Khiva walking tour

Oct. 21, 2023-Khiva walking tour We have become the walking wounded. Aside from the woman who hurt her leg, at least five have colds, and three got food poisoning at the hotel dinner last night. The doc in our group diagnosed the latter as he was a victim. David has a cold that I’m trying to avoid. Believe me, the tour company will re-evaluate this hotel before next season. Yura took pity on us. Instead of walking 15-20 minutes to the Western Gate our bus drove us there. Khiva is a city of two walls. The inner wall is higher and more formidable. There is the physical barrier and the psychological barrier. The invaders believed it was bad luck to step on a grave. Khivans placed tombs on the outter side of the taller inner walls to deter enemies from easy access. Competition between Khiva, Bukhara, and Samarkand accounted for the large numbers of mosques and madrassahs in the city. Size didn’t matter. And with a slave market front and center, it was cheap and easy to get them built. Many were destroyed during the Bolshevik invasion readying the residents for a peaceful surrender to the USSR when the time came. Aside from the many and unvaried M&Ms (mosques and madrassahs), we visited the khan’s palace and the old mint. Three men were hired to work at the mint for only six days before being replaced. Their heads were shaved to prevent hiding coins in their hair, and they were given a laxative periodically to be sure they hadn’t swallowed coins. There was a “receptacle” on site for them to use before they left the facility. The worst job had to be the guy dunking for stolen coins. The reason the men only worked six days was so they couldn’t get friendly with the guards and bribe them to not give them the purge. Our group dwindled as lunch approached and the sickest returned to the hotel. Those left enjoyed pumpkin purée soup, dark green noodles made with dill, and beef stew topped with yogurt. There was a brief tour after lunch. We skipped out and rested. We never left the room. We had leftovers from our grocery shopping in Tashkent, and they sufficed for dinner. Too much food. Tomorrow we leave at noon for Nuukus, the capital of the autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan. I haven’t been reading the itinerary in advance, so it was a nice surprise. Toby