Where to start? Khiva has so many amazing sites to offer, it‘s like walking in a museum town with one stunning building next to another. Khiva had two walls protecting it, but the outer wall has since disappeared.
The inner walls protecting the heart of the city have been restored and are running in an impressive band around the entire town. The wall with it‘s ramparts is easily 15-20 meters high and of a massive build. They surround the city completely. Access is only possible through four gates, one in each direction.
From our very lovely hotel one had to simply walk 100 meters to the main gate. There is one main throughfare from the Western most gate to the Eastern gate lined with little souvenir stalls that also sold local arts & crafts items.
Basically all of the town has a stone floor and trees are reserved for dedicated flower beds and inner courtyard gardens. Khiva is extremely clean and tidy. As customary the palace is a central piece of the ancient town and called the Kuhna Ark.
The Ark not only housed the residing Khan with his throne room, private mosque and receiving chambers but also of his harem, his stables, honorary guest quarters, barracks for his guard, the mint, the arsenal of weapons and a jail.
Nearly all has been well preserved and restored and it shows some beautiful blue tilework and painted ceilings. The ark also has a high watch tower where one could see in al directions. We had a very nice pre sunset view from the top.
Scattered across town are a number of larger and smaller Medrassas, religious schools. Most are now converted into small museums. There are museums for ancient art, musical instruments, science, medical, traditional clothing, jewelry and carpets.
We visited a smal carpet shop where they showed how real silk carpets are still being made. It is mind boggling to see how much manual labor it is to produce one single silk carpet. One carpet maker needs about one year to make a silk carpet of 1.20m x 2 m dimension. It then is sold for about 6000 EUR.
There are of course a number of mausoleums, some larger, some very small that honors some highly respected religious leaders and it is customary for all women to wear proper attire, incl. A head scarf and for men to cover their knees and shoulders and leave the shoes outside.
Each larger complex has high outer walls and a pretty inner courtyard, mosyly with a large Mulbery tree and provide some shaded spots to sit down and relax.
The most iconic sights of Khiva though are it‘s minarets. There are four large ones, and numbr of smaller ones. Each is attached to a mosque but especially the two major ones eclipse their mosques in impressiveness.
The Kalta Minor Minaret is short and fat. It is covered all over with a variety of turquoise tiles and different shapes. It is truly a sight to be seen. It looks as if someone had planned to make this the highest Minaret in the whole world but stopped half way and could not finish it. That‘s exactly what happened. The ruler Amin Khan started to build it in 1851 but dropped dead in 1855 unable to finish the minaret.
The other major minaret is the one attached to the Islom Hoja Medrassa‘s mosque. It was built in 1910. At 57 meters height it is Uzbekistans highest Minaret and has a little bit of a light house with it‘s elegant shape. This one we could climb up a steep spiral staircase and had a grandiose view from up top. Islom Hoja himself was a benevolent grand vizir and also created the first hospital in Khiva, right next to the minaret.
Khiva being the last city stop on our journey, we could not resist buying a few of the wares that were offered in the old Caravanseray. Beautifully soft silk scarfes, elegant wrap around trousers, colorful table runners , we could have bought much more but we hand picked just a few items.
Pricing is random by the sellers and you always have to haggle.
Having the hotel so close by is a clear advantage as one can have a light lunch and then drop ones shopping bags in the hotel at lunchtime. As we had eaten some delicious hot Samsas (dough with potato, pumpkin or meat filling, baked in a round clay oven) we decided to skip lunch and instead finish out our second half of the day with a roof top terrace dinner overlooking the central square and watching the sunset bathe Khiva in a soft warm light.
A nice way to end our Uzbekistan city tours so full of history and surprises. We imagined how hard the life then must have been and how blessed we are to live in our times.
Tomorrow is our last excursion to some old desert fortresses and a night in the yurt camp before flying back to Tashkent.
