September 22-23, 2016:
The next morning, the start of our last full day in Uzbekistan, we left at 8:30 for Nukus, still further west across still more desert. Back in the late ’90s, when I first became interested in visiting Central Asia, Nukus was not on most itineraries, except perhaps as a gateway to the shrinking Aral Sea. However, in 2002 the Savitsky Museum opened in a new building, and Nukus now appears on the itineraries of at least some tour groups. Igor Savitsky was an artist who came to the Karakalpakstan region in the ’50s and stayed. In addition to collecting local artifacts, he brought many of the paintings banned by Moscow as insufficiently “Soviet realist” to this isolated outpost. The collection is considered remarkable by those who appreciate modern art, but unfortunately I am not one of them. It is not that I haven’t tried. I have taken two “history and appreciation of art” type courses, one of them the lecture series for aspiring docents at my local Art Museum, but I still fail to appreciate much after the Impressionists. I find the surrealists entertaining, and an occasional piece arresting, but I no longer choose to visit museums of modern art. Indeed, I have also OD’ed on Madonnas, and on St. Sebastian and his arrows, and unless an art museum holds some of the artists I do admire (Vermeer, Rembrandt, El Greco, Da Vinci…) I head for the local decorative arts museum instead. My rainy day retreat in London is the V&A, not the National Gallery.
So, I did not have high hopes when, after a lunch accompanied by throat singers and a dancer, we arrived at the museum. I do have to say that the guide was very good, and that I liked Savitsky’s early paintings, but after a while I left the enthusiasts to it and went down a floor to visit some badly lit costumes and, much to my surprise, a piece of the Parthenon. (At least, that’s what the label said.) Eventually we headed to the local airport for the flight back to Tashkent. Here we had a surprise, as the flight had been changed to make use of Uzbekistan Airline’s latest acquisition, a Dreamliner. Although it was probably destined for flights from distant capitals, meanwhile it carried us in considerable comfort the 500 miles to Tashkent. The seats in
After landing at the international airport (presumably for a longer runway?), we were bused to the domestic terminal, which was a lot calmer and less crowded. We were then driven directly to our farewell dinner, even though the restaurant was very close to our hotel (the Shodlik aka Shoddy Palace, again). After we finally arrived at the hotel I discovered that the AC in my room wasn’t working, and it took some back and forth on the phone to get my room changed. The shower and the bed were definitely welcome.
Four of the group left for home early the next morning, but Abdu took the remaining seven to the Applied Arts Museum, which I had been upset to miss when it had been closed for Eid. I enjoyed it so much that I went round twice. Four of us had arrived by metro and three by taxi, and the same four went on to Bon Patisserie for lunch. It was an interesting walk, across wide squares and down leafy streets, during which we passed a long line of used book stalls – I was interested to see the Harry Potter books in the Cyrillic alphabet. At lunch I made the mistake of ordering a chicken and avocado salad, which would not agree with me. Really, I know better!
After dinner at the hotel someone from MIR drove me back to the airport. I was flying Aviana to Seoul in business class, but while that got me shorter check in lines it didn’t help with the scrum at the entrance. Still, leaving Uzbekistan wasn’t as fraught as arriving, and there was a proper line at passport control. While Aviana’s business class wasn’t in the same league as Qantas or Cathay Pacific, the meal, wine, slippers, ear plugs, cushion and blanket were all very welcome, and I did get some sleep.
I always enjoy reading your reports . . . they make me feel I am right there with you. Thank you for keeping me on your list.
Sandy (in Denton)
Thanks Sandy! It was fun to revisit this trip, although it reminded me that I still need to go through my photos….
Great post 😁
Glad to see you’re back in action blogging!…Shouldn’t that be St Sebastian and his arrows? Or maybe St Whoever and his arrows? 😉 -john m
Good catch! I knew I should have checked… Will fix. Hope you two are OK.