Silk, Clay and Steel: The Makers of Fergana

Our driver meets you at Tashkent airport and takes you to the hotel. If you arrive by mid-afternoon, your guide takes you to the old town, where the ceramics stalls of Chorsu Bazaar give a first look at the crafts ahead.

1. Meeting at Tashkent airport and transfer to the hotel

   • Check-in from 14:00

2. 16:00Old town walk (2 hours, if your arrival allows)

   • Khast-Imam square and the Kaffal Shashi Mausoleum
   • Chorsu Bazaar and its ceramics stalls

3. 19:00Welcome dinner

An early start over the mountains into the valley, about 4 hours to Chust with a stop at the pass and a passport check below it. A family of smiths shows how the Chust knife is forged and finished; after lunch you stop in Namangan at the Mullah Kyrgyz madrasah and reach Fergana in the early evening. It is a long day, about 10 hours with some 6.5 hours on the road.

1. 07:30Departure from Tashkent

2. 09:30Photo stop at the Kamchik Pass (2,268 m)

   • Views over the Kurama range. Passport check at the checkpoint below the pass: keep your passport handy

3. 10:00Descent into the valley near Pap and drive to Chust (about 1.5 hours)

4. 11:30Family knife-making workshop in Chust (2 hours)

   • The forge and the anvil: shaping and tempering the blade
   • The handle of horn, bone or wood, and the stamped leather sheath
   • A word on the Chust doppi, the black-and-white skullcap also made in the town

5. 13:30Lunch in Chust

6. 14:30Drive to Namangan (about 1 hour)

7. 15:30Mullah Kyrgyz madrasah, Namangan (45 min, optional)

   • An early-20th-century madrasah with a tiled portal

8. 16:15Drive to Fergana (about 1.5 hours) and check-in

   • Arrival around 17:45

A full day in Margilan, 20 minutes from Fergana, the centre of Uzbek silk. You see the whole ikat process at the Yodgorlik factory, try binding and dyeing thread, and visit the craft workshops in the old Said Akhmad Khoja madrasah.

1. 09:00Drive to Margilan (20 min)

   • On Thursdays and Sundays we start at the Kumtepa bazaar instead, while it is at its busiest, and the rest of the day moves on by an hour

2. 09:30Yodgorlik silk factory (2 hours)

   • Cocoons simmering in the vat and silk reeled by hand
   • Thread bound and dyed for the ikat pattern
   • The weaving hall with its hand looms
   • The factory shop of atlas and adras fabric
   • Yodgorlik is reported to close on Sundays: on a Sunday we visit a family ikat workshop in Margilan instead

3. 11:45Hands-on ikat session (1 hour)

   • Binding and dyeing a length of thread with a master

4. 13:00Lunch of Fergana-style plov

5. 14:30Craft workshops at the Said Akhmad Khoja madrasah (1.5 hours)

   • Woodcarving, embroidery and weaving in the old cells

6. 16:00Margilan bazaar (1 hour)

   • On Thursdays and Sundays the Kumtepa bazaar takes this place in the morning, when it is at its liveliest; it winds down after lunch

7. 17:30Return to Fergana; evening walk if you wish

   • Al-Farghani Park and the shady avenues of the old Russian quarter

The return leg takes the southern road through the valley: the potters of Rishtan in the morning, Kokand and the palace of the last khans after lunch, then the drive back over the Kamchik Pass. It is the longest day of the tour, about 11.5 hours with some 6.5 hours on the road, arriving in Tashkent in the evening.

1. 08:00Check-out and drive to Rishtan via Margilan (about 1.25 hours)

2. 09:15Family ceramics workshop in Rishtan (2 hours)

   • The local red clay, the wheel, the ishkor glaze made from plant ash, painting and firing; paint a plate of your own

3. 11:15Drive to Kokand (about 1 hour)

4. 12:15Lunch, with a tasting of Kokand halva

5. 13:15Kokand sightseeing (1.75 hours)

   • Khudayar Khan Palace and its painted ceilings
   • Juma Mosque with its carved wooden columns

6. 15:00Drive to Tashkent over the Kamchik Pass (about 4.5 hours with a short stop)

   • Passport check again at the checkpoint below the pass

7. 19:30Arrival in Tashkent and check-in

   • Alternative on request: drop the car in Kokand and take the 16:48 fast train, arriving in Tashkent North at 19:55 (seated; check the timetable when booking)

If your flight leaves in the afternoon or later, your guide can take you to the Museum of Applied Arts, set in a carved and painted 1930s mansion, to see the valley's crafts in their historic finery. Then a transfer to the airport.

1. 09:45Check-out; luggage goes in the car

2. 10:00Optional: Museum of Applied Arts (1.5 hours)

   • Suzani, ikat robes, ceramics and carved wood

3. Transfer to Tashkent airport

   • Timed to your flight