Khiva dreaming

After leaving Moynaq and the sad remaining of the Aral Sea, I drove south for 7 hours to reach Khiva before dark. Unfortunately, I failed. I was dropped out the taxi at around 8 in the evening. Considering that it was mid-February, the difference with anytime around midnight was not so remarkable. Because of that, and of a series of unlucky situations (all cheap B&B seemed to be undergoing renovation works) I ended up being in a oddly expensive hotel right in front of the main door. Let's face it: 50 dollars per person\night is a ridiculously high price for a modest hotel during off season. Anyway, the city was worth the investment. Khiva is an incredible place, and I hope the photos you will see below prove what I say.

View of Khiva at dawn from my window, facing the West Gate.

Kalta Minor Minaret

Just in case you always wondered how streets of Khiva look like without the ords of tourists...

Juma minaret

Kalta Minor Minaret and a little turret

It's... well ok, you got it...

Again, welcome to the unveiled Khiva

Does anyone need a wallpaper for his/her desktop!?

Streets of Khiva

View of Kalta Minor Minaret from behind the Juma Mosque

Inside the Ark

View from the top of the Ark

View from the top of the Ark

View from the top of the Ark

City walls

Inside the Juma Mosque, its ceiling standing thanks to 218 wooden columns

One of the carved wooden colums in the Juma Mosque

Nice puppy

A view from the cloak of the Ark

The Islom Hoja Minaret, the highest minaret in Uzbekistan (57 mt.)

One of the inner courts of the Tosh-Hovli Palace

The Tosh-Hovli Palace is really huge... and this is just the balcony of one of the courts

Decoration of the ceiling in the Tosh-Hovli Palace

A view of a porch on the Pahlavon Mahmud Street