Samarkand as the Mongols found it lay not where the tourists now go but on a high, dusty plateau north of the modern town. That plateau is Afrosiab, the old city, and it was already ancient when Alexander the Great took it in 329 BC under the name Marakanda. It flourished as a Sogdian capital, saw Arab armies arrive in the eighth century, and kept growing until 1220, when Genghis Khan swept in and destroyed it so thoroughly that it was never rebuilt. The survivors drifted south, and Timur later raised his capital on the new ground.
What remains is a landscape of low hills, trenches and eroded walls, over two hundred hectares of mud-brick ruin with the cemetery of Shah-i-Zinda along its southern edge. It is hard to read at first, but the small museum on site makes the effort worthwhile. Its pride is a set of seventh-century wall paintings from a Sogdian palace, showing ambassadors bringing gifts to the local king, with Chinese, Turkic and Korean-looking figures among them, a vivid picture of how far people travelled. Photographs are usually permitted for a small fee.
Riding in is easy. Samarkand's main roads are wide, the surface is mostly good, and traffic is dense but polite by regional standards. On the outskirts the highways to Tashkent, Bukhara and Penjikent are well paved, with some potholes, and heavy lorries, so keep your wits about you when overtaking. The best seasons are spring and autumn, when the city is green or golden and the heat is moderate. July and August are very hot, and winter days can be cold and grey, with a bit of snow.
Everything you need is close, since Samarkand has more than three hundred thousand people. Near the Registan, tea houses serve plov, samsa baked in clay ovens, and flatbread stamped with patterns. The Afrosiab site is open daily, with a ticket and cash being the safest option, and the afternoon is best for the low sun on the ruins.