Bukhara

Bukhara was long revered as the holiest city in Central Asia, and it is one of the most intact Silk Road cities anywhere. While Samarkand has the Registan, Bukhara has everything else: 140 protected monuments spread across an old city that has never been abandoned, whose street plan has not fundamentally changed since the 10th century, when it was the capital of the Samanid dynasty and one of the great cities of the Islamic world.

The Kalon Minaret, built in 1127, is 47 metres of intricate brickwork that served as a lighthouse for caravans approaching from the Kyzylkum Desert and, according to legend, so impressed Genghis Khan that he spared it when he destroyed much of the city in 1220. The Lyabi-Hauz plaza, a 17th-century pool surrounded by mulberry trees and three madrasahs, is the social centre of Bukhara's old city and one of the most peaceful places in Central Asia. The Ark fortress, occupied for over a thousand years, was the seat of the emirs of Bukhara, including the one who imprisoned and executed two British officers, Stoddart and Conolly, in 1842.

The craft tradition of Bukhara (ikat silk weaving, suzani embroidery, hand-blocked textiles) is the most commercially developed of the Uzbek cities and the most accessible to visitors. The workshops on Khoja Nurabad Street are family-operated and permit viewing of the production process. Bukhara is best combined with Samarkand and Tashkent on a ten-day Uzbekistan circuit that uses the Afrosiyob high-speed train.

The old city is compact and best explored on foot. The covered bazaars, built in the sixteenth century at the intersections of trading streets, still house shops selling carpets, spices, jewellery and textiles. Each was once dedicated to a different trade: jewellers, hat makers or money changers. The Poi Kalyan complex, with the Kalon Minaret, the Kalon Mosque and the Mir-i-Arab Madrasah, which is still a working religious school, is the city's most striking ensemble, especially at sunset.

The Ismail Samani Mausoleum, built in the tenth century, is one of the oldest surviving monuments of Islamic Central Asia. Its brickwork, laid in intricate patterns that change with the light, is considered a masterpiece of early Islamic architecture. The Chor Minor, a small gatehouse with four turquoise-topped towers, is one of the most charming buildings in the city. The Bolo Hauz Mosque, opposite the Ark, has a porch with tall carved wooden columns reflected in a pool.

On the edge of the city, the Sitorai Mohi Hosa palace, the summer residence of the last emir, combines Russian and Central Asian styles. The Bahauddin Naqshband complex, the burial place of the founder of one of the most important Sufi orders, is an important pilgrimage site.

Bukhara has a long Jewish history, and the old Jewish quarter still has a synagogue and a small community. The city's cuisine includes plov, somsa baked in clay ovens, and shashlik, grilled on skewers. The tea houses around Lyabi-Hauz are the best place to relax in the evening, when the square is lit and families gather by the water.

The best time to visit is from April to June and September to October. Summer is very hot, and winter is cold, though the city is quiet and atmospheric.

The Afrosiyob train connects Bukhara with Samarkand and Tashkent, and the drive to Khiva, across the desert, takes around six to seven hours. Two full days is the minimum in Bukhara, ideally spent in one of the small guesthouses in restored merchant houses in the old city, many of them with courtyards and painted ceilings. Dress modestly when visiting religious sites.