Every COLOR of Uzbekistan

Late evening arrive in Tashkent. Transfer to hotel. Check in.

We begin in this capital city, where you are first introduced to the charming culture of Uzbekistan. City sightseeing in Tashkent will include a visit to the Museum of Applied Arts and the State Art Museum to see embroideries and other fine crafts, visit Abdul Khasim Medrassah with its hujra cells used as metalwork craft workshops to produce jewellery and other goods.

After lunch we'll visit the exciting Chor-Su market to see cradles, hand-made musical instruments, and fruit and vegetable market.

After breakfast depart by road on to legendary Samarkand, the grand capital of the emperor Tamerlane. The road goes through Tashkent, Sirdarya regions and mountainous countryside of Jizzah region of Uzbekistan where you may want to make spontaneous stop for photographing.

After arriving and checking in the hotel lunch at a nice local restaurant. After lunch drive to the actual site of the ancient city of Afrosiab, and after visiting the excavation with the archeologist and director of the museum, visit the Afrosiab Museum with its excellent collection of treasures from the site.

Overnight in Samarkand.

This morning, visit the great central square of Samarkand, the Reghistan. Continue to Gur-Emir, where Tamerlane is buried, to Bibi-Khanum Mosque and also visit the nearby market.

After lunch visit Shaki -Zinda ensemble of the Mausoleums. This unusual necropolis has monuments of the 14th and 15th centuries, reflecting the development of the monumental art and architecture of the Timurid dynasty.

Dinner at a local restaurant and overnight in Samarkand.

Full day excursion to Shakrisabz, the actual birth place of Tamerlane. Visit to Ak Saray (White Palace), Tamerlane's vast residence complex built in the 14th and 15th centuries. Visit the Jehangir mausoleum, continue to the Kok -Gumbaz mosque, Dorus Tilavet and Shamseddin Kulyal Mausoleums.

Dinner at a local restaurant and overnight in Samarkand.

After breakfast we'll drive on to Nurata, once known as Nur, this ancient town held a strategic position on the frontier between the cultivated lands and desert. Nurata has retained some of the holy sites that attracted pilgrims from all over Central Asia. The ruins of a hilltop citadel in the town centre near the bazaar mark Nurata's history and said to have stood before the arrival of Alexander the Great.

Below is the chief pilgrimage site, the Chashma spring, miraculously formed when Hazrat Ali--Mohammed's son in law—struck the ground with his staff. Hundreds of holy (unfishable) fish swim in mineral packed water. The mosque for visiting pilgrims dates back to the 10th century and subsequent reconstructions have preserved the roof of 25 cupolas. An adjacent museum details local history and culture through tools, clothes and ceramics.

After breakfast we'll venture into the desert for a day of camel riding, a centuries-old mode of Central Asian transport. We will meet semi-nomadic people living in the desert and learn about their contemporary lifestyle.

After breakfast and some more camel riding depart Yangiqazgan to visit Aydarkul lake (about 250 km long) and continue on to holy Bukhara making a stop in Gizhduvan to visit the most important ceramic center of Bukhara region. If we're lucky we'll have the opportunity to see centuries old tradition of using a donkey for spinning the millstones during the process of natural dyes grinding.

Continue afternoon drive on to Bukhara and visit Suzani artist in her home on our way to see how suzanis are made by hand. Arriving in Bukhara early evening.

After breakfast we'll start full day walking tour of Bukhara to include a visit to the 2000 year-old Fortress Ark where Emirs once lived. Visit Poi-Kalon, or "Pedestal of the Great", the heart and focal point of all Bukhara then continue to the Ismail Samani Mausoleum, dating from the early 10th century and to Chashma Ayub - the Spring of Job, where according to the old Testament, Job caused water to gush from the desert.

After lunch in a local teahouse or restaurant, continue sightseeing to Magoki - Attori mosque, dating from 12th century, Medrasahs of Ulug Bek and Abdul-Asis Khan. You will also see Lyabi-Khaus otherwise known as The Shore of the Pool, an architectural complex consisting of the 16th century medrassah and a mosque and the nearby dome covered markets.

After breakfast we'll continue our drive west through Kizil Kum desert (Red Sands) to Karakalpakstan where you're invited to discover a new adventurous experience through traveling along the archaeological monuments of fireworshipers and to the first capitals of Khoresmshah's dynasty, such as Toprak-kala, Ayaz-kala, Koikirilgan-kala, Kizil-kala and many other monuments, some well over two thousand years old.

All these historical monuments are located in Amu-Darya delta, which has been densely inhabited for ages and was an important oasis long before Urgench or even Khiva were important. All these great settlements were abandoned many centuries ago and now hide within them the splendors of once great civilization.

After breakfast we'll visit Toprak-Kala and Kizil-Kala on our way to Khiva, the last great oasis on the old caravan route.

Lunch at the hotel.

The rest of the day we'll do some walking sightseeing of old Khiva.

Traditional dinner and overnight in Khiva.

After breakfast we'll continue sightseeing of Khiva, the most intact and remote city of Central Asia. Experience the richness of this museum city that houses the most homogenous collection of architecture in the Islamic world.

After breakfast drive to Urgench (capital of Khoresm region) to depart for Tashkent by air.

Upon arrival in Tashkent we'll visit the private studio with museum & workshop of Akbar Rakhimov, a local potter and one of the finest ceramic artists in the country.

Departure home.