Khiva!

After a long journey yesterday, we are in Khiva - if it didn't feel like we were on the Silk Road before, we certainly do now!

Khiva is an ancient city of the Silk Road, once famous for its slave market - the second biggest in Central Asia. The centre is a UNESCO site also known as Itchan Kala, the fortified capital and royal city of the Khans - the ruling dynasty.

Nowadays the well preserved city centre is a delightful labyrinth of narrow mud-walled alleyways and spectacular blue mosaics. But the first impression is deceptive and the buildings in the old town are not as old as they look. Most of them are from the 19th century.

First things first though, our hotel is the magnificent Orient Star just inside the walled city and formerly the Mohammed Amin Khan Madrassa. In fact this was one of Khivas 64 madrassas until the 1930's but is now an amazingly atmospheric hotel.

On our first full day here we embarked on a tour with our new guide - Bakram. Once again, information overload but some of the things he explained to start with:

- the walled city covers a total of 26 hectares with seemingly countless mosques, minarets and madrassas.
- there is a population of 3000 today.
- founded in 4BC it has been destroyed four times and most buildings aren't older than the 18th century
- it's also known as "land of stairs", I think we climbed every one!
- Our hotel was such a good Madrassa Bakram said it was the "Harvard of central Asia"

Our first stop was literally outside the front door where there is Khivas most iconic landmark - the unfinished minaret. Fantastically decorated, this 29 metres high structure was begun by Muhammad Amin Khan around 1852 and was intended to be enormous—probably around 70–80 metres high. Construction abruptly stopped in 1855 when Muhammad Amin Khan was killed during a military campaign against the Turkmen. Without its patron, the project was abandoned.

Next stop was the Khans royal palace, the Kunya-Ark Castle. This was a mixture of palace and administration in former times. We looked at dungeons, reception areas, winter and summer mosques as well as the mint. Most of the grand buildings have the same magnificent telltale blue mosaics patterns, all slightly different, with depictions of geometry or fruits like pomegranate, lemon and almonds - each one of them with their symbology.

After stopping for some refreshing mint tea we stopped at a silk carpet factory. Not saw much factory but a small family run business/cooperative. Here, Bakram explained the process from silk worm to finished articles. We saw a carpet being painstakingly worked on as well as the obligatory display of a few for sale 😉. At about $5k each we decided to give them a miss on this occasion 😂.

After yet another substantial lunch (in an old madrassa) we headed for the Tash-Hovli (“Stone Palace”). It was the new royal palace of the Khans of Khiva, built for Allah Kuli Khan between 1830 and 1838. It was intended to be more luxurious and comfortable than the older Kunya-Ark. Inside were several artifacts to look at but the harem was the main attraction with five bedrooms, one for the Khan and the others for each of his four wives, the tallest one obviously for the Khan. The Khan had some back stairs built so he could secretly attend any of the wives to try and prevent jealousy amongst the others!

The final stop of the afternoon was the Juma mosque. Once capable of holding 5000 worshippers it is now just for the tourist. Although with its several hundred wooden columns it felt very atmospheric.

The day was rounded off with our first taste of the traditional dish - plov. Not quite as oily as we thought but definitely not a diet dish 😉.Read more