Samarkand

Amazing architecture, and one very unexpected encounter with the local police.

“You walked from the apartment to the Registan?!” the landlord exclaimed, shocked, “how long did that take?” In fact, it took perhaps 90 minutes and for a person as fond of walking as I, it wasn’t such a long distance. My journey through Samarkand took me through the city, not all of it was as glorious as the tourist areas, but there were some interesting places. Several scattered Russian churches with creaking wooden floors, a massive Christian cemetery with perhaps as many Armenians buried in it as Yerevan. Nonetheless, I arrived at the Registan at night, and passed through a small metal gate, I emerged onto the square, and I was stunned. The madrassahs, truly massive in scale—mosaic-laden—rose dozens of feet above me. My eyes grew wild, an actual look of wonder came over my face as I walked towards the first magnificent structure. No picture would truly capture the moment, but I was obligated to take one for my loved ones to see.

Then an interruption. A voice, at first, half-heard—a mosquito buzzing in my ear, it seemed to me. “Hey! Mister!” “Some vulture, trying to scam tourists, as usual hanging around this marvel,” I grumbled inside and adopted my typical strategy for getting rid of touts, pretend that I don’t speak any language he might know. So, in this case, I grumbled at him in Turkish, to my shock, he switched too, “abi!” “Listen you must buy a ticket!” he continued in English, perplexed and pleading. “A ticket for a public square? What kind of rube does he take me for?” “You must buy a ticket, mister!” I had had enough of this character trying to spoil my time, I turned towards him, angry, “look you…” It was then that I saw the badge and the weapon. “officer… uh terribly sorry, I thought you were a scammer….” He smiled wearily. “You must buy a ticket,” he repeated. “Of course…. where is the ticket desk?” “Right this way.”

It was then that I noticed how abnormally empty the square actually was compared to the people looking at it from outside across a barrier. In the end, I did pay them the eight dollars for entry, but nothing will top the first free minutes looking at that marvelous architecture.