Xiva / Chiwa / Khiva / Хива / خيوه / Ḫīwa (Different spellings of the city’s name across various languages and writing systems)

This morning I set off early because I had booked a city tour in Khiva starting at 2 p.m. Experience has taught me that something can always come up along the way, so I was already on the road by 8:20 a.m.

In the end, nothing happened along the way, and I probably even had a tailwind. The kilometers passed easily, even though parts of the road were not in particularly good condition. As a result, I arrived at my hotel in Khiva’s old town shortly after eleven, even though I had to walk a large portion through the tourist crowds in the old town and didn’t find my accommodation right away.

Thanks to my early arrival, I still had time to rest, take a shower, and grab something to eat before my tour started.

I was the only participant on the tour together with my female guide. She told me that when the weather is hot, there are usually more people joining the morning tours. I was really glad to have a guided tour because it allowed me to learn much more about the history and culture here. Many of the buildings also look quite similar to me, so the background information was especially valuable. On top of that, this culture feels quite foreign to me. Almost every time my guide asked something like, “Have you ever heard of so-and-so before?”, I had to say no — very little felt familiar to me.

What I found most interesting was that this city, whose origins date back around 2,500 years, has been influenced by many different cultures and powers over time. That is also why there are so many different spellings of its name.

After a little more than three hours of touring, I went for another meal. The restaurants here offer a selection of vegan dishes, and the coming days through the desert will probably become rather monotonous, especially when it comes to food. So it makes even more sense to fill up my reserves while I still can.