Samarkand

Samarkand has drawn travelers along the Silk Road for over two thousand years. Its Registan Square, framed by three monumental madrasas, is one of the most photographed sights in Central Asia, but the city rewards slower exploration too: the Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, the Gur-e-Amir mausoleum, and the working silk paper mills just outside town. Mornings are best spent wandering the old quarter before the day-trip crowds arrive; evenings bring the Registan's light show and the smell of fresh non bread from neighborhood tandirs.