Silk Road - 6 June 2009 - Khiva, Uzbekistan

We had lunch in a nice restaurant that used to be a madrassah. After lunch, I took a nap, before returning to the city. We stopped at the oldest mosque in the city, which had been destroyed by Genghis Khan. It was initially built in the 11^th Century, but rebuilt up through the 15^th century. It has 212 wooden columns that came from all over the city to restore the Mosque. No two of the columns are the same. We went to the Zorastrian Museum, which was originally a Madrassah. The principal Zorastrian festival was the vernal equinox. We went into a major residence where among other things we saw a carriage sent by the Tsar as a gift. We also saw the Harem area. Each wife had two rooms; one for entertaining and one for sleeping.

I went off in search of tee-shirts for Herman and Micah. I bought two which I’m not completely satisfied with, but that was all they had in the store. I returned to the hotel to shower, change and rest before dinner. Tomorrow, we go to Turkmenistan. For some reason, I’m nervous about going.

Description
Description
Me in front of Entrance
Minaret
Description
Entrance
Note beautiful tile work
Lunch in inner city
Description
Sign in front of restaurant
Khiva City Walls
Oldest Mosque im Khiva - 212 Columns

Entrance
Description
Entrance
Carriage presented to Emir of Khiva by the Tsar of Russia
Note tile work
Tile Work
Interior Courtyard
Painted Wooden Ceiling
Description
Description
Description
Entrance
Harem
Entrance
Description
Child who insisted that I take his picture

We went to a courtyard for dinner where entertainment was provided as well. Tomorrow we have to get moving by 8:00AM.

Show at Restaurant
Little boy was very good
As we left restaurant