Bukhara

A fully preserved medieval Silk Road city with the Kalyan Minaret, the Ark Fortress and domed bazaars—more old-world than Samarkand and better for wandering on foot.

Bukhara lies on an oasis in the lower Zeravshan Valley in southwestern Uzbekistan, about 270 km west of Samarkand. Founded more than 2,500 years ago, it is a holy city of Central Asian Islamic culture. The Samanid dynasty made it their capital in the 9th–10th centuries, the scholars Avicenna (Ibn Sina) and al-Bukhari grew up here, and from the 16th century it was the capital of the Khanate and then Emirate of Bukhara, until the Red Army took it in 1920. Unlike Samarkand's grand Timurid architecture, Bukhara's old town has kept its full medieval street fabric: ochre-colored houses, more than 140 mosques and madrasas, covered domed bazaars and pond-side tea houses. The whole old town was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1993. Most sights are within walking distance inside the old town. At the center is the Lyab-i Hauz pond; to the northwest, past three domed bazaars, are the Kalyan Minaret and Mosque (the Poi Kalyan complex); farther west are the Ark Fortress, the Bolo Haouz Mosque and the park that holds the Samanid Mausoleum; the Chor Minor lies to the southeast of the old town, and the Emir's summer palace is 4 km north of the city. Climate: April–May and September–October are best at 20–30°C; summers often reach 40°C and are extremely dry, so rest at midday; winters hover around 0°C with very few visitors. Getting there: the Afrosiyob high-speed train from Samarkand takes about 1.5 hours (the station is in Kagan, 15 km outside the city; a taxi into town takes 20 minutes), and from Tashkent about 4 hours; Bukhara Airport has flights from Tashkent; to Khiva, take a train of about 6 hours or hire a car for 7 hours across the desert. Allow 2 days. Tips: most sights charge 30,000–50,000 sum, and the minaret cannot be climbed; for accommodation in the old town, boutique guesthouses in converted old houses are recommended; Bukhara is a handicraft center for carpets, suzani embroidery, gold-thread embroidery and wrought-iron scissors—ask for a receipt when buying large carpets so you can clear customs; the old town is very quiet in the evening, with restaurants clustered around Lyab-i Hauz, and plov and shashlik are the staples; avoid visiting mosques during Friday prayers.

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