Bukhara Central Bazaar

Bukhara is Central Asia's oldest living city, and the central bazaar shows how it has been a center of trade for all its life.

Bukhara: Kalon Minaret and Mosque

"Kalon" means "great" in Tajik. Genghis Khan was said to be so amazed by it, he ordered his troops to spare it even as they sacked the rest of the city.

Bukhara Plaza and Reflecting Pool

 Bukhara is one of the fabled cities of Uzbekistan, with more than its share of monumental mosques, minarets, and markets - but it also has a relaxed central core.

From Yurt Camp to Bukhara

The next morning we washed in the communal bathrooms, had breakfast and a brief camel ride (We'd done this before, in Mongolia, so relinquished most of our time to the neophytes.) and began a long day's drive to Bukhara.

Our stalwart, really excellent driver, reflecting on the long day's drive ahead.

Footprints in the sand of the Kyzl Kum Desert at the yurt camp.

A shepherd with his sheep in a field on the way to Bukhara.

A mosque at a rest stop.

Decorative plate on the weathered brick wall of a rest stop.

 

Kyzl Kum Yurt Camp

After a few more hours driving, we arrived near dusk at the Kyzl Kum Yurt Camp in the middle of the Kyzl Kum Desert. We were greeted by a couple of camels (that we'd be riding tomorrow), viewed the collection of yurts from a small sand dune, and inspected the yurt in which we'd be sleeping. Colorful!

A Mosque in the Countryside

On September 10 we left Samarkand for an overnight in a yurt and camel camp before proceeding to Bukhara. On the way to the camp, we stopped at the Hassan and Hussein Mosque at Debaland in the countryside, arriving just as services were ending. (According to our MIR guidebook, Khasan and Khusein were the grandsons of Mohammed,  and some believe that three visits to this sacred mosque are equivalent to one pilgrimage to Mecca.) I got a photo of the imam and another elder leading the exiting crowd after services, and a couple more of the mosque interior and surroundings.

Tamerlane's Mausoleum at Night

Back in Samarkand, we made a night stop at the Gur-Emir Mausoleum, where Tamerlane and his three sons are buried (contradicting the claim of Shahrisabz). Unquestionably, one of the great monuments of the world.