Khiva

For reasons mostly revolving around our visa to Turkmenistan (which you don't argue with once you have it) and train timetables, we did our dash across Uzbekistan to see Khiva before we then go back east. So we are quite far west, right on the edge of the desert (the main strip of habitation in the south of Uzbekistan is the oasis of the desert) and Khiva is one of the main silk road cities that's around 2,500 years old.

It's a tiny place and not many people live here - the whole town is small and the old walled town at the centre is a living museum. We spent most of a day just wandering around getting lost and it is really fabulous, in quite a different way to Samarkand - still some good tiles but thr main delight is the narrow streets and labyrinthine buildings which suddenly pop out into decorated courtyards.Read more