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"Sweet to ride forth at evening from the wells
When shadows pass gigantic on the sand
And softly through the silence beat the bells
Along the Golden Road to Samarkand"

Few names invoke such romance as that of Samarkand, for countless centuries a glorious magnet for travellers, scholars, tyrants and poets. Evidence of the city’s extraordinary 2,500 year history is everywhere, from the crumbling remains of Marakanda — the old Greek city — to the grand imposing monuments of the Islamic Renaissance.

Exploring Samarkand

Take an afternoon stroll through Registan Square, gaze on buildings that have passed into legend and absorb the same atmosphere of opulence and grandeur that have drawn visitors to the city for so long.

Around Samarkand

South of Samarkand, across the Zarafshan Mountains is the small town of Shakhrisabz. As the birthplace of Tamerlane it became a symbol of the tyrant’s enormous, though transient, power. The remains of some gargantuan buildings can still be seen, including the 45-metre-high portal of the Ak Saray Palace with a Kufic inscription proclaiming "The Sultan is the Shadow of God".