Deggaron Mosque and Dabusiya Settlement

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Deggaron Mosque

   In the village of Hazara, in the Zarafshan valley between Bukhara and Samarkand, stands one of the oldest mosques in Central Asia. The Deggaron mosque dates from the eleventh century, and from the outside it looks almost humble: a square, squat brick building with a cluster of low domes. Inside, it is a revelation, with massive brick columns supporting a forest of small domes and arches, the brickwork laid in patterns that play with light and shadow. It is a rare survivor of the pre-Mongol architecture of the region, and it forms part of the Silk Roads listing for the Zarafshan-Karakum corridor, inscribed by UNESCO in 2023.

   Read the complete Deggaron Mosque write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Deggaron Mosque is where the day begins. Next is Mir Sayid Bakhrom Mausoleum.

2. 2. Mir Sayid Bakhrom Mausoleum

   Navoi is a strange and rather brilliant city. It does not appear on any old caravan map, because it was founded in 1958 in the middle of the Kyzylkum desert, to house the workers of the gold and uranium industries and to give the Soviet planners a clean slate. It was named after Alisher Navoi, the fifteenth-century poet who wrote in Chagatai Turkic and who has become the national literary hero. Wide avenues, tidy parks and rows of apartment blocks give it the air of a model town, and in the heat of the afternoon it is remarkably quiet.

   Read the complete Mir Sayid Bakhrom Mausoleum write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Mir Sayid Bakhrom Mausoleum comes up about 36 km into the recorded legs. Next is Dabusiya Settlement.

3. 3. Dabusiya Settlement

   Halfway along the old road from Samarkand to Bukhara, where the Zeravshan valley widens into irrigated plain, there is a ruined town called Dabusiya. The Sogdians founded it, and it grew into a staging post on the Silk Road, where caravans paused for water, fodder and trade. The Arabs reached it in the early eighth century and the town held out and changed hands as the region went through conquest and conversion. By the Middle Ages it was a modest brick town with a citadel, a mosque and workshops. The Mongols and later shifts in the river sealed its decline.

   Read the complete Dabusiya Settlement write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 77 km into the recorded legs you reach Dabusiya Settlement. Next is back through Mir Sayid Bakhrom Mausoleum.

4. 4. back through Mir Sayid Bakhrom Mausoleum

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Mir Sayid Bakhrom Mausoleum write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Mir Sayid Bakhrom Mausoleum, late in the day. Next is Deggaron Mosque.

5. 5. Deggaron Mosque

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Deggaron Mosque write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Deggaron Mosque. That is the ride.