Paikend Settlement and Chor Bakh Necropolis

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Paikend Settlement

   The ancient city of Paikend lies in the desert on the edge of the Bukhara oasis, in Uzbekistan, and it is so old that the Silk Road was only one chapter of its story. Early writers called it the city of merchants. It stood on a major route between the Zarafshan river and the Amu Darya, near the sands of the Kyzylkum, and it was a fortified trading town from the early centuries BC, with a citadel, a main town and a market district, at its peak in the early Islamic period. It declined after the eleventh century, as the river shifted and Bukhara took the trade.

   Read the complete Paikend Settlement write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Paikend Settlement is where the day begins. Next is Varakhsha Settlement.

2. 2. Varakhsha Settlement

   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.

   Read the complete Varakhsha Settlement write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Varakhsha Settlement comes up about 50 km into the recorded legs. Next is Chor Bakh Necropolis.

3. 3. Chor Bakh Necropolis

   A short ride west of Bukhara, in the village of Sumitan, a complex of courtyards, mosques and family tombs sits behind high walls, with blue-tiled portals rising above the surrounding houses. This is Chor Bakr, a necropolis built around the grave of Abu Bakr Said, a descendant of the Prophet who died in the tenth century. In the sixteenth century, the Shaybanid rulers of Bukhara built a memorial complex here, with a khanaqah, a mosque and a madrasa, and the cemetery became a resting place for the powerful Juybari sheikhs, a dynasty of religious leaders with great influence over the khanate. The name means "four brothers", referring to the four Abu Bakrs said to be buried here.

   Read the complete Chor Bakh Necropolis write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 88 km into the recorded legs you reach Chor Bakh Necropolis. Next is back through Varakhsha Settlement.

4. 4. back through Varakhsha Settlement

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Varakhsha Settlement write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Varakhsha Settlement, late in the day. Next is Paikend Settlement.

5. 5. Paikend Settlement

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Paikend Settlement write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Paikend Settlement. That is the ride.