Showing posts with label madrasah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label madrasah. Show all posts

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Bukhara's style

My friend Donna told me that I would love shopping in Bukhara and she was right! I love the style and the history to the goods that were found throughout this impressive, beautiful city.

It IS difficult to get more cash while in Uzbekistan though. It is also difficult to use a credit or debit card. The ATM machines are few and far between... and when you DO find one, it is most likely out of cash. I was warned of this before going and planned to bring more cash than I thought I would need... but then was charged DOUBLE the amount I was expecting to pay for the tourist visa (not sure if I had been mistaken or if I got ripped off by the guy at the airport) - but I did end up wishing I had brought even more cash with me. -- Live and learn! I was still able to enjoy myself and now have a number of items that will remind me of Bukhara and this trip  : )



I love these! I saw them hanging across doorways in many shops and restaurants:

Walking through the main entrance of one of the monuments we found what is shown below... (there are 4 walls like this, forming an enclosed square). There is a restaurant within and shopping stalls along the entire perimeter - each displaying goods in the entrance and, if interested, you can stoop through the small doorway to go into a small room and see more. 

Click on the photo below to make it bigger:

I took a panoramic photo of the shop shown above because it is so beautiful! I should have done a 360 photo so that you are able to see the entire ceiling. Many shops are in historic buildings like this. The building is massive and gorgeous. The multiple domes are just incredible... and I loved walking through a doorway into a shop in THIS! Lovely.

The sign for the madrasah shown above with the shop inside:
Kokaldosh, built in 1568 through 1569

A bazaar of carpets:

Mosques, Madrasahs, and more in Bukhara, Uzbekistan

The sights to see in Bukhara!! Wow. Wow. Wow.

Kalan Mosque - in the center of Bukhara:

The historic center of Bukhara:

The tower structure shown above is the Great Minaret - Kalyan Minor - and was built in 1123.
Reading about this minaret (click the link on the name above), it is also called Tower of Death because criminals would be thrown to their death from the top. Ghengis Khan even ordered the tower to be spared when all surroundings were destroyed - apparently because he was so impressed by the tower. Wow!



I think this is the Nadir Divan-Beghi Madrasah within the Lyab-i Hauz area:

Arabic calligraphy and beautifully detailed tiling:





Sudoku break!

Sunday, May 31, 2015

Registan Square, Uzbekistan

Registan Square was the public square in Samarkand, where royal proclamations were read aaaaaand a place for public executions (Wikipedia article here).

The Registan is enormous, stunning, and captivating. Jaime and I knew that we wanted to get to this sight, yet it was still quite incredible to walk up to from the side and have the mosques expose more and more into view.

Our first day was raining and cloudy. We went back to the Registan the next morning before departing the city and it was a beautiful blue-sky day!

Panoramic of the 3 madrasahs (Islamic schools):


Sher-Dor Madrasah


Tilya-Kori Madrasah



Looking at the front of Ulugh Beg Madrasah: