The Motherland of Roxanna

Tour itinerary:

Departure day with scheduled flight.

Arrival and transfer to the city before dawn for breakfast and hotel accommodation for a proper rest. The tree-lined streets and pastel buildings with the backdrop of majestic mountain ranges in Dushanbe are one of the nicest and certainly the most beautiful capitals of Central Asia, from the old world charm. Its name means "Monday" and comes from "the market on Monday" in fact, known since 1600 when this place was home to a simple yet little village. Visit the city, the Tajik market, very picturesque, and its Museum of Antiquities which houses the statue of a Buddha, 13 meters high which dates from 1500 years ago. Overnight at the hotel.

Iskandarkul out towards the lake. The track follows the slopes and curves of the beautiful valleys that hide Zeravchan small villages surrounded by woods and gardens full of greenery. Slowly, the track climbs up to Iskandarkul, Alexander the Great Lake, located 2195 meters above sea level. The expanse of turquoise water of 3.4 square kilometers of glacial origin, is nestled between the slopes of red mountains reaching the 4000 meters, creating a striking contrast. Walk along the lake to the beautiful, powerful waterfall. Views to no end. Dinner and overnight in the dacha.

Small settlements dot the trail clinging to the mountain pass that leads to Shrakistan. The views here do not count, of great breath, breathtaking, everywhere you look, the peaks that surround us. Then down to Ura Tepe, former Istaravshan, a city of more than 2700 years. It was the former Ciropoli, crossed by lanes and streets that suddenly reveal important monuments, sometimes very well preserved. The Sultan of medersa Abdulatif, for example, Kok Gumbaz called because of its blue dome of the fifteenth century, and the mosque and the mausoleum of Hazrat Shah-is-with its magnificent decorations in carved wood and ceramic. Dinner and overnight at a simple hotel.

Departure for Khodjend, the northern capital of Tadjikistan and the second city in the country. It would Eskhate ancient Alexandria-founded by Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC, conquered by the Arabs and then later by Genghis Khan, and several powerful of Bukhara and Kokand. Crossed by the famous Sir Daria River, the city brings together and represents all aspects of the urban village: a large central artery, old buildings, monuments of the past and a ruined citadel. Life, color and animation blend in the old bazaar and a walk among the people who attended is a must. Then drive through the main sites of attraction, to choose between 20 medersa and no less than 198 mosques. Do not miss the complex Cheik Muslihaddin, truly remarkable: a mausoleum, a medersa and a mosque minaret, with its beautiful make this place where religious worship is taken today. Yet the museum is worth a visit as one of the few statues of Lenin still standing in Central Asia, a real curiosity. Dinner and overnight at the hotel in the city.

Departure to the border with Uzbekistan and continue to Tashkent which is about 200 km. Visit the old part of the capital. The Imam Complex Khasti seems to introduce the worthy country with a great overview of monuments and men ... But why not take a look to the only metro in Central Asia, sumptuously decorated, and the bustling bazaar Tchorsu, truly immense and incredibly animated? All ethnic groups are present (more than 120 ... only in Uzbekistan) and meeting people is one of the most beautiful memories. Because both in small villages and large cities, along roads, in the countryside or in the bazaars, you can breathe courtesy, friendliness and sympathy, curiosity and desire to communicate. Really beautiful! Dinner and overnight at the hotel in the city.

In the morning transfer to airport to board flight for Urgentch. Already in the far north-western Uzbekistan, just 30 km from Khiva, desert steppe, the most isolated and most charming oasis on the ancient Silk Road. Immediate transfer and very short and perfectly preserved in the old town and hotel accommodation. The visit of the oasis is of great emotional impact and takes place along the beautiful paths that wind through old es'ingarbugliano medersa, mosques and minarets, palaces of "Arabian Nights", mausoleums and caravanserai. Kalta Minor, the incomplete minaret of the endless, delicious theories of blue and turquoise tiles, the Juma Mosque with its 218 columns of inlaid wood, the stunning Palace Harem Khaouli Tach, the Madrasa Khodja, the palace Nurullobay are just a tiny testimony opulence of a time, a small example of the architectural and artistic treasures enclosed within the walls of Kunia Ark, the great bastions of clay bricks that together with extravagant powerful also received important figures such as Al-Khawarismi, father of algebra, and Avicenna, the great physician and philosopher who was born more than a thousand years ago not far from Bukhara. Suggested an evening stroll through the streets, perhaps after a dinner-concert. Overnight at the hotel.

This day is optional and we offer two options to choose at the time of reservation.
The first
You are taken to see ancient Khorezmian clay fortresses Tuprak-kala and Ayaz-kala dating back to the 2nd century AD. If lucky, you may still find in the dust archaic debris, such as pieces of ceramics, coins and arrow heads in the gloomy dark of half-buried rooms. You will have lunch in a Yurt (nomadic tent) on the top of a hill right next to the huge clay fortress with a smaller fortification on the slopes of the hill. In the late afternoon transfer to Urgench and domestic flight to Bukhara. (the flight is not daily) Arriving in Bukhara transfer to the hotel. Overnight in Bukhara.
The second
You take a long drive (480 km, 9-10 hours) through the desert along the course of the Amudarya River to Bukhara. The rest of the day is devoted to checking in the hotel and leisure. The construction of the new road make the course little bit demanding and it takes about 9- 10 hours. Arrival in Bukhara in the late afternoon and accommodation at the hotel. Overnight in Bukhara.

Situated in the valley of Zerafshan, the city has preserved its "charm" of great real step on the Silk Road, the coveted goal of all traders at the time, an area filled with sorting and sale of various goods, carpets and jewelry, cultural hub development of Islam. Dozens are the historical monuments, the old Koranic schools, the tombs of saints, the madrassas, mosques, almost all in use, now only frequented by visitors from intoxicated refined decor, from ceramics, the bold architecture. Everything is open, the old buildings to places of worship of the past, the streets, bazaars ... and all the massive walls dominate the Ark, the mighty citadel. The day will close with a concert in an old madrassa. Dinner in the old town and overnight at the hotel.

After breakfast proceeding of the visit in Bukhara. This day we are to have sightseeing tour out of city. And transport using will be necessary for it.
You will see summer palace of Bukhara emirs Sitorai-Mokhikhosa (XIX c), Bakhaadin Nakshbandi complex and Chor-Bakr necropolis (city of shadows, which was the property of majestic religious rulers family of Djubarian sheikhs).
Don’t waste time for leisure as the rest in hotel – it will be better to walk again and again along this unique city!
Overnight in Bukhara.

Transfer of about 270 km to reach Samarkand , capital of Tamerlane. Along the way we stop at Ghidjuvan to visit the workshop of a famous traditional pottery is still in business and a small but unique museum of ceramics. And near Samarkand brief stop the mausoleum of Imam Al Bukharyi in Khartang. Lunch in Samarkand and in the afternoon begin half day tour of the city with the famous Observatory Ulugbek and frescoes of the seventh century. Prince of the fifteenth century and grandson of Tamerlane, amateur astronomer, he built an observatory built on three pioneering plans which allowed the understanding of the moon and sun. Thanks to the incredible accuracy of his sextant giant coordinates were established more than a thousand stars. Dinner and overnight at the hotel in the city.

The mythical. The main center of ancient Sogdiana, always great crossroads of trade routes from China, Siberia, Persia and the West, superbly prospered until the eruption of Genghis Khan's hordes that swept like an avalanche. Two centuries later Tamerlane made it the capital of his empire and resources to new glory. Today one cannot but be amazed by the buildings of the Registan Square, the spectacular wealth and variety of ornaments, doodle, the turquoise-blue mosaics and tiles, upturned nose, and mouth open in the dizzying alveolizzazioni portals rich shade of colored minarets that rise toward the sky. And what about the famous dome of the mausoleum of Timur ribs, the "lame", Bibi-Khanum mosque, the complex of buildings of Shaki-Zinda? Not forgetting, of course, the Grand Bazaar Syob, the most animated of the city. Before dinner, a taste of traditional dances close the day. Overnight at the hotel.

Completion of visits to Samarkand and in the afternoon departure for the capital of Uzbekistan. Dinner and hotel accommodation.

Transfer to airport and departure for Europe.