The road to Oxiana

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The Road to Oxiana is a travelogue by Robert Byron, first published in 1937. It is considered by many modern travel writers to be the first example of great travel writing. The word "Oxiana" in the title refers to the region along Afghanistan's northern border.
The book is an account of Byron's ten-month journey to the Middle East in 1933–34 in the company of Christopher Sykes. It is in the form of a diary with the first entry "Venice, 20 August 1933" after which Byron travelled by ship to the island of Cyprus and then on to the then countries of Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Persia and Afghanistan. The journey ended in Peshawar, India on 19 June 1934, from where he returned to England.
The primary purpose of the journey was to visit the region's architectural treasures of which Byron had an extensive knowledge, as evidenced by his observations along the way. For example, he says of the Mosque of Sheikh Luftullah, now listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO:
Byron interacted with the locals and negotiated transport, including motor vehicles, horses and asses to carry him on his journey.