Places joergschwartz Wants to Go

Once a bustling fishing port, this semi-ghost town is now more than 90 miles away from the shore.

Where Stoddart and Connolly suffered in the infamous Bug Pit.

Prowl through this sprawling bazaar under a massive Soviet-era dome for delicious eats.

The heartbeat of modern Uzbekistan’s thriving market culture.

Giant cauldrons overflow with Uzbekistan's favorite rice dish at this cavernous dining hall.

Looking for a unifying history, Uzbekistan finds its answer in a 14th Century Turco-Mongol conqueror... despite the fact he wasn't Uzbek.

An eccentric museum dedicated to Islam Karimov, the former dictator of Uzbekistan.

Once a luxurious flagship of the Soviet Union, this Brutalist structure remains a landmark of Tashkent’s communist past.

Controversially restored in the 1970s, this giant 15th-century mosque is shrouded in legend.

More than 10,000 small mirrors cover the curved surface of the world's second-largest solar oven, located in a remote village in Uzbekistan.

The ruins of an ancient Zoroastrian Tower of Silence believed to be the earliest example of the traditional funerary practice.

An underground world of gorgeous, palatial metro stations designed as a nuclear shelter complex.

Final palace complex of the last of 29 Kokand rulers.

An 18-meter-long sarcophagus of a constantly growing dead prophet.

This "tower of death" has acted as an observatory, a religious hub, and an executioner's lair.

Light still pours into the ruins of this ancient Islamic observatory.

Ancient barriers wrap around what was once an important stop along the Silk Road.

The Avenue of Mausolea is a series of grand palatial tombs.

These "50 Fortresses" have been unearthed in the ancient oasis of Khwarezm.

Former island in the Aral Sea used to be a top-secret Russian bio-weapons facility.