FASCINATING MONUMENTS OF THE SILK ROAD (15 days)

Flight to Istanbul at 17:55-22:25 by Turkish Airlines. Then flight to Fergana at 01:10-08:05 by Turkish Airlines. Dinner and overnight on board.

Arrival in Fergana at 08:05 by Turkish Airlines, welcome by your driver outside the airport. Transfer and installation at the hotel. Breakfast. REST UNTIL NOON at the hotel. Free lunch. Walk in the national park of the city which bears the name Akhmed al Ferganiy, lived at the ix s, a great mathematician of his time and road to Marguilan. Free visit of the typical market of the city and the silk factory which is unique in the country, visit of the weaver workshop and see the procedure of weaving of famous atlas fabric, the weaving of silk carpets, cocoons and windings, the Khanakha Mosque and the city’s central market. Return to Fergana. Free dinner. Overnight at the hotel.

Breakfast. Continue on the road to Richtan and visit the ceramic workshop of Richtan, you will discover the secret and the technique of famous blue ceramics of this city, the palace of Khoudoyor Khan, the Friday mosque and the Royal cemetery. Free lunch. Drive to Tashkent, this afternoon you will cross the Tian Shan Mountains, stop at the side of the road and on the summit to take beautiful photos, arrival and installation at the hotel. Free dinner. Overnight in hotel.

Breakfast. Continue on the road to Richtan and visit the ceramic workshop of Richtan, you will discover the secret and the technique of famous blue ceramics of this city, the palace of Khoudoyor Khan, the Friday mosque and the Royal cemetery. Free lunch. Drive to Tashkent, this afternoon you will cross the Tian Shan Mountains, stop at the side of the road and on the summit to take beautiful photos, arrival and installation at the hotel. Free dinner. Overnight in hotel.

Breakfast. Transfer to the airport to take the flight at 06:45-08:15 by HY-53 Tashkent – Ourguentch. Arrival in Ourguentch, welcome by your driver. Drive through the desert of Kyzyl Kum to the old fortresses of Khorezm. In the vicinity of Ayazkala, archaeologists have actually discovered the remains of more than 40 citadel towns, but only the remains of the two best preserved cities are visited. Lunch under the yurt. After crossing the Amou Daria, you will discover successively the fortresses of Kyzylkala, Toprakala seat of the Khorezm dynasties then the Ayazkala fortresses with its two fortresses in ruins. Drive to Khiva, arrival and installation at the hotel. Free dinner. Overnight at the hotel.

Breakfast. Free (walking) tour through the entrance door of the Ata darvaza Fortress (Itchan Qala – Inner City). The architectural monuments of the fort were erected during the X- 18th centuries and are kept in good condition until today. You visit the truncated minaret Kalta Minar, the Mohamed Aminkhan Madrasa, the king’s seat and the ancient Kounya Ark palace, the medarsa of Mohamed Rahimkhan, the mausoleum of Said Alouddin, the mausoleum of Pahlavan Mahmud and the minaret of Islamkhodja. Free lunch. Continuation of visits by Jouma mosque, Caravan saray, Toch Khavli palace and Harem Khan. Free dinner. Overnight at hotel.

Breakfast. Drive to Gijduvan, famous for its ceramics school, visit the ceramics workshop. Continuation of the journey to Nourata, through the great desert of Kyzyl-Kum. Arrival in Nourata and discovery of the city: the sacred fish pond; the mosque and the remains of the Sogdian citadel. After the free lunch, you will reach the shores of Lake Aydarkul, an opportunity for those who wish to swim in the waters of the lake. Departure for Yangigazgan, place of gathering of nomadic peoples of the desert of Kyzyl-Koum. Installation in the yurt camp. Then, camel ride in the desert and meet a family of nomadic camel breeders. In a magical place, you will watch the sunset before heading to your home in the middle of the desert: a real khazak yurt where you will spend the night. Traditional dinner with vodka and khazakh songs around the fire. Night under the yurt.

Breakfast. You will begin the free (walking) tour of the Ismail Samani Mausoleum, the city’s vegetable and dried fruit market, then you will see the Mausoleum of Chachma Ayoub, one of the most venerated monuments of the city, the Bolo Khaouz mosque built in the 18th century, Reghistan Square for a visit to the Ark Citadel, the oldest of Bukhara’s buildings. Free lunch. Then visit the Ouloug Beg (1417) madrasa built by the prince astronomer of Samarkand and the madrasa Abdul Aziz Khan (1654) which faces the previous one, the Magoki-Attari mosque, in the heart of the city, you will admire the Poyi Kalyan ensemble, the Mir Arab madrasa (1535) and the Great Mosque built in 1514. Free dinner. Overnight in hotel.

Breakfast. Free visit (on foot) from outside the city of Bukhara. You go to the Bakhouddin Naqshbandi ensemble that was the great suffocation of Central Asia, to the summer palace of the emir of Bukhara - Sitoraï Mohi –Khossa, to the small Chor Minor (1807) with its four minarets surmounted by blue-turquoise domes. Free lunch. Afternoon visit of the puppets of Bukhara and the synagogue, then free time for personal discovery. Optional: Dinner with the show of dances, traditional songs and fashion show in the medersa Nadir Devanbegui. Overnight at the hotel.

Breakfast. Drive to Nourata. At the side of the road you visit the water tank (Sardoba) and the ruins of the Caravan Saray of the XII century Rabbati Malik, the paintings engraved on the rock that is right by the road. Arrival in Nourata. Free lunch. Free visit of the city of Nourata where you will find the ruins of an old fortress that is erected at the time of conquest of the Greeks (Alexander the Great). You will visit the Nourata complex, which includes two mosques, a sacred and healing spring whose water is very rich in various natural minerals. You continue to the village of Yanguigazgan, the village of the Kazakh shepherds. Drive to Yanguigazgan. Arrival and installation under the yurt. Possibility of walking in the desert or camel riding. Dinner accompanied by vodka and songs of a Kazakh shepherd and night under the yurt.

Breakfast. Free visit (on foot) with the parchment workshop of Samarkand (produced in the ancestral way of the mulberry bark), the silk carpet factory and the observatory of Ouloug Beg. Free lunch. Free visit (on foot) of the museum of Afrociabe with its frescoes dating from the VII and VIII centuries, churches: Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Armeniene. Then free time for personal discovery. Transfer to the train station for the «Afrosiyob» fast train at 17:00 or 18:00, arrival in Tashkent at 19:10 or 20:10, welcome by your driver. Free dinner. Transfer to hotel. Overnight at hotel.

Breakfast. Free (walking) French-speaking tour of Samarkand: You will start your visit with the mosque of Bibi Khanoum, the central market of the city «Siyob», the mausoleum of our first President Islam Karimov and the necropolis Shakhi Zinda where each mausoleum is covered with a turquoise blue dome entirely decorated dating from the 11th–15th centuries. Free lunch. The following visits

free by the parchment workshop of Samarkand (produced in the ancestral way of the bark of the mulberry tree), the silk carpet factory and the observatory of Ouloug Beg, the museum of Afrociabe with its frescoes dating from the VII and VIII centuries. Optional: Musical show and presentation of historical costumes in Samarkand Free dinner. Overnight at the hotel.

Breakfast. Drive to Chakrisabz, the birthplace of Tamerlan. Free visit of the gate of the White Palace – Ak Sarail de Tamerlan, the Dorout Tilovat complex which consists of mausoleums Chamsiddin Koulol and Gumbazi Saidon, the Kok Gumbaz mosque, and the second Dorus Siyadat complex consisting of the Hazrati Imam Mosque and the mausoleum of Jahangir Sultan, Timour’s eldest son. Free lunch. This afternoon you will discover the most beautiful landscape of the country by crossing the mountains of Pamir, stop to take beautiful photos. Return to Samarkand. Free dinner. Overnight at the hotel.

Breakfast. Free visit (on foot) with the mausoleum Gour Emir and the whole Reghistan with the Ouloug Beg (15th century), the Sher Dor (17th century), the Tillya Kari (17th century). Free lunch. Visit of churches: Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Armenian, Samarkand Regional Museum, the old house of a Jew. Then free time for personal discovery. Free dinner. Overnight at the hotel.

Breakfast. Then transfer to the international airport for the flight to Istanbul at 05h40-08h50 by Turkish Airlines. Then flight to Paris at 10h05-12h45 by Turkish Airlines. Formalities and customs control.