Day 54: Lake Aral - Nukus

Lake Aral greeted us with a beautiful sunrise and after an almost luxurious outdoor breakfast we started to head back to Nukus atop the western plateau of the sea. Highlight of the day was the infamous ship graveyard at Moynak, from where canned fish used to be shipped also over the Soviet Union. Now it is several hours of driving away from any water... In the late afternoon we even managed to get into Savitzky Museum, an important collection of early 20th Uzbek and Russian modern art that maybe only survived the decades because it was kept so remote for a long time...

Day 53: Nukus - Lake Aral

We left Nukus in the morning, heading North towards Lake Aral. On the way we stopped d Mizdahkan Complex and a fishing village at Sudochie lake. Reaching the shoreline of Lake Aral in the late afternoon we could hardly see the horizon as the haze from evaporation smoothed our everything between the mirror-like lake and the blue sky...

Day 52: Chiva - Nukus

We had a closer look at old Chiva with a guide today. In the afternoon we headed for Nukus, but not without stopping at Ayazqala and Toprak-Qala, two ancient desert fortresses built out of clay.

Day 51: Buchara - Chiva

Back on the road to Chiva - a part of the road not too far way from the border to Turkmenistan was more of a suspension test track, but otherwise we arrived fine after six hours. We spent the afternoon strolling the old city, always trying to catch a bit of shade... During rooftop dinner & drinks we could also see the first hot air ballon of this trip!  

Day 50: Buchara

Another day in Buchara: we went to the Summer Palace right outside the city before completing yesterday’s sightseeing tour through the old town. Auto highlight of the day: A VW T3 bus, quite worn down, but maybe the third VW at all since we arrived in Uzbekistan a few days ago.