For many people the Great Silk Road conjures up images of caravans of baggage laden camels ploughing a dusty path across Asia. For over one thousand years it was the most important and best-known trade route in the world, transporting not just silk but all manner of exotic goods such as jade, gunpowder, iron, weapon and spicery. Just as importantly, this increase in interaction brought about the spread of many of the ideas and beliefs that have formed the basis of civilization, from the wheel to the great religions of Buddhism, Islam and Christianity.

The Silk Road tie together some of the most fantastic and romantic attractions in Asia and nearly all the sights which made the routes famous have been preserved. From the mosques of Damascus and the archeological wonders of Palmyra, the routes wound their way past the standing stones of Nemrut Dagi, skirted Persia’s extravagant palaces, trod the Golden Road to Samarkand and joined up with the Great Wall of China.