Khiva

We toured the small historic town of Khiva in Uzbekistan, once the capital of a central asian state that existed from the 1500's right through until 1924, when it was fully incorporated into the Soviet Union. The city's long history is fascinating and fortunately much of the magnificent architecture has been incredibly well preserved. The ancient walls that used to provide sanctuary for the travelers on the Silk Route are intact, as is the old town that the walls were built to protect. Many of the buildings are beautifully decorated in classic turquoise tiles.

We spent the entire day wandering. The heat was intense. Can't imagine what it will be like for folks here on July! We split up our tour into two parts to avoid the high noon heat. Enjoying lunch in the shade AND with wifi was great. Rejoining around 3pm we contained our visits to palaces, mosques, medrazas, and other cool buildings and monuments. At the end of the day, after hours and hours of sightseeing, and more exquisite tile than possibly in all of Turkey and Jordan combined...we climbed to the top of a an awesome lookout tower and took more photos...followed by COLD BEER and lots of it.

We were on our own for dinner and once again enjoyed the hospitality of these really lovely people.