WARNING : If you don't like really old ancient buildings from the Silk Road era, then you're probably not going to like this post. But I'll stick in lots of pretty pictured to keep you happy.
First stop on the Silk Road was Bukhara, which many travellers list as their favourite Uzbek city. It's got some cool looking buildings such as the Ark.
An old royal fortress containing an ancient town complete with mosque, reception and coronation court, the Ark is pretty impressive. Occupied from the fifth century until it was bombed by the Red Army in 1920, it is Bukhara's oldest building.
The most noteworthy buildings in Bukhara, though, would have to be the Kalon Minaret, Kalon Mosque and Mir-i-Arab Medressa. They all face onto each other so can be viewed at once. Here is a photo of me at Chashmai Mirob restaurant which undoubtedly has the best views of the three structures in town.
View from inside Kalon Mosque courtyard.
And of course we had to visit Char Minar. Not a particularly outstanding building, but it's on the front cover of the Lonely Planet so a visit was of course essential.
After spending five nights in Bukhara we got a shared taxi to Khiva with a Belgium couple we would continue to bump into throughout our time in the city.
Khiva was by far our favourite town, with the old wall surrounding the ancient city centre. The modern town of Khiva is quite large, but we barely saw any of it. Our hostel was located just inside the east gate of the Old City, and as all the sights and most of the decent eateries are situated within the Old City, we barely ventured out.
Juma Minaret
The most eye catching building would be the Kalta Minor Minaret.
Me at Bir Gumbaz cafe with Kalta Minor Minaret in the background.
It kinda looks like a chopped-in-half minaret due to construction ceasing before the structure was completed. Building of the minaret commenced in 1851 under Muhammed Amin Khan who apparently wanted to build a minaret so high it would be seen from Bukhara. With 452 kilometres between the two cities, this was an audacious undertaking. Unfortunately for the good khan, he died four years later and construction ceased, leaving the minaret in the stumpy form we see today.
One can't help but be overwhelmed by the number of souvenir stalls in Khiva. If only I had enough room in my pack for one of these!
In the desert north of Khiva there are some old forts, including the ruins of the impressive Ayaz-Qala, dating back to the 6th century.
A day tour around these old forts is cheap (around $10 per person if you have four in a car) and well worth the effort.
Be aware there are no ATMs (well, working ATMs) in Khiva and we had to make a quick dash by taxi to the larger town of Urgench to get cash out. Doh.
Be warned that the food situation in Khiva is nothing to get excited about. Unless you enjoy microwaved food. We only found one good restaurant in town, to which we inevitably kept returning when we needed a good feed. This was the Khorezm Art Restaurant, where we were introduced to a wonderful food called 'gumma', which is kind of like a deep fried potato cake, only better.
We ventured outside the walled city one night for dinner at a local restaurant. After waiting over an hour for our meals to arrive it came with meat, despite us ordering it biz myaza (without meat). When we pointed out that it had meat in it, the lady gave us a spoon so we could pick it out. We were not impressed. Keep your expectations low if you're eating outside the city walls.
After four nights in Khiva we got an overnight train to Samarkand. It's how the locals travel and it's good value for money, around $17 for the 12 hour ride.
We arrived in Samarkand at 5am and had no problem getting a taxi and checking into Bahodir B&B, just a short walk to the Registan.
Samarkand is more glitzy and expensive than the other towns, causing me to like it less. However, you can't help but be impressed by the incredible architecture which is the most impressive in all of Uzbekistan.
Tilla-Kari Medressa at the Registan.
Claire at Ulugbek Medressa at the Registan.
Shah-i-Zinda mausoleum.
Ulugbek Medressa the Registan.
Woman in trading dress at the Registan.
After three nights in Samarkand we made our way to Tashkent, the day before flying out to Astana, Kazakhstan. While there we headed to a good coffee shop for some treats and amazing wifi, after being deprived of a good internet connection for two weeks. Downloading podcasts while eating a brownie and drinking good coffee felt very luxurious.
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