Bukhara & a few encounters

Writing from a snail-slow desktop in Khiva right now...

Arrived earlier in Khiva from Bukhara, where we spent two days. Bukhara was the best so far, a legendary Silk Road hub with amazing monument and the charming feel of a real town. Can't beat watching the sunset light in front of the Kalon Minaret, one of the most beautiful small squares you can happen to visit.

Another highlight of Bukhara was our guesthouse, Akhbar House, where the owner was a lady of infinite kindness that pampers the guests with pots of tea, fresh fruit & snacks at any time of the day. Giulia was literally adopted by this lady, who ended up sharing with her the most classical femate chit-chats while we were lazying around over there yesterday afternoon.

The lady's husband is a collector of sort, and the guesthouse also doubles as an improvised museum of clothes, gems, pottery & the like. This triggered another interesting encounter yesterday night with two Italian ladies from Milan (and they were the most stereotypical Milan ladies....). Giulia was again under the spotlight with one of the ladies starting after about 5 seconds of conversation a comparison with his own daughter ("also my daughter did this", "also my daughter did that", etc...). Worth noting that Lorenzo was completely excluded from the conversation, most likely being exchanged for either Giulia's driver, guide or similar...

Loved also the small museum of Bukhara, where Lorenzo saw a remarkable Tajik beauty, and where Uzbek clothes have been tried on us (thus realizing the "modeling career in Asia" omen)

To the 3 ladies from Ferrara (if you ever bump into this blog): we did try to look for Cafe Mazza, but it was always closed.... Evidently enjoying the profits from your frequent visits!

Finally, we also met Andrew at random in front of some monument, after having exchanged a few emails. Andrew is travelling with us into Turkmenistan.

Last but not least, when already here, we had heard two days ago some random infos on some explosion happening in Bukhara, but in practice there were no signs of it at all, and everything was good!

Tomorrow it is our last day in Uzbekistan...

(written in Khiva)