Khiva - Day 5

Khiva is magnificent. We started the day with a walking tour of the city. It’s enormous and beautiful with its minarets, palaces, harem and schools. The photos tell the story much better than I can articulate. Every corner was a new photo-opportunity, every street reeked of history. By the time the tour finished at 1pm the temperature had risen to 30 degrees and we were glad enough to visit a restaurant for a large pot of green tea. To my surprise, these central Asian countries don’t have a coffee tradition. They are staunch tea drinkers. Fortunately I like green tea, and on a day as hot as this it’s very refreshing. We were joined mid-morning by the two we had left at the Turkmenistan border. Apparently they’d managed the entire crossing in only half an hour! We are off again early tomorrow morning en-route to Bukhara. It will be a full days drive, but we’re clean, our clothes freshly laundered and the dust of bush-camps has been brushed off. We’re all good to go.

Stopping for tea

Khiva's walls - There are graves on the outside of the wall (the bumps) because bodies could not be buried inside the town

Map of the silk route

The entry into Khiva

Hats of every description for sale!

Arches

Schools and Universities

Carved woodwork doors

The minaret

Tiled arches

Jewellery

The minaret and market

City streets

School

Fire temple and mosque

Sunset over Khiva

The Harem

Tiles