10/2: Historic Khiva & A Slice of the 'Real' Khiva

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The former Mohammed Rakhim Khan Madrassa had been converted into a museum dedicated to the khan or leader who was also known for his poetry, written under the name Feruz Shah. Feruz, the last khan of Khiva, was recognized for bringing the region's first telephone from St. Petersburg but gave little thought to the fact that there were no telephone lines for hundreds of miles in any 

direction!

I overheard a guide say if you were a woman, you knocked on the walnut wood door three times; if a man, you only knocked once! The guide also mentioned the symbol for Allah was contained in the door knocker.

Another day, another madrassa and very similar tile work in each one but we hadn't tired of seeing the striking colors and patterns. 

I also loved the stunning colors in the decorated ceiling panels.

As I mentioned in the initial post on Khiva, most of the former madrassas doubled up as museums and souvenir shops so we never needed to walk far to try and spend money!

In every shop, madrassa, etc, there were always huge silver earrings decorated mostly with coral and turquoise accents for sale. I have been wearing silver jewelry lately but these were far too big for my taste. I thought one of our daughters might like them as I thought they were more suitable for someone her age but she declined my offer of buying her a pair. 

One of the handicrafts that was very appealing, and not just for kids, were these beautifully hand painted, papier mache puppets in their own fabric holder. We resisted buying a pair then but gave in to the temptation later as we liked them so much.

Painting of the Khiva bazaar in the 19th century: 

The painting depicted a fight between an Indian man and Pakhlavan Mahmud, whose mausoleum we'd visited yesterday and found so spiritual. Mahmud was a wrestler in addition to being a poet and the patron saint of Khiva so his 'fight' made sense in that context.

Other displays at the Khan Madrassa:

Yesterday, just before dusk, we had headed over to Kukhna Ark to take some photos of Khiva at sunset but we hadn't spent any time then exploring the oldest part of Khiva's Ichan Kala or inner city. This area of the fortress stretched back some fifteen hundred years.  

The complex was notable for its vaulted iwan, the rectangular space that was walled on three sides, with one end entirely open. It faced north to catch the prevailing summer breezes. 

The Ark's ice blue tile work was particularly impressive and that was saying something in a city like Khiva where so, so much was just captivating. 

The royal rooms at the Ark included a summer mosque, mint, harem, and a throne room where the khan met winter guests in a felt yurt erected on a brick base. The reason was because it was easier to heat the yurt than the drafty brick halls of the palace. 

I don't know what word to describe the intricate alabaster designs other than my oft-used exquisite. 

These clay pieces were brought out for holidays in Khiva in the 1970s, finally a period we could relate to after so much was about life centuries ago!

The mausoleum in Kukhna Ark, built for the famous Muslim scientist Sayyid Allandin, was one of Khiva's ancient monuments and was built in the 14th century. It comprised two rooms, one for the grave and the other a prayer room.

Poor Steven looked like he needed to be rescued from the women wanting to sell him something!

To get away from the large tour groups that seemed to swarm every madrassa and museum in Khiva all day long, we escaped into a section of Khiva we only knew had been part of the Royal Cemetery from the 16th century.

It was a very pleasant change of pace to wander over and around the old tombs and wonder how these people had lived so long ago.

This artist had the most amazing collection of puppets he had made, each with its own distinct character and clothing like a member of his family. We had a tough but very enjoyable time trying to figure out which two puppets looked best together and then which fabric holder to put them in. Those of you who live nearby can come over and see what we chose anytime!

Since we felt we had seen all there was to see in the sanitized and  very touristy areas of historical Khiva behind the city walls, we got a marshrutka for the measly sum of just .70 into the city itself to try and get a sense of where the 'real' Khiva was. Not surprisingly, we ended up at the local market but there wasn't much happening mid afternoon as it looked like most of the activity took place in the early mornings.

The busiest and most interesting place was what looked like an old fashioned general store but with vendors being responsible for parts of it.

I have mentioned in earlier posts the huge numbers of Uzbeks with mouthfuls of gold teeth. It wasn't surprising when we'd seen in market after market massive amounts of candies and cookies of all shapes and flavors for sale.

This was the first time, though, that we saw about half a dozen types of cake that could be bought by the slice. I love sweets but I am far more a chocolate bar lover than a cake lover! Or, I can be bought for a loaf of fresh Uzbek nan bread as you might have guessed from all the photos of them I've shown you! Steven steers clear from any desserts like these because of the possibility they have nuts as he's allergic to all types. His weakness is hard candies. 

Another first for us in this market was what we thought was butter 

by the slice!

A couple of shops in the market area only sold bottles of pop or water and all the way up the to the ceiling as you can see!

We bought some fresh bread but it was much flatter than what we'd enjoyed so much in Kyrgyzstan. Bananas were expensive at about .80 for just two, or at least that was the price we were charged. We realized later that bananas were 'expensive' everywhere in Uzbekistan and that we hadn't paid the tourist price in the market!

It didn't look like this market had many tourists come through on a regular basis so we stuck out like a sore thumb. This man was so welcoming and said several words to us in English after thinking we were Italian. I meant to mention earlier that there are so many Italian and French tourists in Uzbekistan, all the taxi drivers and women selling their handicrafts assumed we were Italian initially. The local ladies would all call out to me, "Signora, signora" when they were imploring me to buy something!

Uzbekistan must have the world's market on these small size vans that are used to transport eight passengers for fairly short distances as we saw a gazillion of the identical vehicles all over the country. One other odd thing about cars in Uzbekistan - I would bet more than 90 per cent off all cars were white. When I asked about that, one man told me the answer was simple - that color was cheaper to buy! In addition, the overwhelming majority of all vehicles were GM cars that were made in a couple of plants in the country. 

Another view of Ichan Kala or city walls:

We'd heard that we shouldn't miss walking along the North Wall at dusk so, as that was our last night, we didn't want to put that fun experience off any longer. 

I wonder if this little five or six year old may be a long distance runner in the future as you should have seen him running up and down the steps to the walls with the greatest of ease!

Unintentionally we got a bird's eye view of how some of the locals lived as we walked along the walls as we were able to see right into their upper floors!

We could hear a cow and the bleating of a goat in the small enclosure below us.

This man had, without a doubt, the perfect place in all of Khiva to watch the glorious sunset!

We were also lucky enough to snag some great seats at a rooftop restaurant overlooking the city and its minarets. MY view was perfect but my food was terrible! Oh well, our last night in the city was still a magical time.

Most tourists only 'do' Khiva in two days and we could have, too, but it would have felt too rushed for us. We much preferred having the luxury of time so we didn't have to rush, rush the entire time, that we could stop and relax in the courtyard at the swanky Oriental Star hotel, that we could return to our favorite places and just meander where the spirit took us. 

Khiva, being our first real Silk Road city, was a very special place but it did feel more than slightly 'Disneyesque' as you might have gathered from some of my earlier comments. Steven and I discussed later we were both happy we began our exploration of Uzbekistan's fabled Silk Road cities with Khiva and then headed east to Bukhara and Samarkand and finally back to the caital city of Tashkent rather than doing it the other way around. I think you will understand why as you read upcoming posts. 

Next post: Moving on to the next Silk Road city, beautiful Bukhara!

Posted on October 21st, 2018, from Astana, Kazakhstan.