In the colonial era, the British develop an ancient route into a highway across the breadth of their realm; from the metropolis of Kolkata, the route runs to the city of Varanasi, to Delhi, and continues on to Lahore and Peshawar.

Completed in 1932 as a gift from the Soviet state to its remote regions, the Pamir Highway follows an ancient route through Central Asia to the Roof of the World, with peaks more than 7,000 meters high.

From its architectural splendor to its religious tolerance, nowhere is the greatness of ancient Persia more evident than in Isfahan, the starting point for a journey to Samarkand in Uzbekistan.