Muhammad Amin Khan started a minaret meant to outdo every tower in Central Asia. In 1855 the khan died, the builders put down their tools, and the stump they left, wrapped head to toe in turquoise tile, became the face of Khiva. Kalta Minor is the first thing you see inside the West Gate. It's also the first storey on this walk.
Itchan Kala (also spelled Ichan Kala), the inner city, sits inside a 10-meter mud-brick wall, and people still live in its 250 old houses. Over three and a half hours a licensed local guide takes you through it end to end, in a group of 10 or fewer. Dates stay to a minimum. Stories don't.
In Kunya Ark, the khans' own fortress, there's a round brick platform in the courtyard. When nomad envoys came, the khan received them in a yurt pitched right there. Close by is the mint where the last khans, short of paper, printed money on silk.
Juma Mosque has no dome and no grand portal, just a dim hall of more than 200 carved wooden columns. A few date back to the 10th century; others were taken from older mosques. Around the corner rises the Islam Khodja Minaret, the tallest in Khiva, finished in 1910. The grand vizier who built it also gave the city a hospital, a post office and a telegraph.
Pahlavan Mahmud was a 13th-century poet, philosopher and wrestler, and he's still Khiva's patron saint. His shrine is covered floor to ceiling in blue tile. Then comes Tash Khauli, Allakuli Khan's palace, where the harem has five tall porches: one for the khan, one for each of his four wives. The khan wanted it done in two years. Builders who couldn't promise that were executed, the storey goes. It took eight.
On the east side stands Palvan Darvaza. Until the Russians took Khiva in 1873, slaves were sold right outside this gate. Thirty-three years earlier, a 28-year-old British officer named Richmond Shakespear talked the khan into freeing 416 Russian captives and led them across the desert to Russia.
Pick your time. Morning tours start before the midday heat and the day-trippers. Afternoon tours are timed to end around golden hour by the city walls, when on a clear evening the mud brick turns orange.
Good to know: about 2 km on foot, flat, with some steps and uneven paving. No shop or workshop stops, though your guide is happy to tell you where to eat afterwards. Small-group tours run in English and Russian; the private option adds Turkish and Italian. Entry fees aren't included: 250,000 som for the Itchan Kala pass (cash or card) and 30,000 som for the Pahlavan Mahmud Mausoleum (cash), about $24 in total. Already have a valid pass? Bring it. Your guide meets you at the West Gate ticket office and helps you buy it.
