Samarkand, a legendary city on the Great Silk Road, capital of mighty warlords and romantic home for renowned poets, still shines as the brightest star among historical and cultural centers of the present world.
	Samarkand's favorable geographic location, comparatively mild climate, abundance of rivers and springs with sweet water brought Stone Age people here. In the Bronze Age 3,500 - 5000 years ago inhabitants of the area were making fine bronze bracelets and tools.
	2300 years ago Alexander the Great approached the city walls with his invincible iron phalanx and was amazed at the beauty of its buildings and the size of its fortress. He had to siege the city several times. Still, his rule had only become stable here when he established family connections with locals (he married a girl from local aristocracy.) In 712 AD Arabs besieged the city. Led by Kuteiba, they used 300 catapults and battering rams to break through the fortifications and after a month of stubborn fighting the city fell. Arabs looted and razed the city; thousands of citizens were driven into slavery. By 1220, Samarkand was on a rise again. The word about marvelous buildings, gardens and mosques, precious stones and jewelry, fine silk fabrics and skillfully designed clothing was spread around and the wealth of the city attracted insatiable predators to it. Black hordes of Genghis Khan plundered and demolished the city and killed thousands. For decades Samarkand remained under Mongolian oppression, which strangled the progress in the area.
	It took one and a half century for the city to revive, first as the capital of the Great Tamerlaine, Shaker of the Universe, then as the glorious cultural and scientific center of the medieval East under the rule of Ulugbek, Tamerlaine's grandson. Now Samarkand is a place where the unique spirit of the antiquity is carefully preserved. The peculiar combination of its splendid monuments and surprising richness of the cultural tradition is strongly felt by newcomers.
	In two hundred years, a vainglorious Samarkand Ruler Yalangtush by name decided to build two other madrassahs, of bigger size, even more luxurious and richly ornamented in order to outshine previous rulers. Sher Dor Madrassah (Madrassah with Lions) was built in 1619-1636. Despite religious bans, it was rather daring and unusual for that time to depict fabulous tigers and sun-like faces on the huge portal. Presently colorful folk-shows are held here.

You can travel through the whole world, have a look at the pyramids and admire the smile of the Sphinx; You can listen to the soft singing of the wind at the Adriatic Sea and kneel down reverently at the ruins of the Acropolis, be dazzled by Rome with its Forum and Coliseum, be charmed by Notre Dame in Paris or by old domes of Milan; But if you have seen buildings of Samarkanda, you will be enchanted by its magic forever.

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Destination: UzbekistanRoute: Tashkent, Charvak, Bukhara, Shakhrisabz, Samarkand, TashkentDuration: 8 daysDay 1 Tashkent –

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Duration: 6days/5nightsRoute: Tashkent - Samarkand - Shakhrisabz- Bukhara – Tashkent1 day. TashkentArrival to Tashkent. S