Uzbekistan - Khiva

We checked into the Hotel Arqonchi which is within the old city walls. The admission fee for the old city was 11,000 Sums, which we had to pay despite already staying within. Our guide took us through the old city.

Khiva was of course on the old Silk Route of the past. All the old buildings of historic importance have been kept and preserved. Some of the buildings have the most amazing achitecture and a lot of them have carved wooden columns.

There were three palaces within these walls and one of them has 3 courtyards and 160 room.

The prominent turquoise-tiled Kalta Minor Minaret has a base of 25m but was never completed and hence only a short stub. Had it been completed it would have been the tallest minaret in the world in the 1850's. The Juma mosque has over two hundred wooden columns supporting the roof (see picture). One of the columns came fully carved from India - the challenge was to find which one.

Attached are only a small number of photo taken during the guided tour. The tiles on the floor, walls and ceilings were exquisite. Some of the buildings, the tiles were individually marked so the tradesmen in those days knew where to fit them with respect to the vast building.

One could only imagine what this city was like during the Silk Route days. More to come .... next stops Bukhara and then Samarkand and then Tashkent, and then.. and.....