The Historic Center of Bukhara (Uzbekistan) - Situated on the Silk Road that passes east to west through Central Asia, the oasis city of Bukhara, offered traveling caravans a brief respite from their journey across the desert. The town Bukhara in Uzbekistan, Central Asia, once prospered as an important stop off point along the Silk Road. The town still retains the vestiges of the old Silk Road days with its many historic structures such as the Kalyan Minaret and the Ismail Samani Mausoleum.-Site of Palmyra (Syria) - Palmyra was a trade city connecting the East and West that flourished under Queen Zenobia and fell when she did. Situated in the approximate center of the Syrian Desert, the caravan city of Palmyra prospered under the protection of the Romans as a trade station on the Silk Road. The city fell in 273 because Queen Zenobia rebelled against Rome, but there are many structures remaining such as the Temple of Bel, the colonnaded streets, the Tetrapylon, a Roman theater, and tomb towers, that all hint at the prosperity of those bygone days.