Mystical Khiva

Today we have had a leisurely day taking in the sights of Khiva, in the far north west corner of Uzbekistan. Khiva has a long history of being a bit of a magical out-of-the-way place and was known for many years for the cruelty of its Khan. If you managed to actually reach the city over the desert liberally sprinkled with hordes of marauding tribespeople, the Khan usually cut you to bits as soon as you arrived in the city....

As you can see from the pictures the architecture is pretty impressive with lots of mosques and medressas. Unfortunately the soviets have squeezed much of the life out of the old town by dedicating it a "museum city". This means it has all been well preserved (well, actually most of it seems to have been rebuilt in the 1970s) but there is no hustle and bustle of a living city, and most of the squalor has been scrubbed away.
So, we have done a lot of aimless wandering, bought our first souvies (I negotiated like an old pro....) and drunk lots of coke in the shade. Actually, another thing I am pleasantly surprised by is the temperature. Hot at noon, but otherwise lovely and fresh and balmy. Mmmm makes a difference from usually hitting places when they are experiencing the hottest part of their summer!
Oh, for all you over 50s, I think Saga has an offer on at the moment you ought to check out. Every other tourist here is a coffin-dodger, being led by the nose in packs of 20....