Thirty kilometres or so west of Bukhara, beyond the last irrigated fields, the land turns to sand and salt crust at the edge of the Kyzylkum desert, and here a low mound of eroded mud brick rises from the flat ground. This is Varakhsha, once a flourishing town and the residence of the Bukhar Khudats, the pre-Islamic rulers of the Bukhara oasis. It thrived in the early medieval centuries, when the oasis extended further than it does today, and was abandoned around the eleventh century, probably as irrigation failed and the desert advanced.
Soviet archaeologists excavating the site in the twentieth century found the remains of a palace with spectacular wall paintings: hunters riding elephants and fighting wild beasts, processions and decorative patterns, and carved stucco panels. The originals are in museums, and on site you will find only the weathered mounds, outlines of walls and a sense of utter emptiness. It is a place for imagination and for the silence of the desert.
Bukhara itself is one of the great cities of the Silk Road, a living museum of mosques, madrasas, minarets and covered bazaars. Its old centre is a World Heritage Site, and the Kalon minaret, which impressed even Genghis Khan, still dominates the skyline. Not far from the city is the Bahouddin Naqshband complex, the shrine of the founder of an important Sufi order, a major pilgrimage destination.
Riding to Varakhsha means leaving the asphalt behind, at least for the last stretch. Desert tracks can be sandy and soft, especially in summer, and getting stuck is a real possibility. Heat is the biggest challenge: from June to August, temperatures regularly exceed 40 degrees, and there is no shade. April, May, September and October are far kinder, with mild days and cool nights. Carry plenty of water, and let someone know where you are going.
Fuel in Uzbekistan can be tricky. Many vehicles run on gas, and petrol stations may have limited supplies of higher grades, so fill up when you can in Bukhara or Romitan, which is twenty-seven kilometres away. The food is a highlight: plov, the rice dish with meat and carrots, samsa baked in clay ovens, and fresh bread. A pot of green tea in a teahouse in Bukhara, with the sun going down behind the domes, washes the dust out of your throat better than anything.