Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan lies at the heart of Central Asia and holds the great cities of the old Silk Road. Samarkand is famous for the tiled madrasas of the Registan, the Shah-i-Zinda necropolis and the tomb of Timur. Bukhara keeps a medieval centre of mosques, caravanserais and trading domes, and Khiva is an entire walled city preserved like an open-air museum.

Tashkent, the modern capital, has Soviet-era metro stations and busy bazaars. A high-speed train links the main cities, and spring and autumn are the best seasons.

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