Description of the tour

Roots are important in a man's life, but we men have legs, not roots, and legs are made to go elsewhere.

(Pino Cacucci)

PEOPLES AND CULTURES OF UAZBEKISTAN

11 days 10 nights

Itinerary: Tashkent – Khiva – Bukhara – Nurata – Aydarkul - Samarkand – Shakhrisabz –Samarkand - Tashkent

     The program may be subject to changes on the departure date

         • day 01 Welcome to Uzbekistan.

  Tashkent

  Landed in Uzbekistan, meeting with the guide and transfer to the hotel. You are in ancient Transoxiana which for centuries was a meeting point between East and West, between the nomadic tribes of the steppes and the great civilizations of the great Asian empires and along which the famous Silk Road developed.

  City overview

• day 02 The Pearl of the Orient.

Tashkent - Urgench - Khiva

Take off for Urgench which can be reached in 1 hour and a half, and from here you travel the 30 km that divide you from Khiva, a tiny oasis. We spend the day in Ichan Kala, the ancient part of Khiva, a UNESCO heritage site, a 2,500-year-old museum-city which houses the best examples of Uzbek architecture decorated with blue, turquoise and floral-patterned majolica. We visit Kukhna Ark, the fortified residence of the rulers, the medressa of Muhammad Amin Khan, the squat minaret of Kalta Minor, the medressa Muhammad Rakhim Khan, the mausoleum of Sayid Allauddin, the mausoleum of Pahlavòn Mahmud, the medresses Shir Gazi Khan and Islam Khodja , the minaret and the museum.

• day 03 Water and the desert.

Khiva - Bukhara km 450 Km 450

Departure by coach for Bukhara, crossing the Red Desert, following the route of the ancient caravaners along the legendary Silk Road. The journey takes approximately 7 hours. Lunch in a rest-house along the route. After the Amu Darya river we encounter a plain cultivated with cotton and fruit plants. Arrival in Bukhara in the afternoon and free time.

  • day 04 The city of saints.

Bukhara

-Breakfast

We spend the day in glorious Bukhara, a UNESCO heritage site, the ancient capital of the Samanid kingdom with a still inhabited and intact historic center where the color ocher predominates. The visit touches on the remains of the walls, the Ark royal residence, a sort of city within the city, the medieval Registan square, the Bolo-Khauz mosque, the domes of the covered bazaars, the medresses of Ulugbek and Abdul Aziz Khan, the Magoki-Mosque Actors and finally the Chor Minor building.

After lunch we go to the oldest monument, the mausoleum of Ismail Samani, and then visit the mausoleum of Chashma-Ayub and the imposing architectural complex of Poi-Kalon, with the 47 meter high Kalon minaret.

    • day 05 The mysticism of Sufism.

Bukhara

- Breakfast

Visit the monuments in the surroundings of Bukhara; - Bahouddin Naqshbandiy complex (20 km) is the founder of the Naqshbandiya Sufi brotherhood. The complex is the place of worship for the entire Islamic world, - visit to the summer residence of the last emirs of Bukhara Setorai-Mokhi-Khossa, - visit to the Chor-Bakr necropolis.

Stop for lunch, after lunch visit to the house of the local artisans who embroider the "suzane" and free time.

• day 06 A leap back to prehistoric times.

Bukhara-Ghijduvan-Nurata-Aydarkul

-Breakfast

Departure for Nurata via Gijduvan. The following visits are planned along the route; stop in Vobkent for the Vobkent minaret built in 1196.

  Stop in Ghijduvan to visit the ceramist's house to study local ceramics, stop in Karmana to visit the Sardoba (water reserve) and the remains of an 11th century caravanserai, stop to see the early-era rock carvings.

Arrival in Nurata and lunch in a traditional house. After lunch, visit the two mosques of Nurata, a water source and the remains of Alexander the Great's military fortress.

After the visits, departure for the Yurt camp (70 km). Accommodation in the Yurts, time for camel riding.

Dinner in the camp, after dinner you enjoy the evening around the fire listening to the folk music of the Kazakh nomads.

Overnight stay.

• Day 07 Samarkand!

  Aydarkul-Samarkand

- Breakfast.

After breakfast, visit the Aydarkul artificial lake (300km long and 70km wide), walk on the beach, swim in the lake. Picnic lunch on the lake.

After picnic lunch, departure for Samarkand.

Arrival in Samarkand and hotel accommodation.

• day 08 City of Orata.

Samarkand

We go to discover the Garden of the Soul, Samarkand, a UNESCO heritage site, the city with the sparkling blue mosaics of the monuments which give it a magical and poignant atmosphere. A meeting point between the Greek and Indian worlds, inhabited by Alexander the Great who understood its strategic importance along the Silk Road, in the 14th century it was chosen by Tamerlane as the artistic, cultural and commercial capital of his immense kingdom. We visit the medieval observatory of Ulugbek, the mausoleum of Khodja Daniar, the Afrasiab museum, the set of mausoleums of Shakhi Zinda, the blue and turquoise Bibi Khanum mosque, the largest in Central Asia, the colorful Siab market and the Gur-Emir mausoleum where Tamerlane is buried. After lunch we continue to Piazza Registan, the heart of the city with three sumptuous medresses studded with majolica, gold and lapis lazuli.

   • day 09 The Emperor's hometown.

  Samarkand - Shakhrisabz - Samarkand 180 km

We leave for Shakhrisabz, a UNESCO heritage site, the birthplace of Tamerlane who transformed it into a kind of family monument. We continue the visit to the remains of the Ak-Saray imperial palace with its immense 38 meter high portal decorated with mosaics, the Tamerlane pedestrian park, the Dorus-Siodat and Dorut-Tilovat funerary complexes and the Kok-Gumbaz mosque. Then retracing the steps of the ancient merchants along the Silk Road, passing the Karatakhtacha pass (1600 meters high), you reach Samarkand, where you go to visit the "Meros" center on the outskirts to see the production of hand paper.

• day 10 “City of Stone”.

Samarkand - Tashkent 300 km 300 km

We leave by coach for Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, which can be reached in about 4 hours. Once we reach our destination we have lunch and visit the modern and monumental part of the city, also traveling by metro to admire its richly decorated stations: Independence Square, the Opera House, the Khast Imam complex with the ancient Koran, the madrasa of Barak Khan.

• day 11 Happy return home.

Tashkent 

Transfer to the airport in the very early hours of the morning to land in Italy during the morning.

Tour route