Highlights

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Day 1: Arrival – Almaty, Kazakhstan
Arrive at Almaty’s international airport. Greet and transfer to hotel. Rest of day free.

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Day 3: Bishkek via Tamghali Gorge

Drive through Tamgahli Gorge to see the ancient sanctuary with Bronze Age primitive art. The Gorge contains numerous rock drawings and burial sites. Stop for lunch at a yurt along the road or a picnic.  On to Bishkek to visit the Osh Bazaar and time permitting to visit the Lenin Museum which holds a comprehensive exhibition of Kyrgyz culture and history.

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Day 5: Fergana Valley

The Fergana Valley is flat and quite fertile thanks to the mountains on the north and south. This is the heartland of Uzbekistan and the focus of the region’s silk industries. Once a cotton production area – now transformed into industrial zones, not particularly beautiful - but the people of this region are. A person wanting to know and understand the Uzbekistan of today should come here as it possess more than its fair share of the people, wealth and inter-ethnic tension that make Uzbekistan the most important Central Asian republic.

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Day 6: Tashkent

Drive to Tashkent. Visit the Museum of Applied Arts where you will see beautiful embroideries, wall hangings, carved furniture, ceramics and many other fine arts. Later we visit the Farmers Market, Museum of Antiquities, the old city containing mosques and medrassas from the 14^th century (Barak-khan Madrassah, Mausoleum of Kafal Shashi). If available, we will watch the evening performance at the Opera and ballet Theater.

Drive to Turkestan (about 3 hours), still today a place of pilgrimage where you will see the mausoleum complex of Khodja Ahmed Yasavi, a leader of the Moslems. Turkestan became an important religious centre under the Karakhanid Turks in the 11th century. Yasavi was a Sufi poet and teacher and the recently restored tile work in a small mosque leads to his tombstone. Tamerland intended that the outside of the building to be covered entirely of blue and green tiles, but after his death the workers stopped working. The tiling remains unfinished to this day. Rest of day free.

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Day 8, 9 and 10: Samarkand, Uzbekistan

Often called the “Rome of the Orient”, Samarkand was in its glory when Rome and Babylon were founded. Our visit will take us to the famous Registan Square, Bibi Khanum Mosque, Mausoleum of Tamerlane, Observatory of Ulugbek, the site where Uleg Bek (grandson of Tamerland, made some astronomy achievements in the 15^th century). We also visit the mausoleums of Shah-i-Zinda, a sacred Islamic shrine, the mosque of Bibi Khanym, and the bazaar.  Museums to see in these 2 days: Museum of History, Culture and Art or Afrasiab Museum

Some free time allotted for Day 9 and 10 in Samarkand to shop and to rest.

Also we will take an afternoon trip to Penjikent, gateway to the Fan Mountains. These mountains are the highest of the western Zerafshan range. We will visit the ancient of Bunjikath and the museum.

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Day 11-13: Bukara, Uzbekistan  via Shakhrisabz 

Drive to Bukara. On the way, we stop in Shakhrisabz, the birthplace of Tamerlane where we tour Ak-Saray (White Palace), Kok-Gumbaz Mosque, House of Meditation and the Crypt of Timur. During these next 2 days a city sightseeing tour of Bukara includes: Sitora-Imokhi Hosa (Summer Residence of the Emir of Bukhara), Labi-Hauz Plaza, Nadir Daivanbegi Medressa. Most of the city centre is an architectural preserve which includes many ancient public baths, a royal fortress and former medressas. Over 140 of these monuments are protected buildings today. We will see the Mausoleum of Ismail Samani, the town’s oldest structure completed around AD 905, the massive fortress, The Ark. Also a visit to the Uzbek Museum of Applied arts and of course we must see one of the many gardens and fountains. We leave time for shopping for beautiful handicrafts.

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Day 14: Khiva

A long drive (between 7-10 hours) awaits us today. We drive between the Kara-Kum (black sands) and the Kyzyl-Kum (red sands) deserts to Khiva.

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Day 15: Khiva

According to legend, a son of Noah, Shem discovered a well here in Khiva. Whether the legend is true or not is up to you –however the town itself can be dated certainly to the 8^th century as a crossroads on the Silk Road. We spend the day touring the inner old town:  Ichan-Kala, the gates and walls, the most  prominent monument of the Mongol era - Said Alautdin Mausoleum, Juma Mosque and minaret with carved wooden columns, Matpana Medressa, Tash-Hauli Palace, the Stone (harem) of Khiva rulers, the tomb of Pakhlavan Makhmud – a famous ancient wrestler poet who was declared a Saint.

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Day 16: Ashkabad, Turkmenistan  via Kunya Urgench

Drive to Kunya Urgench, then fly to Ashkabad. Rest of day free for leisure and rest.

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Day 17: Ashkabad

City tour visiting the Fortress of Ashkabad, presidential palace, Mosque of Khezrety Omar and the beautiful gardens.  We have a chance to see the History Museum or the Fine Art Museum. Some say Ashkabad is the best place in the world to buy “Bukhara” rugs, and you will have a chance to see if that is true when we visit the famous market.

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Day 18:  Ashkabad with day trip to Nisa

Nearer to the mountains above Ashgabat are the ruins of Old Nisa, the seat of the Parthian kings from the late 3century BC to the early 3^rd century AD. Old Nisa was a citadel, comprising royal palaces, temples and tombs. The site itself is panoramic looking out over the desert backed by the green mountains.

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Day 19:  Ashkabad with day trip to Merv

Merv contains many walled cities from different periods – much of which has been built over or ruined. What you do see is a landscape with an earthwork or brick structure in the middle of a field with grazing animals. Since Merv was a post on the Silk Road – it was at one time quite prosperous reaching its greatest heights during the 11^th & 12^th centuries when the Seljuqs made it their capital. We will visit the Sultan Sanjar Mausoleum and Kys Kala, an unusual windowless castle outside the city wall.

Day 19:  Depart Ashkabad