Uzbek Odyssey: Notes from Samarkand

Samarkand loves and treasures its blue domed monuments and takes the greatest care of them, but they have essentially been reduced to mere tourist attractions.

It was a gorgeous late afternoon in the middle of March and I was excited about what I expected to be the highlight of my visit to Uzbekistan- A trip to the fabled Registan Square. Up until that afternoon, I felt like I was in a Russian city with an ethnic Tajik majority. That’s right, Tajik is the most commonly spoken native language in Samarkand, with…