Samarkand is not just the Registan. On the rolling land just outside the city, there are quieter places where the Timurid age and earlier centuries left shrines that few visitors reach. The ensembles of Abdi Darun and Ishrat-khona are two of them. Abdi Darun is a pilgrimage complex linked to a revered holy man, with mosques, a gateway and a graveyard on a hillside above a stream, and for centuries local people have walked up here to pray and to picnic under the trees. Ishrat-khona, which means the House of Joy, is a ruined mausoleum from the fifteenth century, built for the women of the Timurid court, with a once splendid brick facade of turquoise tiles and carved terracotta.
The Timurid dynasty, descended from the conqueror Timur, who made Samarkand his capital in the late fourteenth century, was a great patron of architecture. Brick, glazed tile and gold were used in lavish quantities, and the domes seen across the city are the most famous legacy. At Ishrat-khona, the decoration is faded, and large parts of the building have fallen, but the arches and the shadows of tile work show how fine it once was. Samarkand's historic centre is on the World Heritage list, and these sites give a quieter, more intimate feel than the great monuments.
The roads around Samarkand are mostly wide and well surfaced, running through orchards, cotton fields and vineyards with the snowy peaks of the Zeravshan range on the horizon to the south. Traffic can be heavy in the city, with erratic drivers and little regard for lanes, and police checks are frequent. The best seasons are spring, when the orchards blossom and the hills are green, and autumn, when the grapes are ripe. Summer is very hot, regularly above forty degrees, and winters are cold, with snow.
Samarkand is a city of more than three hundred thousand people with plenty of fuel, though many vehicles run on gas, so check the station before you queue. Jomboy Shahri, ten kilometres away, is a smaller town. Take a taste of the local bread, baked in clay ovens and stamped with patterns, and of the sweet melons and dried fruit at the market. Dress modestly at the shrines, and take your shoes off where asked.