Silk and gold.

Empires rising and falling.

Cities that were old before Rome was built.

This is Uzbekistan a place where the ancient world didn't disappear.

It just kept going.

We're going to walk the original Silk Road.

Stand inside fortresses that survived Genghis Khan.

Learn to cook dishes that haven't changed in centuries.

And discover why this hidden corner of Central Asia might be the most extraordinary place you've never thought to visit.

I'm Alice Ford, and we're back in northern Norway.

This is the Garden Island, Kauai, Hawaii.

As you guys can see, it is absolutely beautiful down here.

The views are just already stunning.

And we are on our way to Antarctica.

So right now we're having a traditional tea here.

Wow.

This is a place I never expected to visit, and one I knew almost nothing about.

Uzbekistan.

A new country with an ancient soul.

Independent only since 1991, but sitting at the heart of one of the oldest crossroads on Earth.

For thousands of years, caravans passed through here carrying silk, gold and ideas between Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

Empires rose and fell.

And somehow this land Persia, Mongols, Russia endured them all.

It's a confusing history.

But one thing is clear.

This country has been a meeting place for the world's greatest cultures, and it still feels that way today.

To understand Uzbekistan, you have to go back a very long time.

More than 2500 years ago, while ancient Greece was at its peak.

Cities were already thriving here.

Some are carved in Khiva, were established trading posts sitting at the geographic center of the known world, equidistant from China, India, Persia and the Mediterranean.

In 329 BC, Alexander the Great marched through, famously calling Samarkand more beautiful than anything I have ever imagined.

And he wasn't wrong.

By the eighth century, Islam had arrived, and with it came one of history's great intellectual explosions.

This region produces some of the medieval world's greatest minds mathematicians, astronomers, physicians, and poets.

The word algorithm comes from the name of a scholar born just west of here.

The foundation of modern medicine was written here, too.

Then in 1220, Genghis Khan arrived.

The destruction was almost total.

Bukhara and Samarkand were burned to the ground.

Populations were massacred, centuries of accumulated knowledge nearly erased in a matter of weeks.

But from the devastation came something remarkable.

A century later, a conqueror named Timur, known in the west as Tamerlane, rose from the same land, and rather than simply rule, he rebuilt.

He gathered artists, architects and scholars from across the known world and concentrated them here in Samarkand.

The turquoise domes, the intricate tilework, the shimmering madrassas you'll see throughout this episode, nearly all of it traces back to him.

Then came the Russians.

In the 1860s, Tsarist forces moved south into Central Asia, absorbing the ancient khanates of Bukhara, Khiva and some are conned into the Russian Empire.

By 1924, Uzbekistan had been redrawn as a Soviet socialist republic.

Its borders artificially defined, its culture managed from Moscow, its land given over almost entirely to cotton production.

For 67 years the mosques were closed, the language suppressed, and the history rewritten.

Then in 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and Uzbekistan, ancient, complicated, resilient was independent again for the first time in over a century.

Over nine days, I'd make my way through four of Uzbekistans most storied cities Khiva, Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent, tracing a route that felt less like a travel itinerary and more like a walk through centuries of history.

I started where that history felt most intact.

The city of Khiva and its walled inner city, Itchan Kala, virtually unchanged over the last 2000 years.

Itchan Kala was a permanent stop on the Silk Road, the last resting place for caravans, before they headed across the desert to Persia.

It has been protected as a World Heritage Site since 1990, and a fortress encircles the city, which means a walk along its walls is a must.

Coming here is like stepping back in time.

We are walking inside the top of this fortress, and I feel like I'm in a century long past.

This area was heart and center of the Silk Road, so it was a very prominent spot for trade, for the mixing of cultures.

And nowadays it's been preserved as a Unesco World Heritage Site for its protection of so many Islamic sites.

So much ancient architecture and culture.

Now, there are still about 2500 people that live within this fortress wall.

There are hotels and there are lots of buildings, schools and two palaces.

I want you to check this out.

Right now I am walking on thousands of years of history here.

This little section is part of the original Silk Road dating back thousands of years.

And these are wagon tracks from millennia ago from different caravans that would come through this city.

Now, the Silk Road spanned 4000 miles, connecting the eastern edges of China with the Roman Empire.

It wasn't just land routes, it was also sea routes.

So there wasn't just one or multiples.

One of the routes came right through the heart of Khiva.

And that's why this fortress was built here, because it was such a popular trade route along this section of the world.

Pretty cool to be walking along this part of history, thousands of years of it right under our feet.

I talk about the Silk Road as if it were a single road.

It wasn't.

It was a vast network of routes, overland and by sea that on its peak stretched over 4000 miles, connecting the eastern edge of China to the ports of the Roman Empire and branching south into India and across to East Africa.

No single traveler ever completed the whole journey.

Instead, goods and ideas passed hand to hand, city to city, culture to culture.

And it wasn't really about silk.

Yes, silk moved west, but so did paper, porcelain, spices and gunpowder from China.

Glassware and gold moved east from Rome.

Mathematics traveled from the Arab world in both directions.

Buddhism spread east to west.

Islam spread in the opposite direction.

Even the Black Death, the plague that killed a third of Europe, likely traveled west.

Along these same routes Uzbekistan is at the exact center of all of it.

Khiv Bukhara and Samarkand weren't just stops on the route, they were the crossroads where the routes converge.

That's why they became so wealthy.

Every caravan that crossed the continent passed through here.

Every idea, every religion, every artistic tradition left something behind.

To support that traffic, a system of caravanserais developed rest stops spaced roughly 25 miles apart, the distance a loaded camel could comfortably walk in a day.

Travelers could water their animals, trade, eat, sleep, and move on.

Many of those buildings still stand.

The Silk Road began to fade in the 15th century, when Portuguese navigators found sea routes to Asia.

Suddenly, the overland crossing was slower and more expensive than going by ship.

The great cities of Central Asia slowly emptied.

The caravan stopped coming.

But the culture that left behind the architecture, the craft, the food, the genetic mix of people that never went anywhere.

The old city protects more than 250 structures.

53 of those are madrassas or schools.

The one that I'm in right now closed around 1979, and nowadays is a hotel where travelers just like us can come and stay.

Along with madrassas and hotels.

There are also two palaces here.

Throughout many of the buildings here you'll see this blue and teal tiling, which actually signifies purity.

This palace actually has history that dates back to the 13th century.

The city itself goes back more than 2500 years, according to archeological records.

So about four years ago, they actually started excavating more of this area, uncovering some of the prayer rooms and other rooms within this palace.

This fortress is seriously old right now.

I'm in an area where you can see the oldest part of it, built between the fourth and third century BC, and if you get close to this wall, you'll see the mud and straw, which are the main ingredients here, and all of the structures.

Wandering the streets here.

I have been in awe at the artisans, making everything from wooden boxes to shawls, hats and carpets.

You definitely won't find anything shipped in from China here.

Having been isolated for so many decades, the Uzbek people still make things from hand, whether that's the shirt on their backs or the breads and juices they consume.

Fur hats are a popular commodity here, and it goes back centuries because when people were first living here, the men would wear these, sheepskin hats to protect them not only from the heat in the winter, from the cold and the other times of year from the blowing sand.

And that means today you can actually find an assortment of fur hats, hair of all kinds.

Now, Uzbekistan is a huge producer of cotton, silk and also gold.

So there is a lot of shopping to be had here.

They've been making fine silk carpets here for almost as long as this has been a fortress with natural dyes.

Right now I'm in one of the silk carpet making workshops here.

Within the fortress.

These are all the different natural colors that they actually use to dye the fabric.

Some of them come from things like indigo, pomegranate, onion, and other natural roots and minerals as well.

If you're wondering why silk rugs are so expensive, it's because they take a long time to make.

Sometimes over an entire year, going just one centimeter per day.

It's absolutely incredible the craftsmanship that these ladies, partake in.

A lot more difficult than it looks.

To understand Uzbekistan, you have to understand its history.

And that's not easy.

It's seen the rise and fall of more empires than almost any country on Earth.

Each left a mark in the language, the food, the architecture, even the DNA of its people.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Uzbekistan finally became independent, young, proud and ready to reclaim its place on the map.

Today, that mix of old and new defines everything here a nation rediscovering itself while still holding on to the tradition that makes it timeless.

What happened here in 1920 was not the beginning of Russia's involvement in this region.

It was the culmination of a process that had been underway for more than 50 years.

From the 1860s onward, Tsarist Russia had been pushing south, absorbing the independent Khanate of Central Asia one by one.

By the early 20th century, the entire region was under Russian control.

Then came the Soviet Union, and with it a transformation that went far deeper than political borders.

Moscow mandated cotton.

Almost the entire agricultural output of Uzbekistan was redirected to feed the Soviet textile factories.

To irrigate those fields, rivers were diverted on a massive scale.

The result was one of the greatest environmental disasters in history.

The Aral Sea, once the fourth largest lake in the world, began to shrink.

Today, it's lost nearly 90% of its volume.

Fishing villages that once sat on its shores are now in the middle of a desert.

Alongside the environmental toll came a cultural one too.

Mosques were closed or converted.

The Arabic script used to write the Uzbek language was replaced first with Latin, then with Cyrillic, severing ordinary people from centuries of their own written history.

Intellectuals who pushed for reform were arrested or executed.

And yet walk through any city here and you'll still hear Russian spoken.

You'll see Soviet era apartment blocks alongside Timurid mausoleums.

The relationship is complicated in the way that all long colonial relationships are complicated, layered, unresolved and still being worked out.

What's striking is not the bitterness, though that does exist, but the determination.

Uzbekistan is actively reclaiming its identity, restoring its language, reopening mosques, retelling its own history and doing it at remarkable speed.

From Khiva, I have traveled six hours by car to the ancient city of Bukhara.

This is the educational and spiritual center of Uzbekistan spanning 2500 years of history, and I'm starting at one of its most famous icons and oldest structures a fortress called the Ark.

Today, the Ark is a museum and pays homage to the many centuries of differing rulers, religions and ideas that have passed through these lands.

This fortress is known locally as the city within a city.

It was the place where the rulers lived and many of the members of the government as well, sometimes up to about 2500 people, lived within this complex.

And right where I'm standing now are ruins.

This area has been destroyed and rebuilt many, many times.

But in 1920, when the Russians invaded, they destroyed most of this complex with just what's behind me remaining.

Many of the buildings here still date back to the Silk Road.

This one used to be a caravanserai, which was a hostel of sorts for travelers going along the Silk Road.

Today it's actually a shopping center, but it was also used as a Madras for many years.

One of the local schools here in the city.

Bukhara, was a major meeting point on the Silk Road and a major medieval center for Islamic theology and culture.

It still contains hundreds of well-preserved mosques, madrassas, bazaars, and caravanserai, dating largely from the ninth to the 17th centuries.

The ancient heart of Bukhara is also a World Heritage Site, and while I was visiting, they were hosting, for the first time ever, the biennial, a global symposium on contemporary art that turned the city into a living artist showcase.

With 39 countries and 70 exhibits from over 200 artists, showcasing art, architecture and nature between the madrassas and the mosques.

What I love about the Biennale and I have been to the Biennale before, but in Venice, so it's been a long time since I've experienced this art festival.

Now it's an immersive experience, so all of the pieces, which are usually spread throughout a city, are meant to really capture you, captivate you, make you question what you're seeing.

And I love that now.

It's spread throughout many buildings here around Bukhara and, it's really cool.

So if you love immersive experiences, definitely put La Biennale on your list of things to see.

The grand bazaars here.

We're full of one of a kind fabrics, shawls and rugs.

You may need to leave room in your suitcase or bring an extra one if you're coming here and love to shop.

Next, I headed to the summer palace of the last Emir of Bukhara.

This palace is named after the stars and moon, so you will see many of those shapes in the architecture here, along with those white and blue colors signifying purity and peace, but also important colors in the Islamic religion.

Gold is one of the biggest commodities here in Uzbekistan and within the palace.

You will see it everywhere, in the paint, on the walls and the embellishments, and even in the wives clothing, gold being used in the embroidery as well.

Now in the winter they often wear velvet and in the summers silk.

About half the population here in Uzbekistan works in agriculture.

Everywhere I have been I have seen fresh fruits and vegetables on the side of the road.

And so far the things that I have eaten have come from fresh, local ingredients.

You know I love a cooking class!

So that's what we're going to do right now, is learn how to make some of the traditional Uzbek dishes that I have been tasting on my trip here.

My cooking class was at a local craftsman center that also gave master classes on art, woodcarving, embroidery, and tea drinking.

Longstanding traditions.

Here in Uzbekistan.

We are making a couple of dishes, but right now we're making Samsa.

This is basically a filled pocket, kind of like a Somosa.

We're going to be filling with pumpkin and then also some fresh herbs.

Really good in the summer for actually keeping you a little bit cooler.

So there's some mint in here.

Some onion.

First I added spices to the pumpkin, combined the ingredients, then got to work rolling out the dough and cutting small dough squares that would get two different kinds of fillings.

While I was making the Samsas the other ladies were helping make Plov a rice and meat dish and get bread baked in a large open stone ovens.

Most of the dishes here in Uzbekistan are very meat centric, so I love that these are vegetarian and I can't wait to try one.

One of the things that I love about this country is just that everything is so done traditionally now they cook in these big mud and straw ovens here, just the way that they did hundreds of years ago.

One of the main breads that they cook actually goes inside this.

They just kind of slap it on the side.

And also these Samosas are going to go in that same way.

All right.

My turn.

They only gave me one just in case it doesn't go well.

What's it like this one.

Yeah.

I'm super.

Success!

Oh my gosh it's so buttery.

So this other Samsa has the herbs in it with the mint and onion.

And it is a very unique flavor.

I think there's bay leaves in here.

I wasn't able to kind of get a translation of that other herb in there, but.

Really unique flavor.

I don't know if I've ever tasted anything quite like this before.

And this is one that they eat in the summer because it actually helps them keep cool in some way.

I feel like every culture has a fried rice of sorts.

And here in Uzbekistan they have one called Plov.

This is it.

It's basically a mixture of rice, raisins, carrots, garlic, sometimes other vegetables, and also usually some meat.

Because I don't eat meat.

Mine is vegetarian.

But you will find this all over the country.

It's definitely one of the most traditional things to eat.

You might be surprised to find out that it Uzbekistan has its own high speed train.

And that's just how I'm going to the next stop.

All aboard.

I have arrived in a brand new city here, Samarkand.

This is a very big city and I'm really excited to go explore it.

There's a lot of mosques here and cultural sites and bazaars, like we've seen a lot of so far.

But I'm actually staying in a place that's very unique because this is a brand new development zone that they have built here in Samarkand, about 30 minutes from the downtown area.

And it's unlike anything I have seen so far in Uzbekistan.

It is very modern, it is very green.

There are big fancy hotels, kind of what they call a wellness zone.

So there's this huge, manmade moat outside that you can take boats.

And I saw earlier today that they're actually going to have, scholar crew here as well.

At some point.

There's a big biking and walking path, and there are wellness hotels on both sides of this water body.

The history here in Uzbekistan is so complicated.

There are so many different regions, so many different rulers over the years.

Here in Samarkand from about the early 1400s to the mid 1600s.

One family ruled and a lot of their architecture still stands.

I'm standing right now in the Registan.

This was an old town square from that time period.

There are three big madrassas here, and they were built between the 1400s and 1600s as well.

This is one of the most famous pieces of architecture here.

Beautiful gardens.

The architecture is absolutely fantastic as well.

And this is definitely a spot that you will likely come and see if you come to visit here.

Now, I will say that coming through Uzbekistan, you are just blown away by the architecture, some of the most beautiful architecture in the Islamic world and also some of the most well preserved as well.

You know, they actually claim that a lot of this architecture is similar to that of the Taj Mahal, which I have not seen yet, but so far I've been blown away by the tiling and just the intricate details, especially since so much of this architecture is really, really old Persian, Rajasthan means sandy place, once a vast open plain where travelers and traders gathered along the Silk Road, but under the Timurid dynasty, who are descendants of Genghis Khan, this desert transformed into the heart of an empire.

The Timurid rulers were more than conquerors.

They were patrons of art, science and design, and it was during their reign that Samarkands most iconic landmarks were built from the turquoise domes of the Guri Amir Mausoleum to the shimmering madrassas of the Registan square itself.

Standing here, surrounded by mosaics the color of the sky, you realize that this isn't just a city, it's a dynasty's dream made of stone.

One of the most impressive structures here has got to be the mosque.

This is located inside one of the madrassas, and the walls are covered in real gold.

A site so impressive and opulent that it takes your breath away.

Uzbekistan, as a photographer is a dream come true, especially for content creators.

Because of all this beautiful architecture.

You know, the other really popular place for people to come here in Samarkand is the necropolis, where many members of one of the royal families were buried.

I wouldn't usually advocate for coming to do photography, but a place where people are buried.

But the architecture here is just fantastic.

Also built between the 13th 15th centuries, you'll have that same kind of blue, teal and white tiling everywhere.

It's got a small, narrow hallway here that just makes it for some fantastic angles.

And, you're going to love it.

For most of its independent life, Uzbekistan was largely closed to the outside world.

Visas were difficult, tourism was minimal, the country turned inward.

Then around 2017, something shifted.

Visa restrictions were dramatically relaxed, investment poured in, and new high speed rail connected the ancient cities and travelers slowly at first, then in growing numbers.

What they found was a country that had been quietly preserving something extraordinary not just buildings, but living traditions, crafts still made by hand, recipes unchanged for generations, hospitality that doesn't feel performed because it isn't is.

Uzbekistan is one of the fastest growing tourist destinations in the world right now, and if this trip taught me anything, it's that it deserves to be.

The Silk Road was always about connection, about what happens when different cultures stand together.

I can't help thinking that's exactly what's beginning again.