Spent a couple of days in Bukhara in central Uzbekistan with some friends. Another favourite spot of mine.
We stayed a couple of nights at our friend Bibi's nearly finished hotel. It's in the old Jewish quarter of Bukhara, and will be quite special when finished. We were the first guests. Bukhara was a very important Jewish centre in Central Asia, with 30,000 Jews living here at its peak. Mass migration to Israel means that there are fewer than 200 here now.
Bukhara has many fine historical buildings, despite being on the receiving end of Ghengis Khan's 'town planning' (i.e. flattening) in the early 13th century. This one caught my eye.The tomb of Ismoil Samoniy in Bukhara, showing lots of Zoroastrian influences (the use of circles, the beehive domes at each corner, etc). Ismoil was much loved, and after he died people used to post letters and requests through the door of the tomb, which were always answered. How? Well there was a tunnel to the centre of the tomb, which led to the Prime Ministers apartments, and every day ten years he would go and collect the letters and answer them
Shopping in Bukhara market, and 5kg of the finest homemade trail mix ever made!
It got quite hot
The so called 'Ark' (citadel) of Bukhara. Mostly 17th century and heavily restored. Rather impressive
Young Rory Langan succumbs to the charms of the Bactrian camel
The Bolsheviks captured Bukhara in 1920, which saw the last slave market in Central Asia closed. This minaret, the largest in the region, still shows the attention of General Frunze's artillery ranging
And so onto Samarkand! Epic packing
Camel selfie!!!
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