Before the Bolsheviks dragooned them into the Soviet Union in the 1920s, the khanates of Central Asia were some of the most despotic, hidden, and utterly fascinating parts of the planet. People were driven half mad with desire to see places like Samarkand and Bukhara, which still reverberate to the harsh but compelling music of their history, and visiting their gorgeous mosques, madresahs, and tombs (not to mention their folk) should rank high on any traveler’s life list.

In its three weeks Khanates packs in a tremendous lot of old-fashioned travel romance. We’re reminded once more of William Hazlitt’s insight: “In traveling we visit names as well as places.” And once more we’re struggling with the demands of space in this chock-full catalog. So, suffice for the moment—before you call us for our detailed and expansive itinerary—names that quicken the blood: Ashkhabad, Khiva, Tashkent, Ferghana, and on and on. But this writer can’t forgo short tributes to two of his favorite earthly spots: Samarkand—whose Registan Lord Curzon (who’d seen a square or two) called “the noblest public square in the world,” and to which we travel, in the words of James Elroy Flecker, “on a golden road . . . for lust of knowing what should not be known”—and glorious Bukhara, from which, the old saying goes, “the light ascends to heaven.”

Days 1 & 2: USA to Ashkhabad • Day 3: Ashkhabad and Nissa • Day 4: excursion to Merv • Day 5: fly to Urgench • Day 6: drive to Khiva • Day 7: Khiva • Day 8: drive to Bukhara • Days 9 & 10: Bukhara • Day 11: drive to Samarkand • Day 12: Samarkand • Day 13: drive to Dushanbe via Penjikent and the Fan Mountains • Day 14: Dushanbe • Day 15: fly to Khujend• Day 16: drive to Ferghana • Day 17: Ferghana and Margilan • Day 18: to Bishkek via Osh • Day 19: Bishkek • Day 20: Bishkek to Tashkent • Day 21: return to USA.

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