Khodja Nurobobod St Bukhara
Until now I haven't posted much of the rich architecture during my travels (only these in Samarkand www.flickr.com/photos/115540984@N02/49258431097/in/datepo..., www.flickr.com/photos/115540984@N02/48929016568/in/datepo...). Especially the old Silk road cities in Uzbekistan were smashing.
The image here was shot in Bukhara. This wonderful square is dominated by the large Kalyan minaret, that was build in the 12th century.
Good old Djengis Khan was so impressed by the beauty of it, that he ordered this tower to be spared, while destroying the rest of the city including killing all its inhabitants, and everything else that they could find alive.
It is also known as the Tower of Death, because until as recently as the early twentieth century criminals were executed by being thrown from the top. Yes there is a rich history around this tower!
I processed this image in this bluish way as an experiment, but there are still a lot of other shots that have the 'normal' colors.
20 September I came back from my journey over a part of the Silk Road to and through Central Asia. 4 months of traveling through 14 countries (Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran) before I flew home from Teheran. An impressive journey in countries that are extremely beautiful, with lovely and welcoming people and diverse cultures and history.
Intense traveling with more than 20000 kilometers in our mobile home on sometimes roads that hardly could be called that way. We saw many villages and cities (some wonderful, others very ugly), countries that are transforming from the old Soviet era into something more related to older cultures and the way people live, often funded by oil readily available around the Caspian sea. We saw the amazing mountains south of the Black Sea, the wonderful Caucasus, and the high mountains in the far east close to China with peaks over 7000 meter, and not to forget the (Bulgarian) Alps!
We crossed the great steppe of Kazakhstan. a drive of at least 5000 km, the remnants of lake Aral, once one of the biggest lakes of the world, saw a rocket launch from Baikonur (this little part is Russian owned), we crossed many high mountains passes, and drove the breathtaking canyon that comes from the Pamir, beginning at ca 4500 meter, and going down for ca. 400km to an altitude of 1300 meter, driving for 100's of kilometers along the Afghan border.
And then the numerous lakes with all sorts of different colors from deep cobalt blue to turquoise, and one rare spectacle in Turkmenistan where a gas crater is burning already for more than 40 years. And finally and certainly not the least to mention an enormous amount of wonderful, hospitable and welcoming people. The woman often dressed in wonderful dresses, and bringing a lot of color in the streets of almost of all countries we visited.
Khodja Nurobobod St Bukhara
Until now I haven't posted much of the rich architecture during my travels (only these in Samarkand www.flickr.com/photos/115540984@N02/49258431097/in/datepo..., www.flickr.com/photos/115540984@N02/48929016568/in/datepo...). Especially the old Silk road cities in Uzbekistan were smashing.
The image here was shot in Bukhara. This wonderful square is dominated by the large Kalyan minaret, that was build in the 12th century.
Good old Djengis Khan was so impressed by the beauty of it, that he ordered this tower to be spared, while destroying the rest of the city including killing all its inhabitants, and everything else that they could find alive.
It is also known as the Tower of Death, because until as recently as the early twentieth century criminals were executed by being thrown from the top. Yes there is a rich history around this tower!
I processed this image in this bluish way as an experiment, but there are still a lot of other shots that have the 'normal' colors.
20 September I came back from my journey over a part of the Silk Road to and through Central Asia. 4 months of traveling through 14 countries (Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran) before I flew home from Teheran. An impressive journey in countries that are extremely beautiful, with lovely and welcoming people and diverse cultures and history.
Intense traveling with more than 20000 kilometers in our mobile home on sometimes roads that hardly could be called that way. We saw many villages and cities (some wonderful, others very ugly), countries that are transforming from the old Soviet era into something more related to older cultures and the way people live, often funded by oil readily available around the Caspian sea. We saw the amazing mountains south of the Black Sea, the wonderful Caucasus, and the high mountains in the far east close to China with peaks over 7000 meter, and not to forget the (Bulgarian) Alps!
We crossed the great steppe of Kazakhstan. a drive of at least 5000 km, the remnants of lake Aral, once one of the biggest lakes of the world, saw a rocket launch from Baikonur (this little part is Russian owned), we crossed many high mountains passes, and drove the breathtaking canyon that comes from the Pamir, beginning at ca 4500 meter, and going down for ca. 400km to an altitude of 1300 meter, driving for 100's of kilometers along the Afghan border.
And then the numerous lakes with all sorts of different colors from deep cobalt blue to turquoise, and one rare spectacle in Turkmenistan where a gas crater is burning already for more than 40 years. And finally and certainly not the least to mention an enormous amount of wonderful, hospitable and welcoming people. The woman often dressed in wonderful dresses, and bringing a lot of color in the streets of almost of all countries we visited.