We had a great night sleep until 6.00. Outside the sky is clear blue, so Tim goes for his morning walk. All the sites are once again photographed, this time with some early morning sunshine on the buildings instead of rainy clouds.
We have breakfast in the guesthouse courtyard at 8.00. A nice setting. As we have already seen everything in Bukhara centre we’ll visit some mausoleums at the outskirts of the city today. So we yandex to Chor-Bakr, the place where Abu Bakr, one of the descendants of Muhammed is said to be buried. The first thing we spot once we are inside is an aviary.
So Zeno runs to the fence and is amazed by all the different birds, but the pigeons remain his favourite, so he spends most time fascinated by the different kinds of doves. The mausoleum itself is an okay building, with a nice turquoise dome, but mostly undecorated or painted white.
We take the yandex back to the city to a secret location discovered by Tim. As we walk in suspense to our destination, Olga is the first to spot the Ferris wheel. It turns out to be a permanent fair with dozens of attractions. As everyone likes views, Cleo likes Merry-go-rounds, also this high one, we go in the Ferris wheel first, this way we also get some good views of the other attractions, like the huge slide that we try next. We finish eating an icecream next to a 1000 year old mausoleum.
The Samanid mausoleum was built in the 10th century for the rulers of the Samanid empire. It is the oldest surviving Islamic building in Central Asia and the only surviving building from this empire so it’s a significant architectural example of brick architecture.
After this super nice morning (maybe our favourite morning of our travel so far), we yandex back to the old town for a really nice lunch (lentil soup, grilled vegetables, pizza and a huge burger for Cleo).
Fully fed, we walk back to the apartment, put Zeno in bed and read some in our books.
Up next, are two museums: one photography museum that gives us good inspiration, and one carpet museum where the children get more candy.
After we play a bit on the square outside of the museum (the children are entertained by a stair case and pigeons for over 30 minutes), we try our luck again at the best reviewed restaurant of Bukhara, and find a table. We take noodles, soup and grilled aubergine.
We end the day with an evening walk (Tim) and a bathing session (children) before the children go to bed, at 20 (earliest ever, but their days also start at 6), and the parents enjoy the guesthouse garden for the final night before leaving for Tashkent tomorrow.
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