Our cultural tour to Uzbekistan in 2023 was filled with Magnificent monuments, flourishing arts and crafts, vibrant traditional markets, amazing food, and more!
Study Leader Julia Zarankin shares her favourite discoveries from this tour.
The Urkut Bazaar near Samarkand. A sensory feast where Uzbeks from the Samarkand region gather to buy anything from produce to furniture to wedding gowns.
Bukhara’s Mir-I-Arab Madrasa, viewed from the Kalan Mosque. Magical turquoise-tiled domes.
Dating back to the 15th century, the Kalyan mosque and minaret are stunning. The intricate brickwork on the 46-meter tall minaret is topped with gorgeous turquoise tiled inscriptions.
The extraordinary Kalyan Minor Minaret of Khiva, built by the Khan of Khorezm in 1852. The Khan designed the minaret to be the tallest structure in Central Asia—70 meters!—but his untimely death caused the building process to come to an abrupt end, and Khiva was left with a 26-meter minaret, forever called the “short minaret.”
Tash-Khauli Harem in Khiva, located within the walled fortress, Icahn-Kala. Occupying of the Khan’s palaces, the 19th century tiled building is one of the best examples of central Asian secular architecture.
The ancient citadel of Toprak-Kala in the Kyzylkum desert of Karakalpakstan, once an ancient palace city and the capital of Khorezm from the 1st to 6th century CE.
Stay tuned for our next departure to the fabled Silk Route!
