Lexington: horses and bourbon in Kentucky

World capital of thoroughbred horses, Lexington remains surrounded by equestrian estates and bourbon distilleries among Kentucky's rolling hills.

A car remains useful for exploring the surrounding equestrian estates.

The Kentucky Horse Park, a themed park dedicated to horses, houses museums and equestrian shows across hundreds of acres of rolling green hills.

A few minutes away, the thoroughbred breeding estates around Lexington remain among the most prestigious in the world, some accessible through organized tours.

Continuing along the famous Bourbon Trail, visitors tour historic distilleries producing bourbon whiskey according to Kentucky's protected designation of origin.

Toward evening, local restaurants serve hot brown, an open-faced sandwich with turkey and cheese sauce, a specialty originating in Kentucky.

Kentucky produces roughly ninety-five percent of all bourbon made in the United States, a distinction tied to the region's climate and limestone-rich water surrounding Lexington, ideal for fermenting corn.

Lexington remains nicknamed the "horse capital of the world" for its extraordinary concentration of thoroughbred breeding farms, many of which have produced international racing champions on tracks across the globe.