Our 3 days in Bukhara were nice and relaxing. We spent the morning and afternoons of each day out seeing the buildings and other sites and during the middle of the day we hid from the sun and heat in our nicely air conditioned room. The "center piece" of Bukharas list of old buildings is perhaps the Kalon Minaret which is 880 years old, stands 47 meters tall. The guide book claims that when Ghengis Kan invaded this part of the world he was so impressed by the astoundingly tall structure that he ordered it not destroyed. In addition to the minaret there are a number of famous mosques and medrasses in varying states of repair and all showing variations on the blue tiled domes and decorations. Another major building (whats left of it) is called the Ark it is the citadel or fort of the city. This is Bukharas oldest historic structure and was occupied from the 5th century until 1920 when it was bomded by the Russians. In the photos below note the unusual rounded buttreses in the outer walls.

At the hotel parking lot we ran into two different groups of Landrovers on expeditions from Europe to Mumbai, India. Both groups were part of the landrover experience program. The second group had some Range Rover hydrid vehicles with them. It will be interesting to hear how they handle the journey. We had quite a chat with both groups and found them friendly, and informative.