Uzbekistan – Wonders Within the Walls of Khiva

July 11-12

Hello everyone!

Central Asia used to be the centre of one of the world’s most important ‘roads’. This network of trails, known today as the ‘Silk Road’, snaked across Asia from Europe to China. The most popular routes often crossed an area which is in the modern-day nation of Uzbekistan, where I will be spending the next twelve days.

Khiva's Khuna Ark and Kalta Minor minaret

The Uzbek kit and age of the player may explain why
they've never qualified for a World Cup!

The mentioning of the phrase ‘Silk Road’ evokes images of camel caravans and bustling bazaars. There were many important trading posts in what we now call Uzbekistan and our truck’s first stop was at one of them, the small town of Khiva in the west.

There would generally be 600-800 camels in a caravan,
joining and leaving at different times

This map of important trading places covers land from Iraq
to Kyrgyzstan - the whole route was much bigger

Khiva wasn’t the main stop in the area – that was Konye Urgench in Turkmenistan, where we drove from to get to the town – but became more important in the early 17^th century. It’s main trading good? Slaves.

It's likely that slaves would not be kept behind windows this ornate

Nowadays trade has switched to ceramics

Khiva was an empire of sorts, called a Khanate, for the next three centuries until eventual Russian conquest, initially in 1873 and then permanently in 1920. It was allowed to be a de facto independent state for a few years before being incorporated into the Uzbek SSR in 1924.

Khiva could be called a Khanate as its kings
were descendants of Genghis Khan

Many Khans built impressive structures
such as the famous minaret

The Soviets didn’t do too much damage here, unlike in nearby Bukhara. The upshot of this is a beautiful and evocative inner city, called the Ichon-Qala, which has been preserved from Khiva’s heyday in the previous 300 years.

Part of what used to be a caravanserai, an area where travellers could rest

The Islam-Hoja minaret is Uzbekistan's tallest at 57 metres

  

The Ichon-Qala is walled, with the mud-built defences stretching for 2.2 kilometres around some spectacular Islamic architecture. The rest of the city sat between this and another, 6 kilometre wall. This is a visual example of the Khanate’s class system. The graves on the walls show how desperate people were to be close to the Khan.

The walls were made from mud and had to be repaired regularly

Here you can see the graves on the slant on
the outside of the inner city walls

Walking through the compact inner city, you are surrounded by beauty from the past. The artwork on the buildings is a beautiful mix of white with different hues of blue and green.  Many have elaborate Arabic calligraphy giving information about the Khan in charge or the constructor of the madrassa, minaret or masjid.

Blue and green are chosen for their relaxation qualities

The colours can seem to change during the day
dependeing on the ferocity and angle of sunlight

In keeping with the secular approach of today’s Uzbekistan, many of the mosques offer limited calls to prayer. This makes them and madrassas (Islamic schools) permanently peaceful places, as well as being a welcome respite from the fierce heat of summer.

One of Khiva's mosques

An entrance to one of the madrassas

Though this area of Central Asia has strong Islamic tendencies, these have been bookended by the atheism of the Soviet Union and the Zoroastrian beliefs from centuries before. The main Friday mosque actually used to be a fire temple and still has remnants of its previous life, even though it has been razed on multiple occasions.

Most people of Uzbekistan identify themselves as Muslim but
many are not practising members of the religion

  

The old pillars were hidden in people's houses
and restored to the temple at later dates

Islam was the religion of the Khiva Khanate, but the Khan (King) also had a lot of power. One of the inner city’s most impressive areas houses the Khan’s living quarters. The most interesting part for me was the ‘People’s Court’, where a Khan would listen to the complaints of locals or the pleas from prisoners. In the case of the latter, the court had three doors. The door the prisoner exited from was his judgment as the Khan didn’t want to be overly negative when face-to-face. Not very brave when sending hundreds or even thousands to a beheading outside.

The Khan's quarters have some exquisite patterns

From left to right the doors would show beheading,
lashing or a fine, and acquittal

This shows a violent streak which Khiva has been historically known for in the region. Another example is what would occur in the slave bazaar outside the quarters, where women would be stoned to death for committing adulterous offences. Violence was encouraged by some Khans; soldiers would be given a house inside the outer walls if they could bring back 20 heads from a battle.

The entrance to the Khan's quarters

The area where the slave bazaar used to be

You may want to kill a few more to get into the paradise of the Ichon-Qala, where you could marvel at Khiva’s most photogenic structure, the Kalta Minor minaret. It was never finished as the Khan died four years after construction started in 1851. Apparently he wanted to be able to see Bukhara, another big town on the trading route, from the top. Given that Bukhara is over 400 kilometres away, it would have been some tower if finished.

The structure is 44 metres tall

It is a stirring sight at all time of day and night,
as the different levels of sunlight change the mood

Modern Khiva is geared towards tourism but receives far fewer numbers than its bigger Silk Road neighbours to the east such as Bukhara and Samarkand, meaning that it has a lovely, peaceful vibe. Distinctive plates, bowls and tea sets line the stone buildings and shimmer in the sunlight.

Tea is served in small cups like these

Jewellery boxes are common trinkets to find on the main streets

Uzbek food is generally what people think of when they think of the cuisine of Central Asia, and it didn’t disappoint in Khiva. Sipping on green tea, then slipping to an increasingly horizontal position, after a tapas-style meal of plov (meat and rice), manty (dumplings), laghman (noodles) and fried dumplings (I can’t remember the name) was a very pleasant experience. Each town has a unique variant on at least one dish, with Khiva’s being green noodles for the laghman.

This was more than enough for 7 people and cost less than $8
per person, including tea, beer and a tip

Plov is always a good choice!

Our Uzbek tapas was eaten on a traditional low table

My favourite when living in Kazakhstan was shashlik, meat cooked over fire on a metal sword. This has so far been ubiquitous – and delicious – in Uzbekistan.

Our 0.5m sword of shashlik

It also came with a pretty good view of the watchtower on the western gate

It was after this meal that a friend and I were strolling back towards the hotel when we heard some music playing just outside the inner city’s western gate. Being curious types, we wandered over and were soon drinking vodka out of tea mugs at a local man’s 60^th birthday party. We both had to give a toast and were essentially force-fed even more meat, which may actually have been a good thing with the speed and quantity of vodka being drunk. Times like this make me thankful that I made an effort to learn some Russian when living in Astana – a little conversation makes everyone open up.

Strolling through the inner city at night brings new colour to the old buildings

Birthday party food

At one point we were even recorded on a large, professional-
looking video camera by another guest

After trudging through Turkmenistan’s desert, I think anywhere with a semblance of culture would have been seen in a brilliant light. Luckily for us, Khiva possesses a lot of culture and history inside its walls – and a fair amount of vodka and fun people outside it.

Love you all,

Matt