It’s going to cost you 50 dollars to get to Samarkand from Tashkent (a 300-kilometer drive) by taxi, which is like nothing if compared with Moscow prices. On the way there you’ll come across piles of melons of all kinds which they sell along the roads, so if you happen to pass by, pull up to taste some!

The road runs through hills.

People sell home-made honey…

… and apples grown by themselves up to December.

Gur Amir.

In Tamburlaine’s mausoleum.

The tomb of the heirs to the Empire.

Gur Amir became a prototype for many other architectural monuments.

The moulding technique is very complicated and now it’s lost. This is papier-mache; the paper is 500 years old!

Persimmons bearing fruits.

Grapes.

Heading to the city of Khiva (800 kilometers away).

Cotton fields turn white in October.

Gathering cotton is a very painstaking job. They pay just 20 cents for a kilogram of cotton, which will probably occupy the whole trunk of your car.

The road keeps loosing its asphalt…

Khiva, which was later named Khorezm.

The city was founded approximately 2500 years ago.

Khorezm plays an important role as a city standing in the way of the Silk Road.

This city is a museum itself.

Traditionally, they divided the city into two parts: inner (defensive) which had 8-10-meter tall walls and outer with 6-8-meter tall walls.

The walls were made of bricks dried out in the sun. Also, they built defensive towers and dug water ditches. The city gates had the same purpose too.

You can stay in a caravansary for 5 dollars a day (breakfast included!).

Khiva is the gem of the country where you feel yourself like a Prince of Persia.

In the inner city you’ll find stores selling clothes, accessories, souvenirs made of camel’s hair, sheep’s wool or clay, silver jewelry and semiprecious stones.

Location: Uzbekistan

via pokemoshkin