Sentob village
One such village with its own unique characteristics is Sentob village, which is located in the Navoi region, 180km from the center. Nature, cultural heritage facilities, clean air, national cuisine and village life all draw attention every year from local and foreign tourists from England, France, Austria and neighborhood countries. For instance, in 2022, Sentob village had 300,000 local and 2,000 foreign tourists.
For the purpose of ensuring the accommodation of the visitors, there are more than 20 guest houses and hostels and visitors can get 15 tourism services provided by local people, namely, patchwork, carpet knitting, preparation of kurt and dairy products of goat milk, halva preparation according to workshop and its trade.
There are also 23 gastro-houses cooking the national food, workshop on baking Uzbek bread, agritourism services and others.
Avval village
Next destination is the ancient city Avval, which is situated in Fergana valley. References to this village were found in the works of the 10th-century Arab geographers al-Istakhri, Ibn Hawkal and al-Muqaddas. Due to the Mongols invasion, the village lost the status of a city in the middle ages. Later during the Kokand Khanate, the village was included in the list of strategically important places.
Avval village
Visitors of Avval village can enjoy the views of the village’s unique nature as it is located in the middle of a coniferous forest. It is famous for the ancient double mill which is located on the territory of the Dilkusho farm, the mill is a unique architectural and engineering hydraulic structure that has preserved its ancient style. At the same time, you can see special equipment for grinding rice and corn, which is used in the middle of the nineteenth century. With the advent of such mills, it was possible to grind cereals with one mechanical movement. Interestingly, it did not require a lot of water pressure to move this equipment.
Konigil village
For visitors interested in the process of paper production and sustainable development, Konigil village in Samarkand might be a wonderful finding. The place is famous for its unique traditions of handicrafts, the purest nature, shady trees, and the Siab River flowing nearby. But, perhaps, the main attraction of it is the ‘Meros’ factory, where paper production is carried out.
Brothers Mukhtarovs revived and established the production of the ancient Samarkand paper with use of technology, pre-advent paper machinery use. The main feature of this technology is manual labor, which uses exclusively natural raw materials. For this reason, the paper turns out to be slightly yellowish in colour, because it is not bleached by chemical means. The strength of the paper differs significantly from modern bleached paper. If an ordinary sheet can be stored for 40 years, Samarkand paper is more durable and can be stored for 400 years.
Paper production in Konigil
Tashkent region
Fascinating scenery, mountains touching the sky, old houses, simple and modest people far from city urbanization, living in their ecologically sustainable village. All of the aforementioned describes the village Tersak in Samarkand, the village Sangardak in Surkhandarya, and the villages Ertoshsoy and Ovjazsoy in Tashkent region.
Worthy of note is that residents of all these villages try to maintain the local culture, customs and traditions by promoting their homeland, improving the conditions for tourists and preserving the ancient national heritage. This includes the work that is passed from generation to generation - patchwork, carpet knitting, production of dairy, reviving the recipes and promoting the traditional cuisine, and preserving the architectural structures and natural sceneries.
Tashkent Region
Experience the villages of Uzbekistan for beautiful countryside with fresh air, high mountains, flowing water, sustainable and traditional dairy production, carpet knitting, paper production, and the smile of simple local people as bright and heartwarming as the sun!
Promoted by Uzbekistan Embassy in Brussels
