I have returned to Canada, with excellent very strong memories of Uzbekistan.

I wish to thank you for the precise way in which you organized our tour, everything went very smoothly and everyone was always very punctual in meeting us, driving us around and easing the great pleasure of visiting Uzbekistan. We were both greatly impressed.

I specifically want to mention your colleague Rasul, who helped us in so many ways. Our Tashent guide, Tatyana, guided us more like a friend than a professional guide. The visit to Chimgan was especially nice, among the friendliness of both Uzbek and Kazakh visitors. Tashkent seemed like a Paris, with its beautiful treed boulevards, elegant cafés on Independence Maidan, the vast and spotless bazaars and the very good restaurants (but, then Uzbek food products and cooking are very good.)

In Urgench, we were met by your driver Vladil, who became an amiable travel companion in the days we spent together. Ali, the guide in Khiva, was also very good and allowed us to escape the overcrowded venues in the old city to have a very good Uzbek lunch. For me, it was an emotional experience to be in the birthplace of Al Khwarizmi.

Our drive to Bukhara was long and hot and interesting, often seeing the green banks of the Amu Darya in the distance. Bukhara was exceptionally nice and interesting and we were met there by Shania? (is that her name? I do not think we got it right, much to my embarrassment.) There is little we can say to enhance the beauty and interest of Bukhara and, later, of Samarkand, which we reached with a shorter drive.

Visiting Samarkand was a dream I had had ever since I was a child and had read about Timur Leng (Amir Timur). The Registan has to be experienced in person, no photos or depiction can properly communicate its vastness and ineffable beauty. The visit and drive to Shakhrisabz was also very interesting and pleasant, through the Zarafshan Range, I believe, recapturing Alexander’s incredible conquests.

In the end, the high-speed train between Samarkand and Tashkent, was a fitting conclusion to a trip to a country that, in its modern transformations, still retains so much of its valuable past.

My compliments to you, Tatyana, and to your colleagues and guides and to the invaluable Rasul.

While in the bazaar in Samarkand, Srebrenka was interviewed by Samarkand TV; do you think it would be possible to obtain a link to see what was transmitted?

I shall be attaching some photos o this email.

With my best wishes, Enrico