Bukhara is the holy city of Central Asia, hiding more than 140 architectural monuments behind its clay facades: the Ark fortress, from which emirs ruled for over two thousand years; the Kalyan minaret, spared even by Genghis Khan; the trading domes and the cosy Lyabi-Hauz square, where life flows as unhurriedly as it did centuries ago. This is a city of scholars, merchants and poets — Avicenna wrote here, and caravans from half the world came to trade.
Bukhara must be lived on foot: from the walls of the Ark to the Poi-Kalyan ensemble, then under the vaults of the trading domes, where coppersmiths and carpet weavers work in the very spots their great-grandfathers did, and by evening to Lyabi-Hauz for tea by the pond beneath ancient mulberry trees. Don’t miss the toy-like Chor-Minor with its four turrets, or the emir’s summer palace Sitorai Mokhi-Khosa, where Oriental opulence meets Russian Art Nouveau. At night the city transforms: the floodlit Kalyan minaret is one of the most powerful sights in all Uzbekistan.
A local guide’s advice: Bukhara deserves two days — one for the great ensembles, another for slow wandering and the craft workshops. The old town is compact, so walk everywhere and don’t be afraid to turn into the residential mahallas: that is where the real Bukhara lives. Spring and autumn are the best seasons; in summer, plan your walks for morning and evening and hide from the midday heat in the shade of the domes and teahouses.
