Driving the Kyzylkkum desert to Bukhara

 It is a 7 hour drive to get from Khiva to Bukhara......and most of it is desert! SO ...very few photo opportunities! The walls of Khiva are however very impressive!

At one point we stopped to view Turkmenistan! Highlight of the drive!! If somewhat abandoned!

Late afternoon we arrived at our boutique hotel  the Minzifa...... with its beautiful courtyard and Ayvan, covered terrace!

we were delighted with the rooms we were offered.....

and the hotel itself was in a great location, easy walking to all the historic sites.

On our first evening we had dinner at the Lyabi Hauz complex, with a view over the 'Hauz', Persian for reservoir, which was great! In this case the reservoir was artificial from around 1620!!

The following day we started a more serious tour of what Bukhara has to offer!

Our first stop was to check out the Trading domes from the 16th century! The original shopping malls!

The closest one to the Lyabi Hauz was the money changers dome....Toqi Sarrafon

Money changing hands now comes from the tourists! When they return!

Then Trading dome #2  Toqi Tilpak Furushon....  originally hats, now textiles and souvenirs......

Then on to Trading dome #3 ....The Tim Abdullah Khan....... which used to be for carpets...and still has some.....but we were happy to just have a coffee there!

... but still checked out some textiles and carpets next door!

The largest dome was probably Trading dome #4, the Taki Zaragon... the original jewellers bazaar..

Near here we were given a demonstration of the Paranja, worn by all Uzbek women prior to the arrival of the Russians!

As this was always worn when out in public it must have been exteremely hot in summer when temperatures averaged 37C or about 100F!

We had lunch in a central restaurant, Dolon, where the owner allowed us to go on the roof terrace to get a good view...... the food was just OK!

 It had a great view .....from what wasn't exactly an expected rooftop terrace!

To be fair we went up an extra spiral staircase to improve the view!

The sunset view of the moneychangers dome was great!

On to Khiva.... a museum city!

 To get to Khiva .......... also known as Ichan Q'ala.....

we had to take a very early morning flight to Urgench in the north west of Uzbekistan.

Departure was on the domestic side of the airport.....buses to the plane! Only one flight per day at the moment...I kept an eye on the baggage.... 

It is quite a small airport!

Urgench airport was however even smaller.....  when we picked up baggage from the only carousel we saw a poster of the madrassah we were headed to.... the building on the right!

Then a car ride for around an hour to get to Khiva where we were still in time for breakfast!

We were staying in a madrassah which had been turned into a hotel!  The Orient Star hotel, formerly the Mohammed Amin Khan Madrassah........basic cell rooms but charming!

Great courtyard on one side.....

And a view over the city with its minarets from the bedroom!.

Then out to see the sights!

First the Ark... the old citadel.... one enters through massive doors!

Then the Ayvan.... covered area of a courtyard.........

with its beautiful tilework......

A quick look at the throne room.....

Another covered area....

...again with amazing tilework....

Of course I had to climb up on the bastion as high as possible to get this view!

Then the Juma (Friday) mosque.......

Then on to the Tash Hauli Palace.... and the Khan's harem! Not exclusively for the concubines.... it was for all women! However the Yurt was for the Khan!

The harem area.....

again beautiful tilework......

Happy to see a little less blue and turquoise at the Islam Khoja minaret...

and at the Pakhlavan Mahmoud Mausoleum... our eyes needed to re-adjust!