jorgesanchez's travel recommendations

I arrived to Panjakent by local buses from Bukhara, in Uzbekistan. In spite of being a modern city, with ugly soviet era blocks, Lenin statues and the like, the people still ride horses and donkeys in the streets, and its market is as exotic as the one in nearby Samarqand, which is located next door to the Bibi Janym mosque. After visiting the ruins of the old towns dating from the Sogdian State period (Panjakent means Five Cities) I visited the most famous museum of the country, devoted to Rudaki, the celebrated Tadjik poet (presumably he was blind), father of the Persian poetry (Tadjik language is very close related to the Dari in Afghanistan and to the Farsi in Iran). The museum consists in two parts; the less interesting is the one dedicated to the Bolshevik Revolution with all its propaganda. The best is the second one, called Natural History, sheltering endemic animals preserved by taxidermy and the flora of the country, all illustrated with wonderful wall maps.

Address: downtown Panjakent Panjakent Leninobod Tajikistan Phone: + no available E-mail: noavailable@yahoo.com Price: budget