Bukara - The Pillar of Islam

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I spend two days spent in Bukara visting Madrassas and Mosques. Sublime architecture with stunning tile work and madrassahs with wonderfully simple rooms. The Kolon Mosque is massive and gives a real sense of the power of Bukara as a seat of Islamic learning. In addition i'm quite impressed by the density of madrassas in Bukara as it clearly signifies the strenght and influence it must have had over islamic scholarship across the wider Muslim world.

I met a delightful Uzbek family who took me out to Bakhautdin Naqshband Mausoleum who was the famous 14th century founder of an influential Sufi order. I then ate with them before listening to Jamchit play at the Bukara Palace Hotel.

The next day I fasted as its ramadam to try it out which was really quite hard. My only slip was tea with some small boys and their grandmother in the old town at about 1030. So by the time sunset came I was staving. An interesting experince and one the gives me a little more respect for muslims during the month. Interestingly, the custom features very softly in Uzbekistan with most people eating and drinking without any concern. This is certainly true within the cirles I've been moving but perhaps in the villages and particularly in the Ferganna valley it might be stronger.

Easily the best monumentI visited was the small 11th century Ismail Samanid Mausoleum. Detail will follow latter when I get near a decent computer with a nice fast internet connection. Who knows when that will be.

My staple diet is grilled meat, plov or soup with lots of bread and delicious salads with basil, tomato and onions. Transport to Bukara was shared taxi with Refael and Claire from France with a Uzbek bloke from Tashkent who could speak pretty good english. 50,000 som which is about $30US for the three of us. Transport from Bukara to Samarqand was collective taxi and cost me 20,000 som to the hotel. I shared with a Russian Bride and an Turk Husband.

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Photos

Kolon Mosque and Minaret
16th century Mosque and 12th century Minaret