Day 6

Left Samarkand and drove through the country side.  Lots of agriculture, lots of donkeys and nicely kept up villages.  First stop was a caravanserai.  Ruins from 11^th century.  Quite large. Then to a ceramic factory (family) and lunch there.  Then to Bukhara and our hotel (Edem Plaza – don’t ever stay there!) Not exactly 5 star.  A couch blocking half the entrance hallway and you had to walk on the couch to get to one bed.  Bukhara is a large metropolis and very modern. Then we toured.  Mosques, mausoleums, a fort, etc. It was very hot – probably around 97F, which made sightseeing difficult. Dinner was pizza in Italian joint.  We then went for a walk to old town in search of Chor Minor, a cute mosque Bo had read about.  No way we were going to find it so Bo asked a little old lady in Russian if she knew where it was. She said she lived right by it and would take us there. Old town streets (alleys) were narrow and dark.  It was scary walking in the dark in winding alleys. We had visions of never finding our way back.  At some point Al wanted to turn around because he thought that it could be a trap and we may be robbed and killed in some dark alley. However, our lady guide kept encouraging us to follow her and saying we were quite close. We finally got to the mosque but it was dark, way too dark to see it or take any decent pictures. Fortunately, our friend said she would take us back.  She was very friendly and invited us to her place for tea.  We declined, but she was so nice and chatty that we took a picture together and exchanged phone numbers. She told us that her name was Masha and she was 56, had 3 children and 8 grandchildren.