Making our way back to the centre of the Old Town we retraced my steps back to where I had been walking the night before. First we passed thru a couple of bazaars that had already closed up last nite.

The first was a carpet and rug bazaar. There were giant rugs of various styles hung in a giant courtyard. Unfortunately they seemed machine made and not the original hand made ones I'd seen in Turkey and some other countries.

Different regions have distinctive patterns and I'm not sure what is particular to this region. There was an authentic historic rug store but I didnt know if we could just look as I know in Istanbul they pressure you to buy, especially now as it was low season.

Leaving the rugs we now came to a jewelry bazaar

It didnt seem that safe and secure as they were just in table top display cases that anyone could just grab and run off with. I didnt look in too much detail at the items and they'd think I wanted to buy something.

Fortunately for me and the outdoor vendors the weather was marginally better now.

These werent really the types of bazaars I had imagined similar to Turkey or India and were just a ghost of their former selves

We were now back at Kalon Square, home of the famous Kalon Minor (tower), Kalon Mosque, and Madrassa, all of which I had visited last night.

When you look from the south side the tower was actually fired at with canons by the Russians in the 1920s. You can see the white circles where the impact was made.

Also when Ghengis Khan arrived he raised his head to look at the tower but his turban fell off. As he knelt to pick it up he realized it was the first time he bowed to anything so he decided to spare the tower. However, he massacred all the children so they cant take revenge.

When the engineer first built the tower the King said he wanted the tallest tower in the world. The engineer built the base and then disappeared for two years. Nobody knew if he was alive.

Then he returned and told the King before you kill me listen to why I went away. The foundation needed two years to settle thats why I had to leave or you would force me to build the tower. Now it has settled it will be much stronger and last forever.

The King agreed and let him build the tower. However it was only 43 metres tall. The reason was the architect's house was 43 metres away. If he built it any higher and the tower collapsed it would fall on his house killing him.

The tower was used as a lighthouse at night for caravan traders, for the call to prayer. and to throw prisoners tied in sacks down to their death.

One wealthy woman asked to wear all her expensive clothes when she was thrown. Luckily this cushioned her fall and she was able to walk away.

We first went into the Madrassa which is now used as a girls school and is closed to the public. Of the dozen practicing Madrassa's in Uzbekistan today only two are for girls.

I could only walk in the entrance archways which were very gothic like European Churches in their vaulted style architecture and detailed stone carvings

They sold 4000 Persian slaves to help pay for the construction. This didnt sit well with me so I asked how can you sell 4000 fellow Muslims to help pay for a religious institution???

The guide explained at the time they were considered spoils of war and these were norms for the Kingdom (although this has nothing to do with Islam). Another German tour group arrived and we could only look thru the wood railings at the interior, though it was the same as many other Madrassa's with two level alcoves

Now we entered the Kalon Mosque. This was a large outdoor courtyard with covered area at the front.

An interesting addition was the the Russians plastered the inner pillars white to make it more pleasing than just brickwork.