Khiva

Khiva is a small city in the Khorezm oasis in western Uzbekistan, close to the Karakum desert, and it has the best-preserved walled old town in Central Asia. The inner town, Ichan Kala, is listed by UNESCO, and its mud-brick walls enclose more than fifty historic monuments, including mosques, madrasas, minarets and palaces. The city was the capital of the Khanate of Khiva, which survived until the early twentieth century, and it was a notorious slave market on the caravan routes between Persia and Central Asia. Today it is a quiet and compact place, easy to cover on foot.

Ichan Kala rewards early and late visits, when the light is soft and the day-trippers are few. Kalta Minor, a short minaret covered in turquoise tiles, was left unfinished when its builder died, and it has become the symbol of the city. Islam Khoja, the tallest minaret in Khiva, can be climbed for a view across the rooftops. The Juma Mosque has a hall of more than two hundred carved wooden columns, some of them centuries old, instead of the usual vaulted domes. The Tash Khauli Palace has courtyards with tiled walls and carved wooden columns, and the Kunya Ark fortress was the residence of the rulers.

Beyond the walls, the Khorezm region has more than a thousand years of history before the Silk Road cities. Dozens of ancient fortresses, such as Toprak Kala, Ayaz Kala and Kyzyl Kala, stand in the desert, and some can be visited on day trips from Khiva or on the road from Bukhara. They give an idea of the scale of the Khorezmian civilisation, which relied on canals fed by the Amu Darya. The fortresses are best seen with a guide who can explain what you are looking at, since many are ruins of mud brick.

To the north-west lies Karakalpakstan, a region with its own language and culture. Nukus, its capital, holds the Savitsky Museum, which houses one of the world's largest collections of Russian avant-garde art, saved by the collector Igor Savitsky from Soviet censorship. Further north, at Muynak, stranded ships rust on the dry seabed where the Aral Sea once reached, and an adjoining museum tells the story of the fishing port and of the environmental disaster that followed. The journey is long and the scenery stark, but it is memorable. Deeper expeditions cross the Ustyurt Plateau and reach yurt camps near the remaining shore.

The practicalities are simple. Khiva is reached by train from Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent, or by flying to Urgench, around forty minutes by road away. The town has family-run guesthouses in restored houses, and a few larger hotels near the gates. Summers are very hot, often above forty degrees, so spring and autumn are the best seasons. Winters are cold, and some sites reduce their hours.

Food is hearty. Plov, a pilaf of rice, meat and carrots, appears everywhere, and the Khorezm version is often cooked with raisins or dried fruit. Shivit oshi, noodles coloured green with dill, is a local speciality, served with meat stew and yoghurt. Dimlama, a slow-cooked stew of meat and vegetables, and the region's sweet melons are worth seeking out. Tea is served constantly, and bread from clay ovens is sold in the bazaars.

Dress modestly, particularly in religious buildings, and ask before photographing people. Most monuments in Ichan Kala charge an entrance fee or sell a combined ticket, and it is helpful to carry cash in Uzbek som. Allow two nights to see the old town at different hours, and add a day or two for the fortresses or the journey to the Aral Sea.

Shopping is one of the pleasures. The bazaars inside the walls sell silk and cotton textiles, hand-knotted carpets, carved wooden boxes and chess sets, painted ceramics and the tall woolly hats typical of the region. Bargaining is expected, but politely and with good humour, and it helps to ask the price in more than one shop before you decide. Many artisans work in the open, so you can watch woodcarvers and potters at their tasks, and the shops of the madrasas hold small workshops.

Think about timing in Ichan Kala. The walls are open at all hours, and the best hours for photography are just after dawn and before sunset, when the mud brick glows. Some monuments close in the middle of the day or have short opening hours, so ask at your guesthouse for the current schedule. A combined ticket is available for several monuments, and a separate ticket may be needed for climbing a minaret, so keep small notes of local currency in your pocket.

A private guide can add depth. Many of the monuments have little signage in English, and the context of the khanate, the slave trade and the Soviet period is not obvious from the buildings alone. A driver is also useful for the desert routes, since distances are long, roads can be poor and public transport is limited.