It’s time to embrace the cold and discover Uzbekistan’s Silk Road cities at their quietest.
Travel from Samarkand to Bukhara and Khiva this December in the company of author Chris Aslan, who spent seven years living in Uzbekistan. Your route takes in the mosques, mausoleums and madrasas that have called to travellers for generations, as well as the lives and traditions continuing around them today.
“Uzbekistan is having a moment,” says Chris. “Its arts scene, textiles and fine dining add another dimension to the sites that have always drawn people here. I’m excited to be travelling off-season, when we can enjoy these breathtaking spots almost to ourselves.”
See the Silk Road in Winter
Most travellers visit Uzbekistan in spring or autumn. This tour departs in December, when winter sun sits low over the minarets and scarves are pulled a little tighter.
Fewer visitors in Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva means more room for you to stop, look and linger. Wander across the Registan without the usual peak-season crowds, dwell in Bukhara’s old city and explore within Khiva’s walls at a gentler pace.
Discover Khiva With Someone Who Called It Home
Chris Aslan first arrived in Uzbekistan in 1998 to work on a guidebook. He was welcomed by a local family and ended up staying for seven years, an experience that later became the subject of his book A Carpet Ride to Khiva: Seven Years on the Silk Road. That history makes exploring Khiva with Chris rather different than simply being shown around by an expert guide.
He knows the city through the people who live there, the friendships he made and the years he spent within its walls. As you explore madrasas, mosques and workshops, he can add the stories that don’t appear on information boards, connecting Khiva’s past with the city he knew as home.
Step Inside the Workshop Chris Helped Create
Whilst living in Khiva, Chris established a UNESCO-supported workshop reviving fifteenth-century carpet designs and embroideries. It also became the setting for much of the story told in A Carpet Ride to Khiva.
On this tour you visit that very same workshop with Chris, learning how the project came about and why these historic designs mattered enough to be revived. It’s a chance to understand the craft through its materials and makers, as well as through Chris’ own memories of establishing the workshop and working alongside Khivan artisans.
Join Chris’s Uzbek Family for Supper
Chris was taken in by an Uzbek family when he first moved to the country, and his relationship with them has endured long after leaving Khiva. During the tour, your group will spend an evening with his host family, sharing supper in their company.
It’s an opportunity to hear about Khiva from the people Chris once lived with, and to enjoy the Uzbek hospitality of a friendship built over decades rather than an experience created for visitors.
Meet the Artisans Behind Uzbekistan’s Traditions
Uzbekistan’s architecture tells only part of the Silk Road story. The trade routes that crossed Central Asia also carried techniques, materials, patterns and ideas, many of which remain visible in the country’s traditional crafts.
Visit paper makers, silk weavers, embroiderers, miniature painters and wood carvers, stepping into their workshops as opposed to seeing their work at arm’s length in museums or bazaars. These encounters put the ornate decoration of Uzbekistan’s historic cities into its cultural context.
Bring Christmas Home From the Silk Road
There’s another advantage to travelling in December: your Christmas shopping becomes rather more interesting.
Uzbekistan has a long tradition of textiles, ceramics and other handmade crafts, and you have the time to buy directly from some of the workshops and artisans you meet. Look for embroidered textiles, silk scarves, ceramics or mountain honey, with the story of where something came from and who made it forming part of the gift.
Come Back Different
This is what we mean by seeing the world better: not necessarily seeing more, but coming away understanding more of the things you saw.
If you’re interested in experiencing Uzbekistan with Chris as your guide, get in touch using the form below and we can answer any questions you have about the departure.
