What is Samarkand?

One of my mates recently asked me what and where is Samarkand - and why name the blog after it?

Samarkand is the second largest city in Uzbekistan and is one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world. Being fairly central on the Europe-Asia silk road meant that it became a 'crossroads of cultures'. Conquered by various people including Alexander the Great and several Mongol leaders, Samarkand has done well to retain most of its stunning architecture and ornate Arabic decoration. The city was made more famous in 1913 when James Elroy Flecker wrote an exotic piece of poetic dialogue named 'The Golden Road to Samarkand' - you can read the poem in the original blog entry. Hopefully reading the full piece will give a better idea of its significance.