It is very interesting in all trips to watch the real, not ostentatious life of citizens.
But I will continue my story.
In the previous part we parted on the fortress wall.
- It's strange, but now I don't see any crowds of tourists.
Maybe they were all taken away for dinner.
We'll go for a much too.
In order to eat real Khiva pilaf, we were advised to leave Itchan Kala and go to the former ceramic factory.
Here is a cafe, where the real Khiva pilaf is made.
-In Khiva pilaf, in this version, is no chickpea,
it's a big, yellow pea.
- And...
- The man, who was cooking pilaf, said that in Khiva-pilaf usually large pieces of meat, they do not cut it.
- And it is not so oily, here is less oil, more crisp rice and carrots were sliced differently.
- It is not shredded, as in Tashkent, in Bukhara and so on.
- And most importantly, this pilaf is made with beef, not with lamb
like any others I bought in Uzbekistan.
Probably because I love lamb so much, the Khiva-pilaf did not impress me.
Unfortunately, it's not magical at all.
Another story is the local flatbread.
That's how they look like in a cafe (price: $0,3).
Unlike in any other cities we've been to here people don't sell flatbreads on the street.
- So, if you want to buy a flatbread, then you have to go to the store and buy a it there.
- Why is this happening?
- Because here flatbread, as the owner of the cafe says, is backed at home.
In any case, it is impossible to buy them inside the Itchan-Kala, there are no such trade-points with women who sell it on the street.
But it is quite possible to see here such picture.
Housewives bake flatbread for the dinner table.
- In other cities the flatbread is usually sold on the street, and in Khiva is not like that?
- Yes, it is...
- Is it?
- And where is it sold then?
- In a store.
- No, I mean not in the store - on the street?
- You know, in Bukhara, in Samarkand, in Tashkent they bring flatbread and sell it on the street.
- No, everything is in the store.
- Here you can buy it only in a store.
- There is no such thing here?
- No.
- We will buy such flatbread in the store.
- Do you eat loaf?
- Well, yeah, in Moscow we eat loaf.
- Anybody can eat, whatever he wants.
- And we are making bread ourselves.
I think it's great.
You eat flatbread piping hot We were treated. It's very tasty. Thank you very much.
And they refused to take any money.
Khiva is a great city for walking.
As if you were in some Eastern fairy tale.
You can buy souvenirs everywhere here.
Actually, they are the same as in other cities of Uzbekistan.
Only hats are here different!
Surprisingly to see in Khiva the sale of fur hats.
But foreigners are happy to buy.
If you hear a knock - don't be lazy, come and look, what's there.
It is the local master creates another masterpiece.
And attracts tourists to the shop where masterpieces can be purchased.
- There is a famous unfinished minaret.
- It's builder (master) had to flee after he found out that the Khan was going to execute him, so that the master would not build something like this anywhere else.
But it's a legend.
In fact, the Khan, who planned to build the highest minaret in the East at that time, died in the battle when the work was done by a third.
Unfortunately, no one continued his work.
Now the minaret, which was supposed to be the tallest, is called "The short one" - "Kalta-Minar".
But at the same it favourably differs from all the colleagues.
Where else have you seen anything like it?
And here is resting a camel.
Of course, for money you can take a picture with him.
But to be honest, he looked unhappy.
In the evening we found him behind the locked doors of a barn.
I decide to have dinner not in cafes of Itchan Kala that are focused solely on foreign tourists and therefore expensive.
And there is no lamb meat that I love so much.
As the owner of one of the central restaurants explained: europeans do not like not only the taste, but also even smell of dishes with lamb.
Well, local restaurants and cafes had to adapt to those who bring money in the city.
That's why there is no samsa with lamb.
I will have dinner in a cafe that is loved and visited by the locals.
How to find it? Very simply.
You get out of the fortress, catch a taxi and ask the driver to take to a cafe where he eats and his friends eat.
Here we tried dishes such as "Jiz" this is meat,
"Khiva ijoni" - mince.
Supposedly the recipe got here from Hungary.
"Tukhum Barak" these are "vareniki" stuffed with eggs, pumpkin, cheese or something else.
Well-fed and satisfied, we return to the fortress wall to watch the sunset.
Tomorrow we will say goodbye to Khiva, which has impressed and will be loved and remembered forever.
And then my plan is to go to Chimgan Mountains.
We will taste "green samsa" there, we will climb Chimgan and wander on the bottom of Charvak Reservoir.
It will be very interesting!
