Stone ovens |
A restaurant
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Kalta Minor - the “short minaret”
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Vendors
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We entered another madrassa that is now a history museum. There were pictures of the last rulers before the 1920 take over by the Russians. Massive jewelry of elite women, a 1350’s carved door from a mosque, and 1920’s cotton bills of money were on display.
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Symbols of infinity or eternity
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Carved wooden door from a mosque
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Money made from cotton
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Waiting for riders |
Another "evil eye" container
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Feeding the stone oven |
We looked inside a wood working shop and the man showed us how the Koran book racks are made from a single piece of wood. Some designs can be manipulated into four positions and other into nine positions. We were fascinated and selected one for our OAT gift.
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Wood carver |
Saw for making Koran racks
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Koran rack
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We briefly looked into a silk embroidery workshop. An Englishman came here and started women earning some money by weaving or embroidering designs found on broken tiles or carved wood.
Uzbekistan is the third largest maker of silk thread.
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Embroidered silk
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Embroidered silk
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Lady from he shop |
Lady from the shop
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More embroidered items |
Mausoleum and cemetery of the elite inside the inner city.
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Local woman
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We entered the Friday Mosque of the Khorezm Kingdom from 900 to 1800 CE. There are 213 pillars made of elm wood holding up a flat ceiling. Two of the pillars are 1100-years-old. The mosque is now another holy site. |
Friday Mosque |
Friday Mosque - wood pillar
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Friday Mosque
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Friday Mosque - ceiling |
We went inside the 200-year-old Stone Courtyard of another palace. There were 167 rooms around three courtyards. The Khan had four wives (the most allowed in Islam) and room for 30 to 40 concubines.
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Lunch, at last! |
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A beautiful place! |
After lunch Marge and I went to a “supermarket” outside the walls. We really don’t know what these people eat at home. Half of the store was soda, juices, or alcohol. Two aisles were full of chips and snacks and two aisles were cookies and candies in open cartons where you pick what you want and put it in a bag to be weighed. We found a banana, dark chocolate, a small hunk of unknown cheese, and a package of crackers that turned out to be a sweet biscuit. It cost 21,300 som or $2.65 US. We ate dinner in our room and relaxed for the rest of the day.