03/09/2018 - 09/09/2018
After our fascinating few days in Kashan, a generous fusion of Persian architecture and unmatched hospitality it was time for us to make our way to the city of Esfahan situated in central Iran on surprisingly the most comfortable bus we have been on so far with large leather reclining seats and an abundance of leg room for Paul, a trait of public transport he rarely gets the pleasure of experiencing. To top off our VIP public transport experience we were also given a free bottle of fruit juice and a packet of biscuits.....not bad for a ride costing no more than €1.50. Incredibly cheap for us 'rich' Westerners but not so much for the local Iranian people whose currency is tragically on the steady decline.
When we arrived in the city of Esfahan after our upper class bus journey and after checking into our stylish little hostel where, by chance we had the pleasure of sharing an 8 bed dorm with the crazy Irish cyclist Damien that we had met just a few days before in Kashan, the first thing we did was find a camera shop to try and get our camera cleaned from all the sand that I had stupidly caused to get into the lens at the desert the day before. After struggling for some time to try and find the repair shop among the abundance of little shops along the bustling streets of the city, luckily for us a generous Iranian man by the name of Morteza came to our rescue and lead us in the right direction to a small gritty camera shop hidden at the back of a small shopping mall. He explained our situation in Farsi to the camera repair guy who in return told us it would take about 3 days for the camera to be fully cleaned and fixed. We left camera-less but feeling optimistic that it would get repaired. With gratitude we exchanged numbers with our friendly helper for the afternoon who was eager to show us around his city the following day. That evening we took a trip to the charming Naqsh-e Jahan Square, one of the largest central city squares in the world all the while earning a listing as a Unesco World Heritage site. It is surrounded on all four sides by architectural gems and in our opinion best enjoyed in late afternoon when the blue-tiled minarets and domes of the mosques and palace are lit up by the last rays of the sun. This is the time when local families congregate and when the light softens, illuminating the truly splendid architecture.
Here we were to meet with our new Irish friend Damien and a young couch surfer we had arranged to hang out with for a few hours. On a side note, couch surfing in Iran is a kind of a big deal. These welcoming people don’t get to travel a whole lot as of late their currency has plummeted due to the seemingly never ending USA sanctions and so are as a result they are eager to meet foreign travellers as it’s often their only opportunity to get a glimpse of the outside world other than whats in their geography books. For us it was a chance to meet local young Iranians and the incredible local traditions on offer– even if we didn’t know the language or vice vera!
Ok, back on track…..after hanging out in the square for a few hours we headed to a little café hidden in the surrounding bazaar so we could smoke our first Dokha, an Arabian tobacco blend, consisting of dried and finely shredded tobacco mixed with leaves, bark and herbs. But don’t worry parents, we didn’t really grasps the whole smoking from a pipe thing so need to worry, we aren't coming home as raging tobacco addicts but something we wanted to try just once!
The next day we decided to contact our helpful friend Morteza from the day before who had offered to show us some of the sites of the city. He was a retired engineer who had worked in London for a number of years, so spoke perfect English. We thought it would be a great chance to meet even more local Iranian people and a chance for him to practice his English once more and to keep him occupied in his retirement years! As the heat in Iran during mid-day is intense, we first went back to his apartment to try some local food and to meet his super friendly wife. We actually got to eat dinner at a table instead of the floor in a Iranian families home for the first time which was somewhat of a strange experience having only ate on floors up to now! After hanging out there for a while and hearing all about how proud they were of their children who now work in high flying jobs in Tehran, we said goodbye to his wife who kindly left us a gift of some wooden drinks coasters as a memento of our time spent with them. We headed off in the afternoon heat to visit some of the city sites firstly stopping at the Khaju bridge, one of the oldest bridges in Esfahan made up of 23 arches and where one can listen to men singing lamenting songs underneath the bridge.
We then made our way to the Zoroastrian fire temple perched high up on the top of a hill offering sprawling views of the city scape and surrounding mountains but I must admit it was hard work walking up to the hill top with my hijab in the afternoon heat but alas I made it! After visiting a few more of the city sites such as another one of it's extravagant mosques and it's main bazaar, we were tired and needed a good nights sleep so we said our goodbyes to Morteza from whom we had learned endless amounts about the cities history, culture and Islamic religion.
The next day we wanted to go back to our favourite spot in the city, the Naqsh-e Square to visit the inside of the Ali Qapu Palace and Shah Mosque that we only got a chance to admire the exterior of the day before. In the mosque we were lucky enough to get the chance to talk to a Mullah, or in simple english terms, a Muslim priest educated in Islamic theology and sacred law. It was yet another fascinating opportunity for us to learn more about the Islamic religion, even if we are still a little bit confused!
As we wondered afterwards around the bustling bazaar I was finally coaxed into one the many carpets shops where although I tried to hide my excitement from the sales men at potentially buying one for my non-existent home, I had patiently waited days to finally trawl through the endless number of stunning carpets and yes, I ended up buying one, but it’s ok because its really beautiful, wasn’t overly expensive and they would ship it home for us. Another bonus was we got to take a motorbike ride back through the streets of Esfahan to our hostel to hand over the money…..my day was made!
To top off a fantastic day of site seeing and Persian carpet shopping we headed to Mount Sofeh with Damien, a Swiss guy called Pascal also staying in our hostel dorm and another couch-surfer we had arranged to hang out with called Amir. We had planned to hike up the mountain top to get a view of the Iranian sunset. It wasn’t too bad of a crawl up, literally on our hands and knees but heading back down in the darkening skylight was another story with the slippery gravel stones beneath our feet but we made it down in the end luckily with no broken wrists or ankles......and yes I took my hijab off as the heat was just too much! Afterwards on the way to devour some well deserved traditional biryani we stopped at the 33 arch bridge to get a few selfies against a backdrop of lights illuminating from the arches of the bridges.
The next day we went to fetch our camera which was cleaned of all the sand but unfortunately still had issues with the focus so we said we would take it away with us and hope that the Arabs in Dubai would sort us out with their expertise. After collecting the camera we decided to head to a little museum boasting a large array of traditional Iranian instruments and where we had the privilege to listen to a private 4 piece band belting out some beautiful and lively traditional music.
The next day we took another 4 hour VIP bus to the city of Yazd where we would once again couch surf and spend the night along with 6 other European couch surfers with our super friendly and energetic host Mohammad. Before dinner we took an hour or two to visit some of the close by sites, yes, another mosque! but I never got bored of visiting such structures as each and every one was just as spectacular as the last with their head tilting views and ornate tile work. For dinner we went to what can only be described as a decadent restaurant boasting gold rim chairs and tables and a live male band for a tasty traditional meal.
Later that night Mohammad gave us another opportunity to go to the desert where we would actually get to see some stars this time other than the neon star shaped lights of the caravanserai we could only see in the desert outside Kashan. Off we drove to the desert, blankets, pillows, food and plenty of water in tow to sleep under the stars. Maybe sounding all a little bit more romantic than it reads as after watching a dazzling red sunset over the sand dunes we set up camp for the night minus a tent. From the moment we lay our heads down on the pillow to gaze up at the stars, the winds began to pick up and the sand began to blow through every crevice..and I mean every crevice! We were naive in thinking that the makeshift barrier we had built around us with our bags and food box would shield us from the swirling sand as the next morning we woke up covered from head to toe. After waking up early to watch the sun rise over the distant sand dunes which was a lovely spectacle and made up for the gritty night we had just endured, we couldn’t wait to get back to Mohammads place to deep clean ourselves from the sand which still managed to linger in our ears and fingernails even after a good soapy wash.
Later that morning we took a trip into the city centre of Yazd to explore more of my favourite Iranian sites such as the colourfully ornate Mosques, hidden cafes and busy bazaars where this time I didn’t get coaxed into buying a Persian carpet, however the glistening gold and copper jewellery on offer was quite tempting!
That evening after a relaxing day exploring the cities wonders we took a taxi with the rest of our couch surfer friends to the tower of silence, a circular raised structure built by the Zoroastrians for funeral purposes to watch yet another magnificent blazing red Iranian sunset. Afterwards, to end the night and say a farewell to some of our new friends we headed to a traditional and very unique workout class for men known as zurkhaneh or 'house of strength' which encompasses both bodyweight exercises using large wooden clubs called mil and ballistic stretching all performed in time with rhythmic music. Something very interesting and different to anything we had witness before in our time so far in Iranian or indeed in any other country.
The next morning, after an amazing sleep on the rooftop of Mohammads house which, previously unbeknownst to us is a very common thing for the Iranian people who do so to escape the wicked heat as its often cooler to sleep outdoors than indoors we headed on a short day trip to the ancient city of Kahranagh, Chak Chak and the old ruins of Narin Qal’eh castle in the city of Meybod.
And finally that night we went to a roof top restaurant called Marco polo’s to enjoy one more night in the enchanting city of Yazd where we sat in relative silence mesmerised by the illuminated turrets of the mosque.
We really have fallen in love with Iran and as much as this post may sound exhausting, we will never get exhausted of seeing the endless supply of sites in these marvellous Iranian cities.......Onwards to Shiraz!
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