We boarded a fast train in Samarkand this morning – destination Bukhara.  Bukhara feels most like a Silk Road destination than the other locations we have visited.  Perhaps beause it is smaller, or perhaps because we are staying in the old city and most of the preserved sites are within a short hike of our hotel.  I will add – that a short hike involves walking in 100+ degree weather – even after 8pm at night!

Bukhara was a prominent stop on the Silk Road trade route between the East and the West, and a major medieval center for Islamic theology and culture. There are still hundreds of well-preserved mosques, madrassas, bazaars and caravanserais, dating largely from the 9th to the 17th centuries.