PHOTO REPORT – Iran: two parallel worlds gazing at and discovering each other… (Day 11 – Yazd and guided tour by Jesus…)

After Shiraz and Persepolis it was time for the hot Yazd. Very hot.

Please click on the first picture (and the following ones) for the story:

In the bazar… No comment…

One of the mosques

Long day

Only from outside

They make children work hard

They do actually use them…

Style

Don’t take a picture of me!

The 800-year-old Masjed-i Jamé mosque of Yazd has one of the tallest minarets among Persian mosques

The most beautiful Iranian lady I’ve met

Style

Aesthetic beauty

Clever ventilation system. A windtower is a traditional Persian architectural element to create natural ventilation in buildings. Windcatchers come in various designs: uni-directional, bi-directional, and multi-directional. The devices were used in ancient Egyptian architecture. Windcatchers remain present in Iran and can also be found in traditional Persian-influenced architecture throughout the Middle East, including in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf (mostly Bahrain and The United Arab Emirates), Pakistan and Afghanistan

They still use them

Jesus, the tourist guide: if you want to be heard, knock on both

Getting ready for the celebration

Getting ready for the celebration

Way different asses…

PHOTO REPORT – Iran: two parallel worlds gazing at and discovering each other… (Day 10 – Persepolis and Yazd with an apartment only to ourselves!)

We said good-bye to our host in Shiraz and headed towards Yazd. But first, we visited the ancient town of Persepolis.

Previously I wrote several times about the incredible hospitality if the Iranian people. It’s not a legend, it’s not an exaggeration: they are the most hospitable people I’ve ever met. Just take this example: in Yazd, Ali offered us his entire home even though he was not even in town. I’m on CouchSurfing since 2006 and on Hospitality Club since 2005, but didn’t ever have this experience.

Please click on the first picture (and the following ones) for the story:

Bianka guarded the spices she received from Soroush’s family in Padena like it would be a gem. I wonder when will she cook something and use them…

The ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (ca. 550–330 BC) is situated 60 km Northeast of the city of Shiraz. Persepolis is magnificent. Just look at those massive stone blocks. How on Earth did they carry them there, and put them on top of each other?

I just wanted to feel the history in Persepolis. Some thought I’m Jewish. A young man asked me why was I doing this? He thought I’m Jewish and imitate what people do at the Western Wall

Some people were uncivilized even then…

After invading Achaemenid Persia in 330 BC, Alexander the Great sent the main force of his army to Persepolis by the Royal Road. He burned the place down. Considered savage and barbaric nowadays, business as usual then…

In the souring heat of Persepolis…

A bas-relief from centuries ago and a hand of today…

Ali offered us his spacious apartment in Yazd. We were greeted by a nice lady and his daughter. Meeting them was adventurous: we massaged Ali, our host, he notified the lady, the lady told him she cannot find us, and this was relayed to us by him. Finally we managed to meet and drove to the apartment building. They handed over the keys, they made a selfie, sent it to Ali and went away… 🙂 Unfortunately they didn’t speak English at all…

Ducks overlooking the gas stove… 🙂 Hungry, girls and boys?

The apartment (1)

The apartment (2)

The apartment (3)

Huge living room

Do they still use it?

PHOTO REPORT – Iran: two parallel worlds gazing at and discovering each other… (Day 9 – Drinking alcohol and having a party in Shiraz!)

People were gazing us in the streets, they were trying to discover us. We were also extremely curious of them, so when we found somebody who spoke English, questions were flying… 🙂 The two parallel worlds were simply gazing and discovering each other.

Shiraz was gracious to us: we met somebody who offered us his entire home, plus… alcohol, music and video clips showing women in a provocative light. Highly illegal in Iran…

Please click on the first picture (and the following ones) for the story:

After having breakfast in the Niayesh hostel, we headed out to visit the city. The city with 1,6 million inhabitants is around 700 kilometers South of Tehran. The locals here are also extremely welcoming: they’re happy that tourists come here and visit them. They also want a picture with a European

First up in the list of sites was Imamzadeh Ali ebn e Hamze mosque. A guide was assigned to us. Of course, she asked where we came from, what we visited so far, what we think of the country. She told us that the mosque was built in the 19th century over the tomb of Emir Ali, a nephew of Shah Cheragh who also died here while en route to Khorasan to help Imam Reza, this shrine is the latest of several earlier incarnations destroyed by earthquakes. It was terribly hot, the ladies who had to dress in chadors (it is a full-body-length semicircle of fabric that is open down the front) were suffering the most. Our guides sweated, but resisted. Unfortunately we were not allowed to go into the tomb which is in the middle of a dome full of mirrors

Only Muslims were allowed to go in

I was pretending to take a picture of how Bianka and Emma were looking at the phone, but in reality I just wanted a view of the street…

These boys were the most insistent of all Iran. They wanted a parrot to guess my future. Well, I didn’t want to give it this privilege. The followed us on the streets, but eventually somebody summoned them: leave the tourists alone. We felt unsafe nowhere in Iran

We also had a peak inside the Vakil Bath…

Karim Khan Castle is a citadel located in the downtown Shiraz. We had a look from outside

When visiting a foreign country, I’m interested in how people live, what is the structure of the society. I like taking random pictures on the street… This man was simply… selling something…

Of course, we wanted to try the metro out. Workers there were amazed that we were interested in this. They gazed at us as if we were UFO’s. We were surprised that they were surprised… The metro is not fully operational, a ticket costs a few euro/dollar cents. In rials, of course

No comment

Of course, we took a ride…

The rule: women and men separately…

I desperately wanted a beer. No chance…

Going to the toilet in downtown Shiraz was easy. You don’t have to be a customer to pee, like in Europe. Well, not in a cinema, anyway… Look at that reservoir up on the wall. Well, that’s just liquid soap, industrial quantity

Inside a building housing a cinema in Shiraz

We’ve seen very good Iranian movies lately. The Salesman, for example. Apparently the regime is not allowing them to be screened in the Iranian cinemas…

A seasonal river, Dry River, flows through the northern part of the city and on into Maharloo Lake

No comment

Throughout our journey in Iran, I had the impression that people do enjoy life, the simple parts of it: they don’t run after fortune, expensive cars, they simply put down their tent and have a picnic. Or play a game. Like these ones: table tennis. They don’t watch Tv as extensively as us, nor they use the computer, tablet or smart phone so much

A back street in Shiraz

Why would anyone paint them like this???!!!

It happens

They still use old style public phones in Shiraz…

Finally, we could meet our host. We guided us to his spacious and new apartment, and said: Outside Islam, inside no Islam and he opened a bottle of great French wine, 30 euros a piece. We drank two, and fortunately didn’t have to pay… 🙂 He’s a wealthy businessman, just like his father. We watched Turkish music videos on Tv, drank, and then he left the house, he went to his father for the night. We drank more… 🙂 Our second and last time drinking alcohol in Iran…

Our Shiraz host showed us the other face of the country: the wealthy, westernized Iran. Plenty of food and alcohol, good living. We had a party after he left…We left the city the next morning

PHOTO REPORT – Iran: two parallel worlds gazing at and discovering each other… (Day 8 – Around Paneda and trip to Shiraz)

It was hot. Not she. It. The weather. But not so much in the mountains, in Padena, where our host’s, Souroush’s family lives.

Please click on the first picture (and the following ones) for the story:

On September 18, 2017 we woke up at 9. Right after breakfast we went to see the village of Padena. It’s basically an oasis in the arid region: they cultivate apple, nuts and so on. Our first stop was the cemetery. Surprisingly few people have been buried here. We didn’t get a clear answer, why. The tree in the picture is old… 🙂

One can easily see how lucky these people are: there’s water. But also conflicts because of it. As there’s a limited amount of water, of course, everybody wants to have as much as possible, so that the orchard looks good and the crops are good…

Soroush, our host, took us to a spring. What an inspiration. Right next to the well…

… there was a Qashqai nomad camp.

These people live in tents and migrate South when winter comes. Many already moved to loam houses

An impressive gesture: he gives me something precious. Nice Qashqai boy

Unfortunately we couldn’t communicate with them, but these Qashqai people let us into their homes: the tents

There’s not running water in the tents of the Qashqai people, but the stream provides and excellent source of water

It took some convincing, but eventually they let us take this picture

After visiting Padena and it’s surroundings, we went back to the house of Souroush’s parents. Tights and secure – said Souroush’s father and tied the calf to the tree. And then collecting the nuts began

Lunch after work. Delicious!

I wrote about an artist that we met. It’s about Saied, Souroush’s brother. He is a true artist. Love and disappointment gave him inspiration

Souroush’s mother, younger brother and father. Thank you so much for your unmatched hospitality!

We couldn’t contact our host in Shiraz, so we stayed at the Niayesh hostel. It was 11 US dollars

PHOTO REPORT – Iran: two parallel worlds gazing at and discovering each other… (Day 7 – Wedding at the Qashqai nomad tribe and Padena)

Sunday, September 17: we set out on a long and adventurous (later it turned out to be) journey to the mountains. Thanks to Soroush we visit his family in the Padena region and meet the Qashqai nomad tribe. Moreover, we manage to attend a wedding…

Please click on the first picture (and the following ones) for the story:

We start our journey from Shahreza shortly after breakfast. Our host, Soroush Bakhtiar and the French ladies travel by taxi, we use our rented car. Our destination: Semirom and then the Bakhtiar’s family house int he mountains, in Padena, more precisely. Soroush and his parents generously offered us accommodation in their mountain home, int he village of Padena. Our first stop: Semirom. Of course we stop and observe how the make the famous Persian carpets…

At a certain point Souroush calls us and says: there’s a Qashqai celebration, we must absolutely see it. Right after the call there’s no more GSM signal, our off-line navigation fails utterly. We ask the locals: since English is not widely known, we use drawings…

Thanks, “Farsi guy”…

We’re out in the desert somewhere. At least that’s what we think. We ask another person: where can Hosein Abad, a remote village, where the members of the Qashqai nomad tribe live. Just over there – he signals…

Finally we find the Qashqai village. It turnes out, there’s going to be a… wedding…

The Qashqai gained international attention thanks to the automotive industry. They are mostly of Turkish origin, almost all of them speak the Turki dialect, but, of course, they speak Persian. The majority of Qashqai people were originally nomadic pastoralists and some remain so today. The traditional nomadic Qashqai travelled with their flocks twice yearly to and from the summer highland pastures north of Shiraz roughly 480 km or 300 miles south to the winter pastures on lower (and warmer) lands near the Persian Gulf, to the southwest of Shiraz. The majority, however, have now become partially or wholly sedentary. They live in these kind of houses…

They were very kind and dressed the European ladies into their traditional celebration cloths

Emma and Bianka, the new Qashqai women

Everybody was very nice to us. We usually managed to find somebody who spoke English. If not, our gracious host, Soroush translated for us. The lady in the middle was speaking Shakespeare’s language, so we managed to have a chat

The Qashqai are renowned for their pile carpets and other woven wool products. They are sometimes referred to as “Shiraz” because Shiraz was the major marketplace for them in the past. The wool produced in the mountains and valleys near Shiraz is exceptionally soft and beautiful and takes a deeper color than wool from other parts of Iran

We attended the whole wedding. We still don’t understand why the bride and the groom were so… sad

Qashqai wedding in the willage of Hosein Abad in Eastern Iran

These DJ’s were making some serious music

Maybe they’ll reember us…

Attending the Qashqai wedding

We were given food, soft drinks, everything. We chipped in with 2 euros each. We wanted to give more, but were told that’s enough…

After the Qashqai wedding we were invited to attend the apple festival…

The Iranan girl

We also went to a nice waterfall…

Militarism is present in Iran: from the tank-shaped benches in Iran and rockets next to a mosqe, we found these missiles… in a playground…

In the evening we arrived in the village of Padena, where Shoroush’s parents live. What a nice welcoming, what a great hospitality, what a nice family!

We were treated like family. They served us dinner, soft drinks, fruits, everything. We sat by the fire and enjoyed the Bakhtiar family’s incredible hospitality. These people are genuinly nice, hospitable, they enjoy visitors

Excellent way of sleeping

‘s

PHOTO REPORT – Iran: two parallel worlds gazing at and discovering each other… (Day 6 – Isfahan, tea invitation and an Iranian artist)

After the Maranjab desert, the caravanserai, the campfire and the party with alcohol, we continued our roundtrip in Iran with a visit to Isfahan. Well, what can we say, people have yet again been very gracious to us, but especially our CouchSurfing hosts: Soroush, Saied and Simi.

Which of them is an artist? Who invited us for tea and why?

Please click on the first picture (and the following ones) for the story:

Sunrise near the caravanserai in the Maranjab desert. I’m not a romantic type, but it was beautiful…

Some people were sleeping in the ground or in a tent near the caravanserai

Morning look at the caravanserai in the Maranjab desert and our open air accommodation

Camels approached our car. Unfortunately we didn’t have food for them. I felt bad: we fooled them…

They stick their heads right into the car…

Isfahan: Is this appealing for the costumers? Really?

Isfahan is located about 340 kilometers (211 miles) south of Tehran, it is the second most populous metropolitan area in Iran after the capital city, it has around 2 million inhabitants. The Naghsh-e Jahan Square in Isfahan is one of the largest city squares in the world. It has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site

After visiting the sites, we concentrated on the people. This is what we saw throughout Iran: people having a picnic. Working days in Iran are Saturday to Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are off

At a certain point I started to look at some ladies sit on a blanket. One of them spoke English. As it happened quite a few times, they invited us for a tea, moreover, served us food. We experienced this hospitality throughout Iran. People were very curious, inquisitive: they asked where we came from, and what we think of Iran. Mostly, though, they just said: Welcome to Iran! They are genuinely hospitably, friendly, but also want to prove that their country is not dangerous and tourists are welcome. Iran introduced the visa-on-arrival system a couple of years ago, so more and more tourists are visiting the country

I managed to find a CouchSurfing host not in Isfahan, but in Shahreza. We were in contact with Soroush on Whatsapp. His brother, Saied met us in the city, guided us to their wonderful house. Hositality kicked in again: they served us dinner, gave us drinks. We truly felt at home – we were spoiled. The family (Simi, the sister, Saied, the brother and Soroush, the big brother and his wife, Fatima) gave us everything what they have. Sometimes the communication proved challenging, as we were not understanding the same thing. They gave us everything they had: their soul, their home, everything. They also hosted two French sisters, traveling together

Of course, we visited the woderful mosque…

Our hosts took us to Isfahan by bus. When Soroush told us about the shaking minarets, I thought hw was joking. Well, he was not. The Monar Jonban (Shaking Minarets) or Menar-e-jomban is really there and once the qualified people move one of the minarets, the other is moving. Really! Go and see… Well, in one of the last blog posts about Iran, there will be some videos and you’ll see..!

The Vank Cathedral is located in the New Julfa district of Isfahan. It is commonly referred to as the Vank, which means “monastery” or “convent” in the Armenian language. Only Emma went in, she’s of Armenian descent. Previously Soroush, our Shahreza host, tried to bring us in as locals, but he didn’t succeed. Unfortunately tourists pay 200 000 rials to enter mosques or various sites, locals five times less…

The Zayandeh river in Isfahan has dried out. According to locals the remaining water is used on industrial purposes and for the local population. Soon wars will be fought for water, not for oil…

The Allahverdi Khan (Si-o-se-pol) bridge over the Zayanderud river. These many cubic meters of water would be needed per second to have a nice river flowing…

Isfahan City Center mall. We accidentally ended up in the biggest mall in Iran…

Bianka relaxing in the house of Soroush and his family, Shahreza

Soroush is preparing breakfast for us…

On September 17 we leave the house of Soroush and nice extremely nice family, spending two nights at their place. We leave for Padena in the mountains, the most interesting, intense and adventurous part of our journey in Iran… (I’ll reveal who is the artist and you’ll see his work…)

PHOTO REPORT – Iran: two parallel worlds gazing at and discovering each other… (Day 5 – Kashan and the desert, plus the PARTY…)

Kashan was gracious to us. He had nice hosts, had a good dinner and sleep. We went sightseeing and to the desert the next day. What a party (with alcohol!) we had there!

Please click on the first picture (and the following ones) for the story:

Typical street in Kashan..

We managed to visit some of the sites…

Getting lost in Kashan

Public bath

Take note!

We went sightseeing in Kashan: Sultan Amir Ahmad Historical Shrine, Tabatabaee Historical House, Sultan Amir Ahmad Historical Bath. Afterwards in the center we met an intermediary who took us to the famous Bookstore, very close to the main square of the city. Here we negotiated the price for the desert experience: 35 euros/person. Includes: entrance to three paying locations, transport with a jeep, seeing the sand dunes, sunset at the salt lake, dinner in the caravanserai, sleeping under the stars in the desert, breakfast and transportation back to Kashan. Here you see the underground city: a nice experience, a place worth visiting

They also took us to a former castle…

…, but also to a holy shrine where one could see the images of the martyrs of the war with Iraq

Because our jeep fell victim to the desert, we missed the sunset at the salt lake…

…, so we saw it at the sand dunes of the Maranjab desert

Later, we arrived to the salt lake. The sunset would have been nicer here, sor sure…

Before going to bed, I went out around the caravanserai. Suddenly I saw a campfire. I went there, later joined by Jocó and then Bianka. It turned out to be a family reunion and a… party. These are highly illegal in Iran, so people only do it in the desert and with people they trust. Somehow they trusted us, so we had a great party. We asked if they drink alcohol: they gave us some strong stuff. They said, it’s made of a fruit, date. They didn’t drink. We went to bed at around 4 AM…

They served us with exotic fruits, grilled chicken meat, everything. Of course, we tried everything…

Even though we had an agreement at the Kashan bookstore to sleep outside in the desert, things changed upon arrival. They wanted us to sleep in a room the caravanserai. Somehow we managed to convinced them to let us sleep outside, where the drivers do… 🙂 What a nice experience!

PHOTO REPORT – Iran: two parallel worlds gazing at and discovering each other… (Day 4 – Kashan with CouchSurfing…)

The Iranian world from above…

The Damavand experience was over, it was time for the full immersion into the Iranian society. The best method is with CouchSurfing, when you stay with locals, getting to know their way of thinking, lifestyle, wage, housing arrangements, opinion of local, regional and international matters.

And the discovery begun: the two parallel worlds were gazing at each other. We were amazed by some of the aspects of Iranian life, the locals were keen to interact with us. If they spoke English, they didn’t hesitate to approach and talk to us. I felt like an UFO discovering a living, speaking treasure…

Almost all of them thought we’re Germans. Some were disappointed that actually we weren’t. We were from Magyaristan…

Please click on the first picture (and the following ones) for the story:

Woke up at 5 AM, started the descent at 6 AM, going down to 3200 meters to Camp 2, the mosque. A 4×4 took us down to Polur at 9 AM, had a shower thanks to Boti and Orsi (they were staying in the Iranian Mountaineering Federation’s big building), got the rented car that was brought to us from Tehran, driving to Kashan

On the way down from Camp 3 (4200 meters) to Camp 2 (3020 meters)

In doubt in Polur: which way to go. Jocó and Emma study the map…

We thought it’s the boss, but it just the goy who would issue the bill…

Bad and mad… 🙂

Small panic at the gas station: as we still didn’t understand how this new currency works, the value of it, so we had to rely on the honesty of the people. We just showed them the bills and they chose some of them… 🙂

Chaotic dricing

Arriving and driving in Kashan was not easy. Our host, Unique told us that her husband will meet us at a certain point. Our off-line PS couldn’t find the location. So, we went to the railway station. Our host wrote: stand under the bridge. Well, this one was the closest to the railway station, so we did. Please observe the boy’s image on the bridge. We felt secure. Sure enough, Emrahim found us, so we found his house

Dinner with Unique and her husband, Embrahim and the two Catalan guests

Sleeping on the floor was perfectly OK

They had a lot of guests

Both are proficient in English…

PHOTO REPORT – Iran: two parallel worlds gazing at and discovering each other… (Day 3 – Damavand: reaching the summit?)

Mount Damavand is the highest peak in Iran and the Middle East, and the highest volcano in Asia. A total of nine people from the group decided to attempt reaching the summit – 5610 meters. According to some other calculations, the peak is at 5670 meters. One can see the Caspian sea from there. It’s not a technical climb, it’s reachable if you have an upper-middle physical condition. One has just o tolerate the high altitude.

Day 1: Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport -> Polur (Camp 1 – 2270 meters) -> Goosfand Sara/Saheb Zaman Mosque (Camp 2 – 3040 meters)

Day 2: Goosfand Sara/Saheb Zaman Mosque (Camp 2 – 3040 meters) -> Bargah Sevom ( Camp 3 – 4220 meters)

Day 3.: Bargah Sevom ( Camp 3 – 4220 meters) – Damavand summit (5671 meters)

Did we manage to go right up to the top?

For more, please click on the first picture:

Two climbers from our group decided not to go for it: one of them had health issues, the other stood by him and gave the ascent up, so seven of us started the way up on Tuesday, September 12. We came up from 3020 meters to 4200 meters (Camp 3, Bargah Sevom, pictured here in the distance) just the previous day, so no acclimatization was done

Waking up at 5 AM and starting the ascent at 6:15 AM. Originally we planned to start at 3 or 4 AM, but because of the snow, we decided to postpone it. Our concern was justified: nobody went up so early, and because of the snow we wouldn’t have seen the trail. We didn’t have GPS with the track to the summit, so we depended on somebody or a group. We were lucky: quite a few people attempted to reach the summit. It was cold, but going up heated the body up. I climbed with a slow, but steady pace, and passed by some climbers. After a while I reached a group formed of several climbers. They had a different pace. It tired and demoralized me, but there was nobody in front of them. A young Iranian was leading and making the trail in the snow

They stopped after every third or fifth step, moreover, two of them turned back not far from the summit. Three of them remained, plus me. The young Iranian was going up quickly, but on short distances. Then he had long pauses. Suffering from stomach problems, Jocó, my Damavand companion, was not far behind

He came close and then lagged behind. He was not in a very good shape, my heart was also pounding heavily. But the worse was yet to come….

Near the summit there were openings that were emitting sulfur. Heavily. Luckily the very strong wind was blowing in the opposite direction, so it was a killing me softly intermezzo…

We reached the summit (5610/5670 meters, around 18,403 feet) after around six hours. Jocó was so happy, he hugged me dearly… 🙂 A quick look-around, an even quicker chat with the Iranians, taking some photos and off we went. On the way down we met with two members of our group, both battling with their physical conditions as well at the elements… Reaching the summit was possible even though in May I went through a surgery on my left knee (removing the damaged part of my menisus). I sent a thanking SMS message to the surgeon, Dr. Benea Horea. Thanks, dok!!!

Coming down was easy, especially after the strong wind stopped. We even had time an energy to take some pictures of the small glacier… 🙂

The young Iranian fellow who was leading the way up. At a certain point he also lost his way, but eventually returned to the path…

A quick Cola to put some sugar into our system, a tea and off we went to sleep. Well, we couldn’t, really, because four tents (!) were put up in the shelter by some Iranians. They had lunch, chatted. We could only sleep when they also went to bed: at around 9 PM. They left for the summit at around 5 AM, waking us up. Anyway we wanted to start the descent to 3020 and then to Polour (around 2200 meters) early to be able to pick up the rented car and meet Bibi, who was brought here from Tehran. And the second part of the Iranian adventure started…