Fergana valley
This is a kind of Uzbek heartland in terms of language, population and tradition (the people of Andijan are said to speak the purest form of Uzbek). Fergana valley is a big flourishing oasis with a fine climate. It is also known as a "Golden Valley". If Samarkand is known as a "Pearl of the East", Fergana is famous as a "Pearl of Uzbekistan". In Fergana valley you can find small sleepy towns with many hidden treasures, such as "City of Angels", natural silk, great fruit and vegetable plantations, the forests of mulberry trees and the wide cotton plantations.
There are a lot of beautiful canyons with Tien-Shan spruces and fir-trees there. Kokand - one of the most famous cities in Uzbekistan, formerly the capital of the powerful Kokand Khanate which once dominated the whole Fergana valley.
Fergana cityThis is the valley's least ancient and least Uzbek city. With the central streets shaded by huge plane and poplar trees and dotted with pastel-plastered tsarist buildings, Fergana is called among locals as a "Sleeping beauty".
Fergana's most appealing attraction is the bazaar, its good natured Uzbek traders leavened with Korean and Russian vendors selling home-made specialties.
