Tag 1 to 4: The historically beautiful Khiva

Khiva: Compact, chic, beautifully lit, beautifully turquoise colored, monotonous decorations, historically interesting, skilled craftsmanship, charming, imposing, dusty, dilapidated, cozy, delicious... Many adjectives that describe the desert city. We will not provide a basic course in the correct naming of the individual madrasas and mosques here with us. They can be found on the world-wide-web or in the highly recommended travel guide 'Uzbekistan' from Dumont-Verlag. We primarily reflect our experiences and the photos (this time only sporadically with titles) round off the picture, as in our New Zealand and Tour-du-Mont-Blanc blogs.

On the day of arrival, we were able to check into our room at the long-established Meros B&B shortly after 11 am. The hotel comes highly recommended, both the breakfast and the room were very good (except for the shower). Compared to the Sukhrob Barzu Hotel in Bukhara, it scored slightly worse because the bathroom was better there and the Wi-Fi speed was much faster. In addition, construction work was being carried out next door, which started as early as 7 am and caused dust on our beautiful balcony. But we were mostly out and about anyway. In Khiva, Team DUS had the best accommodation at the Islam Khodja Hotel, whose attentive and courteous owner receives a decent point for his tips and recommendations. The Guest House Orzu, where Team FRA was staying, came in third place due to the hard beds. Upon arrival, we almost forgot to take off our shoes before stepping on the carpet in the entrance area... We barbarians! Well, we were also a bit tired since the short flights and stopover times did not allow for a decent sleep. By the way, in the future Jörg will only ask older taxi drivers for a taxi, they don't have a fat subwoofer in their vehicle and drive more leisurely, just like the driver from Urgench to Khiva. But be careful, they may be more prone to falling asleep or just look sleepy from the beginning.

Short naps revived the jet-lagged body, at least five minutes should be planned ;-) better: 50 minutes! In the late afternoon, we set off for some nourishment. By and large, all the restaurants in Khiva were very good, we were on the rooftop terrace of Café Terrassa, in the restaurant Kheivak, and in Khiva Moon several times. In the mentioned restaurants, Janina's vegetarian appetite could also be satisfied. In the afternoon and evening, we already had plenty of time to visit some of Khiva's old town's approximately 16 sights. We looked at the remaining sights on the second day, although we probably missed one or two. Of course, the main shopping passage was part of it, which extended between the West and East Gates. For the museums and madrasas, there were two ticket options, either a standard or a VIP ticket. While the VIP ticket (150,000 SOM, about €15, cash only in SOM) covered the visit to practically all museums, madrasas, and one minaret, the standard ticket (100,000 SOM) had limitations. The two mausoleums still had to be paid for separately, about 10,000 SOM each. There was also a basic ticket, which only allowed entry to the old town. The tickets were valid for two days and could be purchased in front of the West Gate, or had to be purchased there in order to enter the city, and in our case also the hotel. Later we found out that entry was possible at other places without a ticket.

In the evening, the minarets were beautifully lit, the turquoise tiles looked fantastic. The 'Khivians' also liked LED chains, so some buildings were decorated with them, a 'mega decoration'?! At least this way, the bumpy paths away from the main tourist routes were illuminated. Some streets were already repaved, so there will probably be no danger of stepping into a temporarily secured manhole in the coming year. Otherwise, Team DUS will certainly release a 'hole quartet' with cartographed and classified potholes! We're excited!

We were very impressed by Khiva, especially in the evenings it felt like 1001 Nights. It wasn't too hot, around 30 degrees Celsius, which is really tolerable in dry weather. There were many dragonflies to observe in some places, as well as rock doves, laughing doves, and flocks of sparrows. In the evenings, we could still sit outside with a T-shirt (Jörg) and enjoy the fascinating atmosphere. We could admire many bats during their night flights, so there were probably hardly any mosquitoes, at least we didn't see any. The merchants were not too pushy, especially not in the 'Masterclass Catacombs', where we also bought some great pictures. The local ladies were more intrusive towards one-year-old blonde children who walked independently near their parents; they were partly lifted and kissed by the ladies... you couldn't intervene that quickly. All ATMs were empty, so we were left with only money exchange (with dollars and euros, exchange rate of 1 EUR to 10,000 SOM) in one of the few exchange offices in Khiva's old town. All in all, it was a great start to our vacation together, which will be difficult to top!