Day 1 ~ Depart U.S. on overnight flight.  

Day 2

In flight; arrival in Europe and then board transfer flight to Tashkent.

Day 3 ~ Tashkent
Arrival late this evening in Tashkent; we will meet you at the airport and after Customs and Immigration clearance, you will be transferred to your hotel for some rest. After some breakfast we will begin our exploration with a visit to the Museum of Fine Art, which contains a large collection of Suzanne and other textiles of Uzbekistan.

Days 4, 5, 6 ~ Ferghana
After leaving Tashkent, we will drive through the magnificent Pamir Alay Mountain Range and its breath-taking passes to Ferghana in the center of the ancient and picturesque Ferghana Valley.

Our  three days tour includes a visit to the city of Margilan, known for its handmade silk production. The owner of the private silk workshops will take you around and show all the stages of traditional Uzbek silk production. We will have the opportunity to visit local villages where silk moths enclose themselves in cocoons. We can also wander the colorful markets where farmers display and sell their cocoons, and have the chance to feel the world famous Uzbek’s Suzanne.

A visit to Rishtan, a village known for its traditional ceramics, is also scheduled. One of the famous local artisans – Mr. Rustam Usmanov – will lead you on a tour of  his workshop and show how a piece of clay becomes a piece of art in his hands.

 

Days 7, 8, 9 ~ Bukhara
This morning we will fly via Tashkent to Bukhara, and check into our hotel before beginning our sightseeing. Bukhara is an historic, holy, city, and much of the old city center is an architectural preserve of ancient buildings. First we will visit Karavan Saray (Trade Domes), with it’s private small workshops of Suzanne production and gold embroidery. Then we have a tour of the Gold Embroidery Factory with its museum of gold embroidery products. Here we will watch how skilled hands produce gilded public art of the Orient. 

While in Bukhara we will drive approximately 50 km to a small Vabkent town. Here we visit the house of craftswoman, Matluba Khatamova, and watch her make Bukharian Suzanne products.

Bukhara is a centre for local artisans, and we will be able to watch many at work on a variety of handicrafts at the Bukhara Artisan Development Centre.  At the Bukhara Carpet Workshop we will see silk carpets being woven on traditional platforms, and we visit some of the local markets and colorful bazaars.

Day 10 ~ Samarkand
We will continue on our way to the major Silk Road city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan's most glorious city. In Samarkand, the Samarkand Silk Carpet Workshop makes dreams from all over the world come true. Here they produce hand knotted silk carpets of the most varied styles, all in hand dyed Uzbek silk, just as they were made hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Today we will have a tour of the workshop. The carpet producing process is fascinating and in Samarkand you will have the opportunity to witness the different stages the silk yarns go through before they reflect their beauty as part of a one-of-a-kind memory from Samarkand. Then we will continue our exploration here by visiting the Registan Square with its three Madrassah, where for centuries students learned the Law of God and other secular subjects. You will see the sumptuous Tillya Kari Mosque, all covered in gold, and the Ulugbek and Sherdor Madrassah.

Days 11, 12, 13 ~ Cappadocia
This morning we will drive to Tashkent to board our flight to Istanbul and then to Kayseri in Central Anatolia. The fascinating landscape here was created centuries ago by wind and water erosion of the soft volcanic “tufa” rock, and entire civilizations once lived underground here. Construction of these underground cities, some of which were 10-15 floors deep and housed 20,000 – 30,000 people, began in Hittite times and continued through the Byzantine period. This region is covered with odd-shaped rock formations called “fairy chimneys” in which (according to legend) fairies capable of casting spells once lived. Cappadocia is famous for its carpets and kilims, and we will visit the surrounding villages to watch the local weavers and to learn about vegetable dyes.

Days 14, 15 ~ Pamukkale
En route to Konya this morning we will visit the Selcuk's Kervansary (camel palace) where caravans stopped to rest along the Silk Road trading route. While in Konya, the city where Mevlana founded the Mevlevi Order of Whirling Dervishes, our tour will include a visit to the Museum of Mevlana and than we head to Pamukkale (ancient Hierapolis) to spend the night.

Traveling west, we will arrive in the small town of Buldan which is famous for its specially woven cotton. We will spend the day in this region, visiting village homes and seeing demonstrations of their traditional weaving and dyeing techniques. The night will be spent in Pamukkale (ancient Hierapolis) which was a health spa in Roman times. The cliffs here are covered with white mineral deposits, and the thermal baths will be very inviting after a long day of exploring.

Days 16, 17 ~ Bursa
From Buldan we will continue west, stopping in the town of Odemis which is famous for its women's market where local craftswomen sell their hand made cotton and silk articles. This area is also known for its silk processing and production of fine silk thread. Heading north, we will visit Bursa, which was the first capital of the Ottoman Empire. Bursa has a history going back to 200 BC and is considered by many to be the birthplace of modern Turkish culture. It is famous for its thermal baths, and is often called "Yesil Bursa" (Green Bursa) because of the lush gardens and orchards that surround it.  Bursa is well-known for its beautiful silk cloth and handicrafts, and we will visit textile factories that produce both silk and the beautiful cotton cloth for which Turkey is so famous. We will also see some fine examples of Ottoman architecture in the Yesil Cami (Green Mosque) and the Tomb of Mehmet I, considered one of the most beautiful buildings in Turkey.   .

 
Days 18, 19, 20 ~ Istanbul
En route to Istanbul today we will stop in Hereke to visit the Hereke Carpet Museum. This city was a major center for the production and sale of silk carpets during the Ottoman period, and its carpets are legendary for their quality and beauty. We will also stop in Iznik, which is famous for its beautiful tiles. You will see exquisite examples of this tile work in the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. Your hotel is located in the Sultanahmet (old city) area near many famous sites. In Istanbul we will visit, the Turkish Islamic Museum with many beautiful old textiles, the Sadberg Hanim Museum with it is unusual costumes, the Embroidery School and carpet museums, with special arrangements for arts, crafts, and textile demonstrations, and the famous Grand Bazaar with over 5,000 shops containing beautiful carpets and antiques.

Day 21 ~
Depart for the USA.