We spent the best part of 5 days in Bukhara, although the middle of our time there was interrupted by a crazy train trip back to Tashkent to get our Turkmenistan visas. We stayed with a family who run a lovely and friendly little guest house called Nazruddin Navruz Hotel.
The city itself is different to Samarkand, it’s been inhabited and famous for much longer and thanks to some enlightened heritage planning it still has people living in the old city and it feels less like a museum than the undoubtedly beautiful Samarkand. On our train journey we shared a carriage with a 35 year old Uzbek who was part of the team working with UNESCO to allow development within the old city but still keep the feel and style the same. From what we could see they’ve done a remarkable job because it’s often hard to see where one finishes and the other starts. They encourage old building techniques and materials, which have stood up to earthquakes for hundreds of years.
The photos below were all taken early in the morning so the place is still waking up. The huge 47m high tower is one of the few buildings in the city that Jenghiz Khan didn’t flatten as he passed through, he was so amazed that it had stood so long that he left it standing. Most of the old town is centred around a square with a large pool in the centre and the buildings you can see are either Medressas, Mosques or Markets.
If you want to find out more about Bukhara you can read more in a Wikipedia Article
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