. That’s right! We took my mom on local transportation! Since it was only 37 degrees in Chicago (do you know, this may be the first time I didn’t have to rant about how I hate the metric system in this blog!) we decided it was best to find an indoor activity. Ergo our destination was the Art Institute. However, we had to eat first. And then we were right across the street from The Bean. And how do you go to Chicago and not go to The Bean? So we were pretty frozen by the time we made it to the museum. But this is what we learned, just under 3 hours is not nearly enough time to see all of the masterpieces contained in this museum. We missed so much and had to rush through the German Renaissance paintings which is a real pity. Actually 24 hours may not even be enough time to see and enjoy all of the artwork.Well, that’s the highlights so far.Love,thetwinsontourps. Don’t forget to find us on Facebook and Instagram! I can’t become an influencer without your help!pss. Wi-fi and 4g quality are limiting my ability to upload pictures to the blog. You will have to wait for more.

Today was the most amazing day yet. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot to say about it, but I have never let that stop me before. So here it goes.

Our destination was 3 different painted monasteries which are exactly what they sound like. They are unlike any church we have ever visited before, and completely mesmerizing.

The first that we went to was Voronet Montestary, often referred to as the Sistine Chapel of the east. It was built in 1488. Let me repeat that, 1488. That’s before Columbus sailed the ocean blue. That’s a really long time ago. I think they started the frescoes about 30 years after that, but still that was a long time ago.

This place charges an extra photo tax of 10 lei ($2.50) to take pictures of the outside of the building, but no photos are allowed inside. Let me tell you, that was an extra $5 well spent. You know that there’s no way thetwinsontour are not going to take pictures, lots of pictures.

The first sight as you step through the entrance gate is absolutely breathtaking–a church completely covered with fresco paintings– on the outside. Like completely covered. It’s so amazing. These are the original 500 year old paintings. They haven’t been repainted. They aren’t covered up by protective plastic. They don’t have any walls built around them. They are just there, hanging out in the elements saying take my picture. They are in amazing shape for having been outside in the rain, snow, wind, sun for 500 years. Until you walk around to the North side of the building. (I know its north because the guide told us so. thetwinsontour have not suddenly developed a sense of direction.) The north side has been nearly completely worn away with just a few fragments and traces of painto left behind. Most of what remained was up top just below the protection of the overhanging roof. This is more what you expect 500 year old outdoor frescoes to look like.

The paintings are made in wet plaster. So they would have smeared the plaster on the walls and then raced to get it painted. Can you imagine how difficult that would have been to paint it bit by bit without computers or projectures or whatever they would use nowadays to undertake such an endeavor?

Most of the paintings have a blue background. They haven’t been able to figure out which flowers/plants/minerals were used to make this distinctive blue color, so they just gave up and named the color Voronet blue after the church. Is that a color in the 64 box of Crayolas? It should be! And for that matter, doesn’t a 64 box of Crayons bring a smile to everyone’s face regardless of how old you are and make your heart skip a beat? I digress.

Obviously, the paintings tell religious stories. The language of the Orthodox church was Slovakian, a form of Russian that was written in the cyrillic alphabet. No one spoke that, much like Catholics don’t speak Latin. Also, they can’t read the cyrillic alphabet. So they had to have paintings to convey church stuff to the masses.

The church is rather small (most Orthodox churches are), but the inside is completely covered in paintings as well. The paintings are bright and vibrant. They were cleaned recently because after 500 years of burning candles, they tend to get a little dirty. But they didn’t touch up any of the paintings or repaint them. Just cleaned them up some.

Luckily we were able to buy a few postcards because you know my fingers were itching to take pictures. It’s so hard to follow the rules in the face of such overwhelming magnificience.

Our next monastery was Humor montestary. Again it had a photo tax of 10 lei to take pictures which thetwinsontour gladly paid without hesitation. We need pictures!

It is much newer than the first one. It was built in 1530. Which is still a heck of a long time ago! So long ago that I don’t even know what specific world events were happening. But according to wikipedia it looks like Henry VIII still only had 1 wife in 1530! So you know that was a long time ago!

The predominant color in these paintings is red, but I don’t think it has a special name like Voronet blue.

Just like the other one, the north side of the building is nearly void of any paintings due to 500 years of weather. I guess most of the weather systems in Maldova comes down the mountains and blows to the north.

This one has also been cleaned up on the inside so that you can see the beautiful paintings without a covering of black candle smoke.

Our third and final montestary of the day was Neamt montestary. It was built in the 15th century. Yet it stands in stark contrast to the other two. It doesn’t have any paintings on the outside, just on the inside. And the paintings haven’t been cleaned, so some of the walls are so black that you can’t tell that there are paintings on them at all. But it’s still amazing despite the centuries of smoke damages. And they let you take pictures inside– without a photo tax! What a bargain. We all know thetwinsontour love a bargain!!

There are a lot more than 3 montestaries here in Maldova. I think there are about 12, but that is all that we had time to visit. Most of them are UNESCO World Heritage Sights, so we got to check a few more of those off the list. thetwinsontour adore UNESCO World Heritage Sights! We asked if there are painted montestaries other places in Europe, and our guide said that there is one in Bulgaria. But that one doesn’t look like a church at all from the outside because they had to keep it hidden from Turkish invaders.

And I think that’s about all the important stuff that I can remember. I keep learning too much stuff every day to possibly remember it all.

Love,

thetwinsontour

A picture says a thousand words, so here’s a couple million words for you that say more than I ever could…