A sacred spring oasis in the Kyzylkum Desert — Alexander the Great's fortress ruins, trout in the desert, and the gateway to nomadic yurt stays
Nurata is a small oasis town at the foot of the Nuratau range in central Uzbekistan, at the edge of the Kyzylkum Desert between Samarkand and Bukhara. The town's main feature is the Chashma — a sacred spring that has been running for over 2,500 years, now in a mosque-and-pool complex where sacred trout (which are considered holy and must not be caught) swim in the clear water. Above the town, on a rocky hill, stand the ruins of a fortress attributed to Alexander the Great (or to the Achaemenid period he conquered), now reduced to foundation walls but commanding a view over the desert plain. N…
Nurata (ancient Nur, 'light') has been a significant settlement since at least the Achaemenid period — the fortress on the hill above is locally attributed to Alexander but may predate his conquest of Central Asia in 329 BCE. The sacred spring (Chashma) has been venerated since pre-Islamic times; the current mosque complex dates to the medieval Islamic period but the spring's sanctity predates it. The town was an important waystation on the route between Samarkand and Bukhara across the northern desert. Genghis Khan's forces destroyed the settlement in the 13th century, but the spring ensured…