Uzbekistan is the birthplace of some of the world's most ancient civilizations – and we have the archaeological evidence to prove it. On this 16-day tour, we'll take you back in time through more than 3500 years of our recorded history.During the latter part of the Bronze Age, when much of present-day Uzbekistan was part of ancient Iran, the prophet Zoroaster, also known as Zarathustra, is believed to have been born in this region. Though the once-mighty Zoroastrian empireflourished on our lands for centuries, the armies of Alexander the Great, the Arab conquest and the invasions of the Turks and Mongols dealt it a series of blows from which it would not recover.At the same time that Zoroastrians were living in massive fortress complexes and worshipping at fire temples, elsewhere in the former Greco-Persian empire, another faith – Buddhism -- was quickly gaining followers. In 2004, archaeologists from France and Uzbekistan announced that they'd made a stunning discovery in Termez, a city on the Amu Darya (formerly the Oxus) River near Uzbekistan's border with Afghanistan. Because of this work, we know now that in Silk Road days, Termez was a major hub for Buddhist culture and religion – so much so that historians now believe the city played a central role in exporting Buddhism to Tibet and China.Uzbekistan is also blessed with many archaeological sites, restored buildings, palace complexes and relics -- including the world's oldest Koran-- that attest to how important our region has been to Islamic history, science and culture down through the ages.

Kyrgyzstan has been called the Switzerland of Central Asia but there's one major difference most of the snow-capped peaks in Kyrgyzstan's Tien Shan range dwarf the Swiss Alps. In fact, in terms of the height of its mountains, it might be more apt to call Kyrgyzstan the Tibet of Central Asia. For the first five days of this16-day tour starting in Bishkek, the capital, we'll explore this famously scenic and still-unspoiled country. On day six, we'll fly to Tashkent, Uzbekistan's capital, where the next leg of our tour will focus on architectural rather than natural wonders. Over centuries of history, the rulers who held power in this region competed with each other to create the grandest buildings. In sheer scale, what Tamerlane achieved in his imperial capital, Samarkand, in the 14th century could never have been matched by the khans of Khiva or the emirs of Bukhara, who had not, after all, conquered much of the known world. But as you'll see, many of the mosques, madrassahs, minarets and mausoleums in those cities are just as impressive as any in Samarkand. Your tour will also include visits to two more cities, both important for other reasons: Nurata and Gijduvan.