Before I left home, I downloaded a bunch of books about China and Central Asia to my tablet from the library. Some were more interesting than others, but Christopher Aslam Alexander’s A Carpet Ride to Khiva: Seven Years on the Silk Road was the most fascinating. He doesn’t actually travel the Silk Road for seven years: instead, he stays put in Khiva. One thing leads to another, and he has repurposed a madrassah as a carpet factory, where they make carpet the old fashioned way, and using symbols and art from when this area was in its heyday for the designs, about 500 years ago. Until reading this book, I’d never heard of Khiva, but it made me determined to visit.
My train gets in at around 10:30 in the morning, which is a nice time to arrive somewhere, particularly since I’d been able to sleep well on the train from Bukhara. I have to confess that reading the book hadn’t really created any idea of what Khiva is actually like as a place. From the railway station, there’s a very modern line of buildings, with very few signs of life. I’m hoping for a café for a coffee, or maybe somewhere to get breakfast. Nothing.
Then there’s the wall - I knew that the old part of Khiva, Itchan Kala, was enclosed, but had not realised quite how comprehensively. People have lived here for more than 2,500 years - the wall’s foundations go back to the 10th century, but the present walls were built in the 17th. It would have been a lively town back then - while it might look like a cultured place, with so many madrassahs, its main claim to fame then was as the centre of the slave trade - one of two slave capitals of the world (Bukhara is the other). I don’t see any mention of that while there.
There are three gates through which tourists can enter, plus a couple of roads for vehicles. I see that there are ticket barriers at the gates, and conclude that a ticket is required each time I want to go in - I’m now pretty sure that is incorrect, the ticket is for specific sites within the walls, because there are a lot of hotels, guest houses and restaurants in there as well. Anyway, I’m not paying more than once to go in, so spend the first two days outside the walls.
This is a mistake, because there’s very little to see or do outside the walls. On arrival at my hotel, I’m given a very nice pot of tea, with biscuits and some little things about the size of hazel nuts - they’re made of little bits of nuts glued together with something sweet and then candied, very crunchy and tasty. I don’t catch what they’re called, and after the third attempt, give up trying. Despite my sleep on the train, I don’t feel much like moving - there are no coffee shops or the like nearby anyway. I do venture down the street in the evening to a very empty pub for a couple of beers and, yet again, shaslyk - it is that or pizza.
On my second day, I literally just wander the streets - there’s so little of note that I even walk around the wall to look at a bus stop, so I know where it is when it is time to leave. I do find a couple of tea shops and in the evening have a really good meal at a place called Khiva Moon. So, on the third day, I’m really keen to see what’s inside the walls! There’s a central path from the gate I enter by to the one nearest the railway station, with lots of vendors. I decide I will work my way to the end, explore the right side entirely, then the left side.
It’s fair to say that on the right side, the historically interesting buildings form a single line - behind them, there are a lot of hotels, guest houses, restaurants and residences for the locals
I hear a lot of noise coming from a nice looking hotel - poking my head in, I see a very full dining room, so continue my wander but with a resolution to come back. I’m taken upstairs to a nicely decorated dining room, where I have more mustava and spaghetti - by the time I am finished, only the table behind me is occupaied.
Starting on the left side of the central walkway, I find myself in something claiming to be the Khiva Silk Carpet Workshop - the enterprise started by Christopher Alexander - but there’s no sign of any weaving being done, just a couple of idle looms.
Of course, there are several madrassahs, but I’ve probably overloaded you with all those in Bukhara. Several are used for museums of no particular interest, and a couple of art galleries - these are what I paid admission to see. I do like this one room.
I don’t like this room so much - there’s a line of them at below ground level of a madrassah, obviously as a residence for a student (or maybe staff!).
There are also a couple of palaces - mainly empty: this is the secretary’s room in one, and the space where the khan would address his people in the other.
I hear music, so head towards it - there’s a fairly big public space. The music turns out to just be a recording, but its as a precursor to these brilliant folk.
Let’s hear and watch some snippets - each is about 20 seconds long.
I wander around some more, find a madrassah which has been converted into a hotel, with one of its rooms converted to a bar so pop in for a drink, for I have a plan. That is to return to where the music happened for dinner, at this place, hoping for a table on the roof. I’m about to transition to the next phase of the journey (which is no longer to Athens, by the way), so it’s a kind of celebratory dinner.
I do get a table on the roof, but not of this building - they have a hostel behind it, where the roof is used as an overflow restaurant. It’s just as nice, although it does lead to a few logistical problems - the kitchen is in this building, and it seems that the only payment machine is as well, so people have quite a long wait to pay for their meals by card. I have yet another mustava and pelmeni - the Russian answer to wontons. The dough is delicios, light and crisp. My main is, once again, not quite the success - thin strips of beef, crisp bread and potato cakes.
But there’s a great view from up here, and it’s made even better when the lights go on.
Time to return to the hotel.
Cheers!
I love this story of how you happened upon Khiva! I've only heard of it now!
The pattern on the bread in your food pic looks interesting. I wonder what it looks like before it's cut into strips?