2From the blue-tiled splendor of Tamerlane's Samarkand to the holy city of Bukhara, which boasts a mosque for each day of the year, and beyond to the desert-girdled khanate of Khiva, Uzbekistan lays claim to a breathtaking architectural legacy. Bound by sand and snow, fed by meltwater from the Roof of the World, these fertile oases attracted the greatest travelers and conquerors in history along the fragile threads of the Silk Road. This groundbreaking guide, continually revised and updated, focuses on the wealth of sites and colorful legends at the heart of Central Asia, plus the best of the rest--excursions covering the major nearby attractions of neighboring republics Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.