We crossed off the major sights our first day in Bukhara. Now it’s time for the slightly lesser known sights. First on the list is Char Minor (above). It’s a church that no longer allows entry, but is still quite a sight to see. It’s located right in the middle of a neighborhood of small back alleys. An old man sitting on his stoop had to point us in the right direction. The idea of ancient tourist attractions being integrated into modern life is fascinating. It would be like the Statue of Liberty occupying a few backyards in New York City.

Having found Char Minar, we went hunting for a few other sights mentioned in the Lonely Bible. The goal was to find the house of a wealthy merchant who became notorious for opposing the emir and being driven out by the Bolsheviks. In order to reach it, we had to, of course, navigate narrow back alleys.

Where’s the house?

A wrong turn brought us into Bukhara’s old Jewish quarter. We stumbled into an abandoned synagogue and then into the Jewish cemetary. Bukhara’s Jewish population has dwindled significantly, but the size of the cemetary suggests just how large it was at one point in time. Another wrong turn brought us to a dead end, where another old man was waiting with a pointing finger.

Found it

Cindy in sitting room

For lunch, we decided to mix things up and head to an Italian restaurant. One can only take so much grilled meat and hearty soup. We carefully counted our money before going. Having five pounds of cash on one’s pocket can be deceiving. You think you have enough, but you might only have enough for a coffee. Knowing that we had enough money for lunch, we ordered and waited for our food to arrive.

Disaster. The English and Uzbek sides of the menu were not aligned correctly. What I thought was cheapo pasta became pasta with shrimp. Since we’re about a bajillion miles away from an ocean, the shrimp was both unfresh and horrifically expensive. When the final bill came, it exceeded our cash supplies by about $3,000, or 60 cents. Being the amazing husband that I am, we agreed that Cindy would stay and order a coffee and dessert while I ran back to the hotel to grab more cash. An hour later, I returned to find a highly caffeinated wife who was still waiting for her dessert.

We took it easy in the afternoon after our eventful morning. Around sunset, we headed out to see the madrassa/mosque public square in the late afternoon light. After another grilled meat dinner, we watched a few Fresh Off the Boat episodes and called it a night.