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!