Mary
After visiting the wonderful ruins of Merv, we headed to Mary. This Soviet-era city was built to replace ancient Merv, but is about 30 minutes away. It is the second-largest city in the country, and is much bigger and more modern than we had expected. We passed a giant train depot as we entered town, and drove on typical soviet-style wide boulevards lined with trees and non-descript buildings. But in Mary we saw the first of the nouveau Turkmen arquitecture: glass monstrocities built to resemble ancient domed Central Asian monuments.
We visited the Mary History Museum, which was actually great fun. The kids loved to wander through the exhibits and were especially fascinated with the clothing displays where dummies wore the traditional outfits.
After a quick lunch of lamb kabob, we went out to the taxi stand, which is by the train station, and headed to Ashgabad. We kept finding that the taxi fares got cheaper each day that we were in Turkmenistan, and I'm not sure that we ever found the bottom. Because the government almost gives away the gasoline, the rates are lower than anywhere I have ever seen. The six-hour drive in an airconditioned luxury car, cost us a total of $25 USD for the whole family!
In any case, if you go to Mary, don't miss the museum. It's excellent!
The museum also has some really nice examples of ancient pottery from the different stages, as well as little figurines that our children loved to look at. An attendant will walk in front of you turning on the lights to each room as you walk in, and another lady will walk behind you turning the lights off. It kind of reminds you of the escalator police in the Moscow Metro. But these ladies were at least really nice to us.
Upstairs is a nice Turkmen carpet collection, and a really interesting collection of traditional Turkmen outfits. The kids had an especially good time looking at all the wedding outfits full of coins.
So, if you happen to be in the neighborhood, make sure you stop by this little Museum, not far from the train station in the central park!
