Iran
Travel Report
Arriving in Tehran
Expedition to Mt Damavand
Train to Kerman and on to Bam
Bandar-e Abbas & Hormoz
Shiraz & Persepolis
Yazd
Esfahan
Printer friendly version
Travel Notes
Tehran
Shiraz
Tehran 2
Photos
Alborz Mountains
Bam & Hormoz Island
Shiraz & Persepolis
Yazd
Esfahan
Map
Map of Iran
Geoff's Travel Mailing List
You can subscribe to Geoff's Travel Mailing list to receive copies of my travel notes while I'm on the road, as well as notification of updates to the website. Click on the link below to subscribe or unsubscribe from the mailing list.
Subscribe/Unsubscribe
Contact Me
To email me please Click Here
Travel notes from Tehran 2
Hi Everyone,
The final part of my trip around the Islamic Republic I have spent in two of the countries finest cities, Yazd and Esfahan. While in Shiraz I met another traveller from Holland, Wouter and on the bus from Shiraz to Yazd a British ex-pat, Paul. We ended up travelling together as our schedules were fairly similar, following the 'tourist route' between the major cities. The bus from Shiraz to the beautiful desert city of Yazd took most of the day, finally arriving at about 16.00. This oasis city is the oldest, inhabited town in Iran and has been recognised by UNESCO as one of the oldest towns in the world. A walk through the old town is like taking a walk back through history as the roads and alleyways wind past the mud-brick buildings, a world away from a modern city.
The atmosphere is very relaxed and friendly, like most towns and cities in this country, but also has a multi-religious heritage. The largest community of Zoroastrians, about 30,000 still live in Yazd. This was the religion across the Iranian plateau before the arrival of Islam with the Arab conquest. As well as visiting mosques there are also Zoroastrian temples to see in the town. We at last found two good restaurants, one underground in a converted hamman and another in a 200 year old merchants house; the merchants house became our favourite. We dined in the courtyard and finished the evening relaxing on bed-couches with a pot of tea and a water pipe to smoke while listening to the sound of the fountain in the centre of the courtyard.
Paul and myself met a couple of students in a teahouse in the old city who were studying English. We were invited the next day to visit the college and meet the rest of the students so that they could practice their conversational English. We accepted the invitation and the following morning we were picked up at our hotel and driven across the city to the college. We spent most of the morning talking with the students, mostly girls, as guests of honour. All of us benefited from the morning as we exchanged cultural ideas between our two societies. The students didn't want us to leave but eventually we parted and were given a lift back to our hotel.
The highlight of Yazd has to be the evening that a group of six of us travellers sat on the roof of Husseinia, a small shrine deep in the old city, to watch the sun set. The view across the old city was breathtaking, the mud-brick buildings glowing almost orange in the last rays of sun, the skyline dominated by badgirs, ancient wind towers used for cooling the buildings. The tall minarets and the dome of the Jameh Mosque, as well as domes and minarets of many other mosques completed this perfect cityscape with the jagged desert mountains forming the backdrop. Once the sun had dipped below the horizon the call to prayer began to echo across the town; we all sat there mesmerised until well into the evening.
On my last day in Yazd, Wouter and myself were wandering around the narrow alleyways of the old city when we stumbled across a large carpet shop. Buying a carpet was high on my list of things to do in Iran, so the two of us popped in just to check out the quality and prices. I had originally planned to buy a carpet in Esfahan near the end of my trip so that I didn't have to carry it far. Anyway, the fourth carpet I saw caught my eye; it was perfect, the colours, design and quality. The opening price was USD685, well out of my price range. Two and a half hours of haggling and four cups of tea later I reached a price of USD290 and finally agreed the bargain. It was hard work, but well worth the effort to bring home a beautiful carpet.
After four nights in Yazd we took a bus the approximately 300km to the magnificent city of Esfahan. This city has to be one of my favourite Middle Eastern cities, along with Damascus and Cairo, and is probably the finest city in the Islamic world. The centrepiece of the city is the Emam Khomeini Square built in 1612, which measures 500m by 160m. At the southern end of the square is the Emam Mosque, the most stunning mosque I have ever visited. The architecture is perfectly proportioned and covered in the most exquisite tiled mosaics; it is quite breathtaking. To the north of the square is the large bazaar, a labyrinth of covered streets and narrow alleyways, where you could get lost for hours at a time. The Zayandeh River flows through the centre of the city, which is spanned by some of the most amazing bridges. The 33 arch Si-o-Seh Bridge was my favourite, mainly because of the teahouse built into the arches. We spent many hours sitting below the bridge drinking tea and smoking water pipes while watching the sunset.
The five days I spent in the city seemed to fly past; there was so much to see and do. The evenings were very relaxing; we had found another couple of very good restaurants and indulged ourselves in good Iranian food. After dinner we ended up back in a teahouse again, relaxing on bed-couches drinking more tea and smoking more water pipes. Paul left Esfahan a day before Wouter and myself as he had a flight to catch in Tehran on Friday morning; the two of us continued travelling together back to Tehran a day later.
We broke our journey in the small town of Kashan, famous for having one of the best restaurants in the country (as well as some interesting mosques and merchants houses), which just happened to be run by a British women who had been living in Iran for the past 12 years. The food was excellent and Wouter and myself finished the night off at an outdoor teahouse with the strongest pipe we have yet smoked in this country.
Finally it's the weekend and I'm back in Tehran were this trip started a month ago. Today I went to visit the shrine and burial place of the man who led the Islamic Revolution, His Holiness Emam Khomeini. The huge shrine, still under construction, is surrounded by the largest cemetery I have ever seen where the martyrs from the Iran, Iraq war are buried. All across the cemetery groups of men and women were paying their respect to the dead, the sound of Koran recitals drifting across the cemetery. During the war the western governments supported Iraq with money and weapons, which helped to kill the thousands of men buried in this vast cemetery. Is Iran really the axis of evil? From this side of the fence the world looks a very different place from that portrayed by western governments and media organisations.
The effort I've taken to visit this country has been well rewarded. The people have been the most hospitable and friendly of any country I have visited.
Safe travelling everyone, wherever the road may take you.
Regards
Geoff.
| 
