Camel Riding Tour in Uzbekistan

Breakfast. Transfer to the airport. Flight to Bukhara. Pick up and transfer to the hotel. Accommodation.

Breakfast.

Sightseeing excursion in "The Old City": Bukhara has kept a medieval lay-out, thanks to which, each building, each house on its curve narrow small streets, bears in itself charm of olden time. Here time borders are erased, here you lose sensation of time ... the City architecture includes acquaintance to such monuments, as:

• Ensemble Lyabi-Hauz: khanaka and madrassah of Nadir Divan Begi (16 c.), Kukeldash madrassah (15 c.), the monument of Khoja Nasreddeen.
• Visiting the centre of Development of Bukhara's crafts, located in a caravansarai Sayfiddeen. Crafts: weaver's workshop, woodcarving, stamping, painting on a tree, Central Asian miniature, carpetweaving (from time immemorial, from generation to generation, secrets of skill of handicraftsmen were transferred. This tradition is alive until now).
• Walk under trading domes of the 16th century: Toki Sarraffon, Toki Telpak Furushon, Toki Zargaron, where handicraftsmen (jewellers, miniaturists and others) sell their products.
• Mosque of Magoki Attori (12-16 centuries) - was built where in ancient time were temples of fireworshipers. It is one of the three monuments in Bukhara, left safe after Genghis Khan's invasion.
• The ensemble of Gau-Kushon (16 c)
• Caravansarais of Bukhara
• Tim of Abdullakhan (16 c.) - the covered market used for trade by expensive silk fabrics.
• Madrassah of Ulugbek (15 c.) - constructed by Tamerlan's grandson. At the entrance there you can see an inscription in Arabian , words of the prophet Mohammed: "Aspiration for knowledge is a duty of each muslim man and woman"
• Madrassah of Abdullazizkhan (17 centuries)
• Mosque Kalyan (Big mosque)(16 c.)
• Functioning madrassah of Mir-i-Arab (16 c) - where studied the head mufti of Russian Moslems Ravil Ghaynuddeen and decedent president of the Chechen Republic Ahmad Kadyrov, who was mufti before.
• Minaret Kalyan - the symbol of Bukhara, throughout centuries served as a beacon for caravans in the desert, which made their way to Bukhara. Other name of the minaret - "death tower", according to one of legends, in mediaeval time from this minaret were thrown down adulteresses and Bukhara freethinkers.

Lunch at the national restaurant.

Continue the excursion:

• Ark-Citadel - majestic fortress, the habitat of governors of Bukhara, stronghold of might and power (1 century BC - 19 c)
• Bolo-Hauz Mosque (18 c.) - a quarter mosque
• Mausoleum of Chashma Ayub (12 - 16 centuries), inside which there is a spring of healing water of saint Iova (Ayub)

Visiting markets: fruit, dried fruits, nuts, spices.

• Mausoleum of Samanids (10 c.) - the pearl of Central asian architecture, the family tomb of Samanids' dynasty.

Dinner in the chaykhana (teahouse) on the bank of the age-old pond Lyabi-Hauz.

Overnight.

Breakfast.

The country excursion:

• The necropolis of Bahauddin Nakshband (located 10 km from Bukhara) - is a buried place of Sufi mystic of the "nakshbandiya" order. Bahauddin Nakshband is admired in all Sufi Muslim world as sacred.
• Sitora-i-Mohi Hosa (located 4 km from Bukhara) - a summer palace of the last emir of Bukhara (19 century).

Lunch in chaykhana "Chor-Bakr" (some kinds of shish kebab, ballaza-nakhot - Bukharian shurpa (soup), which is cooked all the night long).

Continuation of excursion:

• Necropolis of Chor-Bakr (10-16 c.) - "the city of shadows", a family residency of spiritual leaders of an awardВ  of "nakshbandia" (located 4 km from Bukhara).
• Madrassah Chor Minor (19 c.) - is a tiny madrassah with four different minarets.
• Khanaka Fayziabad (16 c.) - a dervish monastery .
• Khanaka Baharzi and Buyan Kuli Khan (13 c.) - uniquely saved monument of 13-th century, the mausoleum of sufy and its student, the Mongolian khan who converted to Islam.

At 07:00 pm dinner and a folklore concert in age-old madrassah Nodir Devan Begi. The ancient building of the 16 century, where the concert take place, is one of the most beautiful and richly decorated madrassah. During the concert you will see performance of the national philharmonic society, performing national Uzbek dances in live musical accompaniment, and the demonstration of fashionable clothes made from handwork fabrics with national elements - harvest of creative imagination of Bukhara designers. (You may reserve a table for dinner during sightseeing excursion through your guide.)

Overnight.

Breakfast.
Departure from Bukhara to Sarmysh mountains (185 km).
Cotton fields and vineyards strech out along the route.

At will you can stop in the city Vabkent (20 km from Bukhara) for independent sight-seeing the minaret and the mosque of the 12th  century.

Further we move on the steppes of Malik-chul ("the royal steppe") where we can see the surviving facade of the caravanserai  of 13th  century (Rabat-Malik) and sardoba - an ancient underground structure for storing water in a desert environment.

Self-dependent sightseeing in the gorge Sarmysh. Watching the rock gallery of petroglyphs (1 hour). Gorge Sarmysh is considered one of the largest in the world of the  rock art galleries. More than 3500 petroglyphs (from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages) is concentrated at the distance of 2 kilometers. This image of animals and humans painted by a man on the rocks of ancient times

Transfer to Nurata (64 km) - small town with age-old history, placed among Kyzylkum desert and chain of Nurata mountains.

Fictitious disposal of Hassan and Hussein - Shia prophets, grandsons of the Prophet Muhammad. The graves of saints with such large sizes are often caught in Uzbekistan. According to one of the researchers, these have been found the remains of Atlantis.

Around Nurata you can meet ruins of an ancient fortress. Once there was a garrison of Alexander, there are rooms of the soldiers, watchtower. Among the local residents you can meet many blue-eyed, blond, red-hair people, perhaps the descendants of Turkic tribes or the Greeks.

According to the historian Narshahi "Nur" (from the Arabic - "light") - an ancient settlement. According to the legend in 9th  century, here come Iraqi missionary by name of Ahmad ibn Muhammad, and brought Islam, which the locals adopted without coercion. There is the tomb of his daughter Nurgul here too. Local people believe that the most important wealth, which God has endowed them, are pure water and Islam.

Around town, there are many sources of crystal clear water. The sacred fish marinka inhabits here.

In Nurata there is the complex - a place of worship of the local residents. The complex consists of the monastery of dervishes, with rooms for ten and forty-day retreat, 16th  century's mosque, erected in 1580 by Adbullakhan Sheibani, in place of fireworshipers' temple (preserved foundations of 9th century), as well as the bath of 16th century.
Observation of the complex is about 1 hour.

Transfer to the yurt camp (75 km). Arrival in yurta camp in the desert.

Breakfast.

Breakfast.

Sightseeing excursion in Samarkand - one of the most majestic cities of Uzbekistan, the beloved capital of the great Tamerlane:

• Mausoleum of Gur-Emir (14-15 centuries) - there are the tombs of Tamerlane and his family in it.
• Registan Square (15-17 centuries): the madrassah of Ulugbek, Tilla-Kori, Sher-dor.
• Mausoleum of Shahi Zinda (12-15 centuries): there is one of the alleged graves of Kusama ibn Abbas (cousin of Prophet Muhammad) here.
• Alekseev's Orthodox Cathedral, built in 1912. In 1996 it was re-lightened by Patriarch Alexei II.

Lunch at chaykhana (Samarkandian pilaf).

Continue the excursion:

• Bibi Khanum Mosque (14 c.) - built in honor of the beloved wife of Tamerlane.
• Ulugbek's Observatory (15 c.) - astronomer, scientist, ruler, beloved grandson of Tamerlane, who was killed on the orders of his own son.
• Mausoleum of saint Daniel. According to legend, Tamerlane in his campaign to Asia Minor, made a pilgrimage to the mausoleum of the saint and decided that his capital Samarkand should be rich and prosperous too, and the remains of the saint with great honors sent to Samarkand.

Dinner. Overnight.

Breakfast. Transfer to Tashkent (350 km) by car.
Arrival in Tashkent. Lunch at the restaurant. Accommodation in the hotel.

Sightseeing excursion in Tashkent: In 1966 the strong earthquake in Tashkent completely destroyed the old part of the city, but the little, what was saved makes a strong contrast with the architecture of modern Tashkent.

Old City:
• Hazret Imam Square (16 c.)
• Kafal al-Shashi mausoleum (16 c.)
• Madrassah Barak Khan (15-16 c.)
• Mosque Namazgoh (19 c.)
• Mosque Tillya Sheik (19 c.)

Modern City:
• Memorial of the victims of repressions
• Kukeldash madrassah (16 c.)
• Abul Kasim Sheik mausoleum (19 c.)
• Monument to Alisher Navoi and the park with lake

Dinner in the restaurant "Caravan". Overnight.

Breakfast. Transfer to the airport. Departure from Tashkent.