Around the World With Uncle Moose: Days 13-15: Khiva, Uzbekistan

November 5: Bukhara to Kiva

(Note: portions in italics and quotes are descriptions of activities from the tour brochure)

"Depart Bukhara and drive to Khiva, one of the best-preserved cities along the ancient Silk Road. Legend says that the oasis of Khiva was founded at the place where Shem, son of Noah, discovered water in the desert, and that the city got its name from Shem’s joyful shout, “Hey va!” at the discovery. Today the living city is part museum town, part re-creation of life hundreds of years ago. Archaeologists have found traces of human habitation around Khiva dating from the 5th century BC. It was for hundreds of years a stop on the old Silk Road and a fortress town, but it was not until the 16th century that Khiva became the capital of the Khorezm Khanate. The khanate ruled the surrounding area for over 300 years, and was a well-known slave-trading center."

Most of the day was spent on the road to Khiva. The drive was not one of the highlights of the trip.

Not exactly the Interstate

Countryside on the road to Khiva

"Stop for a picnic lunch en route on the shores of the Amu Darya River."

The temperature was about 35 degrees and there was a mixture of light rain and sleet, so it wasn't very conducive for a picnic. To top it off, there was only one piece of civilization between Bukhara and Khiva--a run-down cafe/rest stop. Thus was our "picnic".

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here

It was as luxurious as it looks

Our "picnic lunch on the shores of the Amu Darya River"

After our "picnic", we headed again towards Khiva. Below are a few pictures from the countryside.

Eventually, we arrived in Khiva, which is not a very big city. The pictures below pretty much encompass all of the modern buildings in the city.

Late in the afternoon, we arrived at our destination, the Hotel Asia Khiva.

The main attraction in Khiva is the Old Town, an ancient walled city full of mosques, madrassahs, palaces, and shops. When we arrived in Khiva, the weather had suddenly cleared, so we rushed to the Old Town to get some photos while the light was good.

Note: My camera mysteriously got reset to take pictures at low resolution (640 by 480), a fact which I didn't realize until the last day in Turkmenistan. This means that if you click on many of the pictures from here to the end of the trip, they will only display at 640x480. Bummer. I have supplemented my own pictures with some (at high resolution) that were taken by others on the trip.

The area next to the Old Town--not very impressive

A shop in the Old Town

A minaret in the Old Town

We were able to climb on the town walls and get some nice shots.

Panoramic view of the Old Town

Another panoramic view

A view back into "modern" Khiva from the Old Town wall

A tower along the wall

A house inside the Old Town

More housing in the Old Town--the round thing is a clay oven

Some residents of Old Town

Moonrise over the city walls

Moonrise over the south gate

Trying on some local attire

November 6: A Day in Khiva

The weather wasn't very cooperative today--temperature in the 30s with light rain. Not only was it freezing, but it was lousy weather for photography.

The first sight was the Kalta Minor Minaret. No, it wasn't named for me--Kalta Minor means "short minaret", and the tower was never completed--it's only 1/3 its planned height.

Kalt, and Kalta Minor. I told you the weather was lousy

A former madrassah that is now a hotel

A (very old) carved wooden door

Even freezing rain doesn't stop wedding pictures

Our next stop was the Jumah Mosque. Some of the columns in the mosque date from the 10th century.

Inside the Jumah Mosque

I think this is one of the 10th century columns

Next was the Tosh-hovli Palace, dating from the 1830's. Nice tilework.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent wandering around the Old City and trying not to freeze.

Kalta Minor and surrounding buildings

Before dinner, we had a Uzbek musical group perform for us in a conference room in the hotel. They were excellent--especially the younger members of the troupe.

November 7: More Khiva, and on to Turkmenistan

The weather was marginally better today (not raining, but still cold), and we had a free morning, so I went back to the Old City on my own.

This street is about 1000 years old

Finally, the sun came out....

"Old man clothing"

Outside the gates of the Old City was a bazaar.

Another shot of Khiva outside the Old City walls

After lunch, we drove from Khiva across the border to Dashoguz, Turkmenistan, where we caught an evening flight to Ashgabad, the capital of Turkmenistan.

On the road outside Khiva

The border crossing into Turkmenistan was the typical check out of one country--cross no man's land--check into another country process, except the no man's land was more than 1/2 mile across, and a sleet storm came up as we were crossing the border. Fortunately, they came up with a car to drive us (24 people, 3 at a time) across no-man's land. Still, it was not the highlight of the trip.