31/08/18 – 2/09/18
After a hectic yet fascinating first few days in Iran where we immediately threw away any misconceptions that might have lingered about this somewhat undiscovered middle eastern country, it was time for us to sadly say goodbye to Masood, our awesome couch surfing host with one last cup of chai in our hostel in the city of Kashan which he was kind enough to drop us to on his way back to Tehran. One of the first things we unexpectedly spotted in our hostel was a bike boasting the Irish flag with the words Dublin-to-Delhi. We immediately got excited as so far on our trip we hadn’t encountered many fellow Irish backpackers so to have one staying in our hostel was a welcome surprise. Just as we poured what remained of our chai from the long drive to Kashan, the mysterious Irish cyclist called Damien made an appearance and while eating some of Masoods fathers apples that we had brought from his farm in Golpayegan, we enjoyed the familiar voice of a fellow Irish man and talked about his ambitious and quite frankly wacky decision to cycle from Dublin to Delhi in India to raise money for St. Michaels house. If anyone fancies donating to this lovely lunatic and the great work St. Michaels does here is the link: https://give.everydayhero.com/ie/dublin-to-delhi.
Kashan is a little gem of a city in the Isfahan province of Iran with a population of 400,000 boasting a large bustling bazaar and Unesco recognised garden. The following day after a much needed good nights sleep we headed to the famous traditional houses which were built by wealthy merchants during the 19th century. Some of them have been restored so the public can roam through the large open courtyard gardens and the seemingly endless number of living quarters which boast beautifully coloured stain glass windows. It felt a little like moving into another world, the fairy tale one and roaming through the many rooms and corridors, easy to imagine how life may have been in the golden era.
We also visited the luxurious traditional Sultan Amir Ahmad bath houses containing exquisite turquoise and gold tile work. We got on the rooftop which is made of multiple domes that contain convex glasses to provide sufficient lighting to the bathhouse while concealing it from the outside.
We then made our way to the very ‘bizarre’ Bazaar where everything and anything can be found from jewellery and colourful fabrics to sheep heads….yes, sheeps heads which was pretty disgusting and putrid but anything seemingly goes in these Iranian bazaars! Looking at all the beautifully ornate pottery and carpets I really wished at that moment I was heading home to Ireland only so I could have bought copious amounts of trinkets for my future house which if I get my way will be full of Iranian goodness! As we slowly strolled the bustling passageways observing the locals buying and selling and admiring the shop fronts all the while getting long lingering stares of curiosity from the locals as they nudged each other to take a look at the foreigners, we were stopped by a young Iranian called Saeed who at first we thought was trying to flog us some carpets. As much as I love carpets, it got a bit tiresome being hounded by 5 men previous so initially we shamefully may have been just a little bit blunt with him but after conversing for a few more minutes he invited us into his grandfathers antique shop, not to buy anything but mainly for the purpose of speaking English to him so he could practice. We hesitantly accepted the offer as after all this was the Iranian hospitality. His grandfather’s shop was a delightful mess of all things old and rusty, again wishing I could have brought some pieces home but I suppose the wonderful memories I would bring with me would suffice! We were offered yet more chai from his grandfather, an Iranian staple for us at this stage and spent the next 2 hours learning about Saeed who dreams of going to MIT in the States to study computer programming. Unfortunately with the recent economic downturn , the price of a laptop has doubled in the previous few months and with the currency steadily devaluing on a daily basis, his dream is sadly slowly slipping away but he is a very intelligent and determined young man so we have every faith he will get there. We also learned his grandfather was a Zoroastrian which is a religion that pre dates Islam and so he was totally cool with me whipping my hair from under my hijab and even more badass in Iran where alcohol is strictly forbidden, brews his own on the sly at home. If only he had a bit stashed away in one of the old rusty pots hanging from the ceiling because I would’ve loved a sneaky taste of the good stuff having not had any alcohol in Iran as it’s very much illegal in these parts but we still have time to try an find some!
After a pleasant few hours hanging with the locals we had one last stop for the day and that was Fin garden, a historical Persian garden boasting Unesco status. Instead of admiring the large surrounding gardens however we instead spent our time taking selfies with the locals who were completely enthralled by, what, I’m not too sure but presumably our dashing good looks!…(joking of course) but I did get called beautiful several times which was a welcome compliment! We even got invited by an Arabic family to their home for the night, again the immense hospitality of the Iranians, but unfortunately for us it was just too far away at a distance of 500km but the offer itself was humbling. A group of young girls the same age as ourselves also stopped to talk and while sitting relaxed at one of the water springs we enjoyed some lovely conversations about our careers, aspirations for the future and what life was like both in Iran and Ireland. A lovely moment for me getting to share stories with local Iranian woman, who although living miles apart in countries with vastly different cultures, we still have so many similarities.
Iran is a dry country and thus, with little rain comes barren land and in Irans case that means deserts and salt lakes. We thought a trip out to the desert and salt like with hopefully a little bit of star gazing added in for good measure would be a pretty nifty thing to do so the next day along with two Swiss girls from our hostel we set off to spend the night in the Maranjab desert in a caravanserai, an ancient roadside inn where travellers brining trade along the silk road could rest for the night. Along the way our tour guide stopped at a shrine where I excitedly got to put on my first chador which I quickly realised was not so easy to wear, constantly falling off my head causing me to trip over myself as it dragged along the ground and the immense heat underneath so respect to the muslim woman who wear these cloths oh so gracefully and also for the awesome sense of girl power that I felt as many came to my aid to help me fix my chador with a friendly smile.
After an hour drive we arrived in the barren land of the desert where our first stop was the sprawling flat salt lake which crunched and cracked under our feet and where amusingly for us we garnished some fresh cucumbers with the salt, a tasty salty lunch break. We were also luckily enough to spot a fleet of camels in the distance being herded to one of the only two oasis in the area. After some time trying to take artsy photos on the windy salt lake which we weren't so successful in doing with hair and scarfs flying everywhere, we made our way to the sand dunes where we would watch the sun go down.
The walk up the sand dunes was windy, sandy and a good work out for the quad muscles and when we reached the top we were rewarded with some beautiful views out over the rolling sand dunes and the electric red sun as it began its descent behind the distant mountains. But, I confess that all was not cheerful as in a moment of pure stupidity I placed my camera down on my scarf and with the fierce winds, a gust blew many grains of sand onto the lens of my camera and caused it to get stuck. I was gutted and quite frankly pissed off and annoyed with myself for being such an idiot but all we could do was take the battery out and pray we could get it fixed in the next city of Isfahan. I had to get over it for the time being as after dusk we were to make our way to the caravanserai where we would spend the night on the most uncomfortable beds I have ever experienced which didn’t help with my mood after my camera incident and to make matters worse we couldn’t really see many stars due to some cloud cover and the tacky blaring lights of the caravanserai. We vowed that we would visit another desert in Iran on our travels through the country to hopefully have some better luck with sleep and the stars and a not so broken camera!
Despite the not so great ending to our trip in Kashan we both thoroughly enjoyed this little gem of Persia with its laid back atmosphere, its enchanting architecture and of course the endless supply of generous and friendly people.
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