We had the option to take either the train, bus, or car to Bukhara and it didn't take long for us to realize that we had made the wrong choice. We had been told that the roads were bad outside Khiva, but then improved. Um, not true. And we did not take into account any road construction. So although it was nice to take in the Uzbek countryside (at one point we saw a man chasing his donkey cart when it began running away without him! lol!), it was a long, bumpy trip.
Turkmenistan is on just the other side of that water!
After stopping once for lunch along the way (a true rest stop restaurant with a set menu and a you-get-what-you-get kind of mentality. The kids didn't love it.), we got to Bukhara in time to get some dinner at a restaurant near our hotel and call it a night.
Our hotel reminded me of the one we stayed at in Udaipur
The next morning, we went exploring! Even though we didn't hire a guide for any part of our trip, in Bukhara we might as well have: we could just follow the various [senior] tour groups around to ensure we weren't lost. Do you want to know the various names of all the things? You don't. But look at our fun pictures!
We had to walk through this knock-off Disney park
to get to where we were going.
Nightmare inducing.
We walked a side road to go from one place to another
(unlike the tour groups) and passed a
butcher shop getting its meat for the day
I loved this random mosque! Too bad it was closed to visitors.
Bukhara Tower was not on our list of things to see--it just happened to be on the way--and frankly we weren't sure if it was even open, but I can't resist a tower. So even with the overpriced admission, it was worth it to have that view of Bukhara to ourselves.
The Ark of Bukhara!
Much of the Ark was still being excavated
Can you see Bukhara Tower?
Then we walked to see more pretty things. (So many pretty things!) Btw--I loved that, aside of Tashkent, we could walk to see almost everything we wanted to see.
Hazard of being the shortest is getting cut out of the pic
And then we moved on to even more pretty things!
We had to ask who this statue was.
It's Nasreddin--obviously!
After a full day of walking, we dropped the kids off at the hotel, but Brandon and I wanted to go back to see Po-i-Kalyan again!
Th next day we drove to some of the sites farther outside Bukhara. First up, the Bahoutdin Architectural Complex. I will never get over how pretty the ceilings are!
Then we drove to the Sitorai Mokhi-Khosa complex, the summer residence of the last Emir of Bukhara. Many of the buildings have now been turned into museums.
The girls loved all the peacocks everywhere!
The palace
Next we went to Chor-Bakr Necropolis, the city of the dead. I'm not sure what I expected, but it is, in fact, mostly a just bunch of graves. However, it also includes a mosque and, inexplicably, an aviary.
Last, we drove back into town to see the Chor Minor, a cute little mosque that lets its visitors up to the roof. There was a little shop across the road that had random antiques and Brandon found an Uzbek belt buckle that he was excited about.
We walked along the walking street one more time and said goodbye to Bukhara!
The next morning we had a long drive again--this time to Samarkhand--but along the way we stopped at Shahrisabz. We got lunch at the nearest open cafe (with a limited menu, we were happy to just get what we got) and then walked along the promenade to see the sites. The place had clearly been fixed up and renovated recently, with new buildings parallel to the walkway (apparently they destroying less aesthetically-pleasing historic sites in the process) which gave the area an odd sanitized feel, similar to how we felt when we visited Turkmenistan. To be fair, the sites we did see were pretty cool, but it's too bad they felt the need to redo the neighboring area.
We had a two hour drive to get to Samarkand and this was the only part of the drive that wasn't flat desert, so we had to take a few pictures out the window.
By the time we got to Samarkand and checked into our hotel, we were all pretty spent, but we picked a spot for dinner that had rooftop views of Registan Square and that perked us right up!
After we decided to check out the square. We assumed it would be closed--plus, it was pretty late, for us--so we didn't intend to go in, just check it out. But when we walked around the corner and got a look at it, we decided to ask how long the square was open. If we could look around for an hour, it would be worth it. Well, not only was it open for a few more hours, but in an hour a laser show was going to start! Laser show! Yes please! We bought tickets.
We hadn't gone far when another ticket booth asked us if we wanted to buy tickets to climb to the top of the minaret! He said they only do so at night, and only to small groups, because of the narrow passageway. Yes please! CJ got 3/4 of the 59 steps up and decided she didn't want to go all the way to the top. It was too steep. But the rest of us took turns stocking our heads up the hole in the roof at the top of the minaret. Best $21 we've ever spent!
Just stick your head up through that hole in the roof...
...to see this amazing view!
. . . and then settled down on a step, waiting for the laser show to begin. It didn't take us long to realize that when they said 'laser,' what they meant was 'light.' Music played and the square was lit up in a variety of colors to match the music. It was entertaining for a while, but the long day had caught up with us and we decided to leave early and walk back to the hotel.
The next morning we saw some of the sites in Samarkand. Gur-Emir Mausoleum was crowded with visitors, but very pretty.
Before getting back in the car, we walked across the park to a little masjid complex. There was a gourd artisan whose shop was full of beautiful things, but at such a cost that we decided not to get any more.
Then we went back to Registan Square to see it in the daylight.
Then we said goodbye to Registan Square and walked to the Bibi-Khanym Mosque.
We wandered the bazaar next door for a bit, but, let's be honest, it couldn't compare to the the one in Tashkent. Although we did buy some fruit leather (very tough and that thing had fiber), we ended up wandering back to a cafe for lunch where we picked out some kabobs and I think I had my last squatter experience of our trip. (Seriously--more squatters on this trip than we've had in a long time.)
After we had our fill, we walked to the Hazrat Khizr Mosque.
And at this point we knew it was just a short walk to Shah-i-Zinda, but rather than backtrack, we figured why not go through the cemetery? At least on the map, it looked like straight shot. But the nearest gate that would take us was locked. And so was the next one. And the next one? And by this time we had wandered quite a ways into the cemetery so it seemed like it would be simpler to just keep going. Eventually we found a dirt path that sort of crested a hill over the top so we could see where it was we were supposed to be so we just followed the dirt path around. Eventually, we got to a wall that was clearly the border between the Shah-i-Zinda and the cemetery. We awkwardly jumped down--don't mind us!--and we had made it! It probably too us twice as long, but who doesn't love a jaunt through a cemetery?
Let's just walk through the cemetery! No problem!
This was the nice section of the cemetery. Eventually the cobblestone disappeared
and the tombstones became small little plots sitting on top of each other.
We can see it!
The end is in sight!
Just down the hill and around the corner and a small jump off a wall.
Finally we reached Shah-i-Zinda! In retrospect, we should have gone here first thing in the morning because the crowds were a little crazy. (Samarkand had more crowds than any other place during our trip.) But this place? Spectacular!
We had a few hours to kill before our train so our driver suggested visiting the observatory. We spent maybe half an hour there and it was easily 15 minutes too long. Why was this place so crowded? It must have been a part of some tour package because I don't see why else there would have been so many people.
I was under the impression that we could climb to the top of this or . . . something?
But no. The entire thing was blocked off. It was just a photo op.
This is how we felt about the observatory.
The driver had another suggestion--a museum--but we said no thanks. We were done. I had already scouted out a place to get dinner not far from the train station, so we had a leisurely dinner and then each chose a dessert (I am still thinking about that meringue roulade!) before heading to the train station. We said goodbye to our driver we'd had since we left Khiva and waited for our train to Tashkent.
There was a band playing when exited the station in Tashkent.
Not sure why, but it was nice.
Initially we had planned to spend the day in the mountains north of Tashkent, but by this time, we were pretty well spent. And the idea of driving to and from the mountains and then get on a plane to go back to India sounded more exhausting than fun. So we spent our last in Uzbekistan doing more touristy stuff around the Tashkent. Admittedly, we were scraping the bottom of the barrel for some of these activities. First up, an archeological site turned museum that we really didn't have enough context to appreciate.
We stopped at a cathedral that had been built and destroyed several times. Inside, they had a picture display of the various iterations every time it was rebuilt.
Next, we decided to go back to the chorsu bazaar, bought a few more touristy things, got some lunch, and then went to the Museum of Applied Arts.
Next we went to the State Museum of Temurid History. We downloaded an app that made some of the art interactive and this was definitely the best museum of the day.
We had to walk a ways to get back to the car and loved the autumn air! Ah, to enjoy the seasons!
With evening approaching, we went to the ferris wheel for a s l o w 14-minute ride. Highlight of the day.
For dinner? Georgian food! There were two older gentlemen performing live music and the food was amazing--as always! It was a great way to say goodbye to Tashkent!
We headed to the airport with three hours to kill, assuming we could nap or read until our midnight flight. Nope. The airport was crazy! It was not very big, but there were crowds of people everywhere. They wouldn't allow us to check in yet so Brandon and E scouted out a place for us to sit. They found a spot that had seats nearish each other and we called that good. The senior tour group that we were sitting next to seemed very concerned about the kids getting a seat--although not enough to give up one of their own. Eventually we were all able to all able to sit together when a tour group left.
The plane was delayed by an hour, but eventually we got on our way and said goodbye to Uzbekistan! It was a fantastic trip and we can't wait to come back again. Until next time!