Samarkand, Uzbekistan

Oct. 15, 2023-Samarkand, Uzbekistan For some reason we are unable to use AOL. We can neither send nor receive. Please keep emailing us. Eventually we’ll be able to read them Hopefully, gmail works. Today was intense. We left the hotel at 9 AM and returned at 5 PM. We were on our feet walking or climbing steps all day. The last hurrah was the entrance to a Necropolis with only 36 steps to the top. Guess who’s got several laundries on every street? Uzbekistan. Guess what they’re called? Dorixana. Guess what they “front” as? Pharmacies. Guess what they “launder?” Cash. Guess who knows they exist? The government. No problem. We began and ended our day at Registan Square. Registan means “sandy place.” Sand is convenient at a site catering to executions among other social endeavors. It housed madrassahs during the 15th to 17th centuries, but now has shops for tourists. In the morning the blue and gold tiles glittered in bright sunlight. At night it was illuminated and was cast in the glow of romance and intrigue. We trekked over to the Bibi-Khanum Mosque (late 13th- early 14th century), which turned out to be a triple header. The other two mosques were built by rulers who came after Tamerlane and tried to compete with it and each other and failed. Again, the facility housed craft shops. After an informational talk, we were free to explore and shop on our own and then meet at an appointed time and place. One of the Madelines (there are two in our group) got lost and was late. We found out that Yura wasn’t as fierce as we thought. We waited for her as her friends called her phone and guided her to where we were. By the way, there is a group of five relatives from NYC who all live in the same apartment building. I re-counted, and there are ten out of the twelve in the group at large who are Jewish. There’s always a Bazaar to see. After lunch we walked to and strategically saw only two sections. Sweets, with oddly fudge-like halavah and dried fruit. We tasted, we critiqued, and we bought. We plodded through a former Jewish neighborhood to the Gumbaz Synagogue (1891). It was small and lovely with carved wood details, a blue and white dome, and two stunning Torahs in a locked Arc behind a locked door behind a curtain. They no longer have services there since the members are all over 70 and can’t get to it. Thankfully, our bus was waiting to take us to the Sha-i-Zinda Necropolis where Tamerlane’s nearest and dearest are interned. It is now thought that since making Haj is so costly and the quota is so low, three trips to this Necropolis equals one trip to Mecca. More steps, more blue and gold mosaics, one blessing later, we returned to the hotel to prepare for our hone hosted dinner. The host family was delightful. There was a twice married and now separated mother with two children, her mother, and two cousins. Two spoke excellent English. The food was the best so far with eggplant salad, pumpkin wrap, stuffed cabbage, stuffed pepper, and apple pie made with home grown apples. Grandma was the cook and we almost gave her a standing ovation. The house seemed spacious and somewhat modernized. We reluctantly left them since it was time to see Registan Square illuminated with colored lights. And that’s just what we found. Tomorrow some of us will hike in Gissar Mts. David will not. Toby