Tunisia
Tunis has
a fascinating old walled city and a strong medieval Arab past. The legendary city of Carthage
is only a 30 minute bus or taxi ride from Tunis.
Dougga, the largest and most dramatic Roman site in Tunisia, and possibly North Africa.
Le Kef, a mountainous village dominated by it's fortified
Kasbah.
Roman city of Haidra, close to the Algerian border
Oasis towns of Nefta and Tozeur where we have some free time to explore
Gabes - on the Mediterranean coast.
Matmata, well known for it's troglodyte villages.
Libya
Ghadames - UNESCO World Heritage site: there is believed to have
been a town here for 5000 years.
Nalut: small town which has an exceptional Berber Granary, or Qasr, clinging to a steep hillside.
Leptis Magna: one of the finest preserved Roman Cities and one of
the few where you can actually still picture a living city.
Tobruk: scene of some of the most important and viscous battles of WW 2 and visit the graves and 25kms of fortified trenches.
Egypt
El Alamein: visit the war Museum, which also houses much of the abandoned tanks and other armour.
Alexandria: visit the old coffee houses or enjoy some of the
excellent seafood or take a trip to the Catacombs in the eerie
subterranean Roman Necropolis full of bizarre carvings.
The beaches and diving here are also excellent with wrecks of Roman
Galley's, French Warships, German U-boats and Cleopatra's Palace
Cairo
Visit the Pyramids with an Egyptologist guide; travel by overnight train to Aswan
and Luxor to visit the Valley of the Kings, Abu Simbel or take a
felucca trip on the Nile, or if you prefer to chill out on the Red Sea
coast you can travel ahead of us to Dahab where you can do a PADI dive
course, snorkel or relax on the beaches or spend longer in Alexandria
and join us in Cairo later
Suez Canal and the Sinai Desert (home of the
Bedouin), camp out at Mt Sinai, the site of God's revelation of the 10
Commandments and you will have the opportunity to climb it early in the
morning to view the sunrise over the desert
St Catherine's Monastery where Moses heard God speaking from the burning bush
Dahab on the Red Sea; the opportunity to snorkel or scuba dive to some of the best coral
reefs in the world, go desert quad biking or just chill on the beach
Jordan
Wadi Rum; camp overnight & where you can take a camel ride or a jeep ride out deep into the desert.
Petra; stone-carved city was only uncovered about 60 years ago after being forgotten for over 1000 years.
The Dead Sea (lowest point on earth), therapeutic mud baths and swimming
in this highly buoyant salt sea!
Mt Nebo; camp for the night overlooking Israel.
Syria
Damascus: spend nights in the capital, the oldest
inhabited city in the world. Taking an optional one day
guided tour into Lebanon and Beirut
Crac de Chevaliers; an 800yr old Crusader Castle - perched on top of a mountain
Palmyra and Aleppo
Turkey
Khata; climb the 2150m Nemrut Dagi where at the summit the solid rock statues of the gods of antiquity lie scattered.
Cappadocia; over the
centuries houses, churches, fortresses and even underground cities have
been carved into this eerily eroded volcanic rock
Sumela mountain monastery; clinging to a cliff face 1,000 feet above the Altindere Valley.
Trazbon on the Black Sea coast; well known for its historic frescos in its old mosques and Ottoman buildings.
Georgia
Kutasi; 1000yr old ruined Bagrati Cathedral that overlooks the town.
Sataplia Nature Reserve; location of the world's largest collection of dinosaur tracks.
Gori; visit Stalin's old house, now a museum.
Historic churches of Mtskheta; former capital of Georgia and a World Heritage Site.
Tbilisi; Georgia's capital city.
Wine tasting at Telavi & 6th century ruins at Gremi
Azerbaijan
Sheiki, which is famed for its silk production and was an important stop over on the silk route
Baku - The capital the
old fortress and Medieval Old Town.
Ferry journey across the Caspian Sea to Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan
Bakharden; caves to explore and hot springs
Geok Tepe
Ashgabat; the capital, on the southern rim of the Kara-Kum (black
sand) Desert.
Desert crossing camping out at night in one of the world's most remote environments
Uzbekistan
Khiva; World Heritage site and one of the most noteworthy cities in
Central Asia.
Bukhara ; founded in the 13th century BC)
Kyzylkum Desert
Samarkand; treasures
such as the 15th century BibiKhanum Mosque which when built was
considered to have the largest dome in the Muslim world.
Tashkent; present capital of Uzbekistan
Kyrgyzstan
Fergana Valley
Osh; good views of surrounding tobacco and cotton fields from the Sulayman Rock in the middle of town.
Song-Kul Lake; at an altitude of 3013 m with the surrounding glaciers reflected on the still water
Kochkorka Valley
Lake Issyk-Kul; in the northern Tien Shan Mountains, at 6,300 sq km
this is considered to be one of the largest mountain lakes in the world.
Karakol; on the southeast shores of the lake
shadowed by the Terskay Ala-Too Mountains, an unspoilt wilderness
populated only by nomadic shepherds and only then during the summer.
Colpon Ata; enjoy a mud cure at one of the many spas and health-resorts here.
Djety Oguz Valley; famous hot springs and red rocks.
Bishkek; the Soviet-built capital city. Visit the State Art Museum and the Lenin Museum.
Torugat Pass; in the Tien Shan Mountains and one of the highest passes in the world. Where you will cross into China.
China
Kashgar; visit the local market which attracts a rather staggering 60,000 shoppers!.
Takla Makan Desert; one of the largest moving bodies of sand in the
world, stretching west from Kashgar for over a 1000 kms to the
mysterious desert of Lop in the east, its dunes conceal the ruins of
numerous ancient civilizations.
Hotan; known for its carpet making, silk production and jewellery made from the local jade.
Korla; at the foot of Mount Tianshan.
Bosten Lake; surrounded by the Gobi Desert.
Urumqi; visit the nearby Tain Chi 'Heaven Lake' beneath
the mighty 6000 m high Bogda Feng mountain. Stay
in yurts with the semi nomadic Kazakh population.
Turpan; visit the town's old mosques and take a tour to the ruins of Goachang City.
Visit the Thousand Buddha Caves which were dug out and painted by monks from the 4th century.
Gobi Desert crossing
Dunhuang; visit the famed Mogao Grottoes, one of the world's
richest treasure houses of Buddhist sutras, murals and sculptures.
Min Sha Hill and the Crescent Moon Pool
Great Wall of China; visit the
Jiayuguan Fort which was the last outpost of the Great Wall. Also the Wei Jin Tombs.
Wuwei; the Haizang Temple, Loshi Pagoda,
Confucian Temple, Leitai Taoist Temple and the most famous object, the
Han-dynasty Flying Horse of Wuwei.
Lanzhou; a city that has a 2,000-year history.
Xiahe; Tibetan style Buddhist Labrang Monastery (tens of thousands of gold Buddha statues decorated with ivory & jade.
Huanglong National Park; also known as Yellow Dragon Valley, it is
studded with terraces and waterfalls.
Chengdu; visit the Panda
Breeding & Research Centre, where nearly 50 Pandas have been born
and successfully reared.
Emeishan; one of the four mountain ranges in China that Buddhists
consider sacred and there are a number hiking trails punctuated by
Buddhist temples that offer food and beds to pilgrims.
Leshan; visit the 71m high Leshan Giant Buddha, the largest stone sculpture of Buddha in the world.
Chongqing; embark on a three day boat trip down the Yangtze River.
Wuhan & Luoyang; world-famous Longmen Grottoes and World
Heritage Site (there are 2345 caves, 100,000 massive Buddhist images,
more than 2800 inscribed tablets, and 43 Buddhist pagodas)
Shaolin; thought to be the birth place of Kung Fu.
Xi'an; visit the vTerra Cotta Army
Beijing
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