Soviet-Era Design (and Magic City)

Built during the Soviet era, many of the Metro stations in Tashkent are beautifully designed, and our self-guided tour felt like visiting several worlds in one afternoon. 

It wasn't exactly self-guided, though, because English wasn't an option at the ticket stations. A teenaged boy bought tickets for us and led us to the right train once, and a college -aged girl mercifully approached us to help with directions (then invited us to have breakfast at The Hilton, where she works), and younger kids offered us their seats if the trains were full. One stern woman finally opened the gate for us when she tired of us asking how to operate the ticket machine.

We have found this culture to be generally calm, happy, and respectful; we have seen no homeless people, and the uniformed kids returning from school seemed somehow not teenagery at all. 

Here are a few station design highlights:

Domes inspired by Islamic architecture:

A dedication to Soviet astronauts and space exploration, (our favorite):

Teal ceramic columns:

A dedication to Abdulla Kodiriy, one of Uzbekistan's most famous writers:

A trip to the future:

Crazy lighting:

And mood lighting:

We ended our day at a place called "Magic City" - Tashkent's version of Disneyland, with rides and fountain light shows and lots and lots of advertisements:

The people here love Magic City; it was the first on a list of recommendations by our hotel owner. We got tired of it within about 20 minutes, though, so we found some Korean fast food and ate it in a restaurant filled with 90% women and their daughters.