After lunch we made an unscheduled stop to the Emirs Summer Palace which was not part of the tour. Since I had my own driver and guide for the day I was going to add some extras as we had some spare time for the day

The palace is a few kms north of the old city centre so we got to drive away from the old town and see a bit more of the city. We passed by some bazaars and more modern looking retail plazas.

Aside from some parks and roundabouts with interesting sculptures they had road signs with distances to other major cities across central asia. It seemed a bit strange and something more interesting to tourists than local drivers as it didnt show local destinations but places hundreds of kms away and some in other countries.

At the entrance to the palace I had to pay a camera fee of 2300 Som ($1.15). The 300 Som seemed a bit strange as up till now I hadnt used anything smaller than 1000 Som as everything seems to be multiples of 1000.

After passing thru the main entrance there is a small peacock zoo. Originally this was a zoo complete with elephants but they have long since moved away

The outside is built in a European style. The King had gone to study in St Petersburg so was impressed by Northern European architecture. There is also a side terrace that is more oriental looking to include some local flavour and not completely Europeanize it.

The reception room is beautifully decorated with narrow floor to ceiling alcoves beautifully painted in detail. This continues up to the ceiling where the borders have their own mini alcove designs like icicles blending the wall with the ceiling

The main hall is a large plain white chamber with similar architecture. It was decided not to use any colour to give contrast to the detailed reception room.

When the architect was commissioned he was in prison. He was given the choice to build the palace or stay in jail, so naturally he took on the job but didnt know how to do it.

After staring at the clouds he came up with the idea of a pure white room but that the reception room should be strong in colours for contrast and to emphasize the whiteness.

The building is a long L shaped design and we now walked along the long main corridor. This was divided into several rooms detailed with many types of glass tiles and mirrors and showcasing many of the gifts that had been presented to the King

One interesting one was what looked like a giant gold shoe but was actually a wine jug presented from Russia.

The corridor led to similar ornately decorated rooms each displaying more gifts owned by the king. There were also some Royal Portraits.

Finally at the end of the corridor it opened up into a solarium type sunroom with different stained glass and clear windows on three sides to flood the room with sunlight from all angles

The room housed a collection of vases from China. Most were about 2 ft high but some were taller.

The exit doorway had two lions under the covered porch. My guide explained the lions did not have necks since there were no lions in Uzbekistan so the sculptors had to image what they might have looked like or relied on drawings.

The palace was quite impressive and I thought we were done but they guide led me to an octagon out building. The King had seen a beautiful Russian lady in Russia so had built this home especially for her to stay in.

She had only heard back things about this region so refused to come. The home then became a place for guests to the Palace to stay.

One of the attendants unlocked the building for us to enter. After passing under a beautifully decorated porchway we were in a equally more lavish reception room.

This led to the central octagonal room which had interestingly detailed panelling and a central chandalier.

The outer perimeter room is used as a clothing museum. It had many royal gowns made from gold embroidery. There were also some traditional caps and a long ladies shawl distinct to the region.

Despite its deceptively small exterior the building was rather interesting with an incredible amount of detail in both the interior decorations and the workmanship of the clothing

Finally a little further to the rear was a small lake behind the main palace. The King would sit on a upper level terrace watching his concubines swimming in the lake. He would throw an apple and whoever was fortunate to catch it would spend the night with him. There were high outer walls as nobody was allowed to see inside, but they have since been destroyed.

Driving back there were strange direction signs to other capital cities across central asia. Wouldnt it be more useful to give directions to places inside the town?