Day 11 (July 9, 2023): Bukhara continued

This was our second of two days in Bukhara.  Yesterday, we got a good taste of Bukhara and explored its largest sites.  But today was about filling in the spaces with visits to a large number of smaller sites.  

The scorching heat was definitely turned up another notch today, so there is only so much one can do in such heat and only so long one can go.  We had the Mercure’s breakfast buffet pretty much to ourselves, which was nice, and then headed out at 10:15AM.  We were back at the hotel by 2PM and just rested until we left for the airport at 7PM.  (The hotel allowed us to pay half of our previous night’s rate to extend our stay from noon until 7PM, which was well worth it — otherwise, we’d have been wandering in the extreme heat all afternoon.)

Our full flight to Tashkent left on time at 9PM and arrived an hour later.  We got a Yandex cab to the same Courtyard by Marriott we stayed on our first night in Uzbekistan, so the familiarity of a repeat hotel felt nice.  

Bukhara was definitely more than we expected, and we feel that we were able to get a good sense of the place in the time we had, especially given the heat.

This is the Char Minar, one of Bukhara’s most unique mosques, due to its four colourful minarets.  This mosque has more of an Indian influence than it does a Bukharan influence.  It was originally built as the gate for a medressa that no longer exists.  It was built in 1807.  “Char Minar” means “four minarets” in Tajik.

There is no keeping Pam down!  Next thing I knew, she was up a staircase and frolicking on the rooftop!

Across from Char Minar, a merchant was selling Soviet military jackets and medals.  Over the years, people have hawked their Soviet memorabilia for cash.

This is the Naghok-I-Attar, Central Asia’s oldest surviving mosque. Its facade goes back to the 9th century.  According to folklore, the mosque survived the ransacking by the Mongols by being buried in sand!

In the heart of Old Town Bukhara is Lyabi-Hauz (Tajik meaning, “around a pool”).  It is a plaza filled with cafes, around a pool.  The Sufi-cloister (religious building) in the background is called Nadir Dibanbegi Khanaka.  It now serves as a museum, and as you can see from the photo below, its ornate dome is undergoing careful renovation.  It’s a reminder of just how much work and constant upkeep is required to keep these structures going.

This museum item in the Nadir Dibanbegi Khanaki is called a ‘Three-Horned Dragon”.  This is how it was literally described to us, and I quote: “If it is a statue, it is a three-horned dragon.  If it is a man, it will be like a camel.  If it is a man, it will be like a woman’s leg.”  So, we leave it to you, the reader, to run with that and make of it what you will!

Also bordering the Lyabi-Hauz plaza, is the Nadir Dibanbegi, a medressa.  It is noteworthy for its exterior tile work (see below), which portrays a pair of peacocks holding lambs on either side of a sun with a human face.  This is in direct contravention to Islamic rules which prohibit depicting living creatures.

Pam, seeking shade in one of the alcoves of the Nadir Dibanbegi.

This is a statue of Hiya Nasruddin, a semi-mythical wise fool who appears in Sufi teaching tales throughout the Islamic world.

A collection of pottery jars outside a wonderful little photo gallery we visited, showing photos of Bukhara Jews, Gypsies and city life. 

One of the things we noted in this hot and arrid land is that there seems to be a lot of water keeping things green.  Until a century ago, Bukhara had a network of canals, such as this one, and 200 stone pools (similar to the one shown above in the Lyabi-Hauz plaza).  However, these canals and pools were not drained and cleaned, so they became the source of many water-borne diseases.  In the 19th century, the average life-span of Bukhara’s residents was only 32, largely due to the spread of disease via the canals and pools.  When the Bolsheviks invaded in 1921, one good thing they did was to drain the canals and get things back on a good track.

The Khoja Kalon madressa, minaret and pool.

Entrance to the Kolkhoz Bazaar, Bukhara’s main market, with everything from spices and food to dry goods.  Kind of an overwhelming place on a scorching day, to be honest.

Only a small section remains of Bukhara’s city walls.  But still, it is impressive.

The Abdul Aziz Khan Medressa (16th century) is currently unrestored.  It was built to outdo the Ulugbek Medressa across the square (see below).

The Ulugbek Medressa, built in 1417.  This is one of three medressas built by Ulugbek and also remains unrestored.

A cute little gem Pam saw in the Ulugbek Medressa.

And we were smitten with the view from the doorway of the Ulugbek Medressa, looking across the way to the Abdul Aziz Khan Medressa.

Ismail Samani Mausoleum sits in Samani Park.  Completed in 905, it’s the oldest Muslim monument in Bukhara.  That was our last stop on our exploration of Bukhara on this 40C day.  We then headed back to our hotel until it was time to leave for the airport.

The Mercure Bukhara Old Town Hotel, where we stayed, just opened in December 2022.  It was brilliantly designed to fit in with the traditional building styles in Bukhara.  Below is the inner courtyard of the hotel.

While Uzbekistan has created a fine network of modern airports, they are really bizarre places that still have an almost eerie, foreboding ‘Soviet’ sense about them, as if they are built to intimidate the traveler!  Vehicles cannot go anywhere near the entrance.  So, for example, taxis will drop you far away from the terminal, and then you walk a long distance to reach the building.  There aren’t a lot of flights leaving, so you walk up to the door, half wondering if the place is even open!  


Our first Uzbekistan Airlines flight!  It was a very new Airbus A320-Neo.