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(Beginning - mid October)
After a 10-hour stopover in Moscow airport (no sign of Edward Snowden hanging out in our transit lounge), we arrived in Tehran late at night…and our entry into our first port of call in Iran was very different to that of Bishkek. We had booked into a midrange hotel for the first couple of nights, and it was a real treat to be met by a hotel driver on arrival! Definitely a first. That and the lovely hotel we stayed in made for a 5-star experience compared to our accommodation in Bishkek! And that pretty much signified the whole of our stay in Iran…two weeks of the most wonderfully warm hospitality and ease of travel which to be honest came as a bit of a surprise.
After a bit of practice trying to get my headscarf right, we were off out the next day to see what Tehran had to offer. Tehran is certainly not the most attractive city especially when you compare it to the gems Iran has to offer further south, but we wanted to see it for ourselves anyway. What struck me most at first was the liberal interpretation of the hejab that modern Tehrani women adopt. Since the 1979 revolution all women in Iran, including foreigners, are required by law to wear loose-fitting clothing to disguise their figures, and must also cover their hair - this form of dressing is known as the 'hejab'. Ever since we knew we were going to Iran I had been worried about what I was going to wear, until the imported goods bazaar in Bishkek saved the day. In reality the dress code is a bit more relaxed, particularly in Tehran. While many of the older women wear a 'chador' (literally 'tent' in Farsi), the younger generation looks quite different. With their tightly-belted trenchcoats, skinny jeans, stylishly arranged headscarves attached to high ponytails (with plenty of hair showing), and the impressively high heels, I felt like a dowdy sack of potatoes with my headscarf not quite right and my baggy tops….now my worries were quite different!
Throwing ourselves into the deep end we headed first for the Tehran Bazaar, a vast maze of bustling alleyways and loud bazaris (shopkeepers) touting for business. We had read that for centuries the bazaris in Iran have held enormous and political power, with a history of standing up to authority, and it has been estimated that the Tehran Bazaar controls one third of Iran's entire retail and trade sector. The bazaris still seemed a powerful and persuasive bunch, possibly even more so now if competition from new supermarkets and shopping malls is making them have to work even harder for business. Case in point…while we aimed to just have a stroll round the bazaar, about 4 hours later we came out owning a Persian carpet and 500 Euros poorer. Or possibly just a case of what happens when you backpack in your 30s and are home owners!
Other sights in Tehran included the Golestan Palace, an incredibly opulent monument to the glories of Iran's rulers during the 1700 and 1800s, with a dazzling Hall of Mirrors and displays of very impressive costumes, jewels and crowns of former Shahs. We were further dazzled in the National Jewels Museum, now based in the vault of the Central Bank. Its collection of jewels and jewelry is so valuable that it was transferred in the 1930s to the Central Bank as a reserve for the national currency. We tried to ask a tour guide how much the collection was worth, and were met with a very smooth smile and reply: "It's priceless!" Judging by the massive vault door, and the incredible jewels held inside - which includes the largest uncut diamond in the world (a mere 182 carats) - we would say pretty valuable.
We also paid a visit to the former US Embassy, the scene of the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979 when the embassy was stormed by Iranian students in support of the Revolution, and held under siege (with 52 hostages) for 444 days. Our interest in seeing this was fuelled particularly after having seen the film 'Argo' last year, but even without seeing the Hollywood version of events it would still be an interesting sight. The literal translation in Farsi to refer to the crisis is 'Conquest of the American Spy Den' which perhaps explains the site's current name, the US Den of Espionage. The building is now used by the Sepah Militia, a hardline group dedicated to defending the Revolution. Within the site there is also a museum but this is rarely open, so there is not much to do really do apart from look at the outer walls - which have some strong anti-US and anti-Israeli murals painted on, and the defaced US seal which is still just about visible - and try and imagine all the historic events the site has been witness to…for it was also from a bunker beneath the embassy building that the CIA brought about a coup d'etat in 1953, bringing down the government of the time. Before we raised questions by loitering around too long, we took some discreet photos and moved on.
Next stop in Iran was Esfahan, the country's 3rd largest city (and Iran's capital in 1587) with a controversial nuclear facility in its outskirts (which we decided not to visit). Esfahan itself is gorgeous, full of historic Islamic buildings and Persian gardens, and with a central square listed as a UNSECO World Heritage Site. The square is the second biggest in the world after Tiananmen Square in Beijing, and dates back to 1602. Esfahan is particularly magical at night with the central square all lit up, and one of the city's many impressive mosques towering over one end. Our stay there consisted of yet more visits to the city bazaar, palace and mosques, including the biggest mosque in Iran at 20,000 square metres…we were soon learning that Iranian rulers / architects don't do things by halves. Not only impressive in size, the inside of the mosques were beautiful, with amazing blue-tiled mosaics and domes.
One afternoon we took a stroll along the city river, which was intersected by some very historic bridges, and which also used to have many teahouses dotting the riverside but in recent years these have been closed, the suspected reason being that the authorities worried that the teahouses enabled too much fraternising between young men and women. The bridges were stunning, with the most impressive one having two levels of terraced arcades, with some paintings and tiles dating back to when it was constructed in 1650. While wandering down to the lower terrace we heard the sound of some beautiful singing voices and came across some elderly men and women who had gathered under the lower arcade to sing…their voices were beautiful and the atmosphere lovely. We felt like we had intruded on to a rather special moment and gathering, but we were made to feel very welcome by an elderly man who was there with his young grandson, who beckoned us to sit with them and listen to the singers. He was a very cute old man, well travelled from his trips to Europe working as an interpreter, and handed out advice to us such as "have children, not dogs".
After a falafel baguette dinner (our new favourite fast food) we thought we would finish off the evening in one of Esfahan's teahouses…but as soon as we walked in we were ushered to the back of the teahouse, and we soon realised that it was just men at the front and that women/families are only allowed in the back section (which had no one in it so sort of defeated the point of going there to soak up the atmosphere). Simon's protest of 'but we are married!' didn't really hold much sway, it was as if he thought the relegations applied to unmarried women and not just women in general!
Next stop was Yazd, another relatively short bus journey (5 hours) away, where our appearance on the bus made us some more friends. On the last bus to Esfahan we had been befriended by Masoud, a very nice man who insisted we take his phone number in case we needed anything while we were there, and helped us to get a taxi on arrival in Esfahan. This time our new friend was Ali, a young guy who also spoke excellent English - our Farsi was not getting much practice as all the Iranians we met spoke such good English. Ali was also very helpful, helping us out with accommodation once in Yazd and walking with us from guesthouse to guesthouse trying to help us with getting a room at a good price. We were soon installed in a basic but lovely guesthouse, with a pretty central courtyard and relaxed vibe, and where we got stuck in to some serious tea-drinking with fellow guests.
Yazd was a bewitching place - a very quiet, desert city with its old town mostly made up of a maze of adobe, sand-coloured buildings and alleyways, straight out of an Indiana Jones film. The old city is said to be one of the oldest towns on earth, and nearly everything is made from sun-dried mud bricks and the skyline is dotted with tall 'badgirs' - wind towers or wind catchers - an ancient system of natural air conditioning units designed to catch even the slightest breeze and direct it into the rooms below. The residential quarters appeared almost deserted due to the high walls shielding the homes from the old streets, and while wandering around the maze of lanes you couldn't help thinking "where IS everyone?"
We spent two days exploring on foot - more mosques and a museum - but also a substantial amount of time chilling out in various teahouses and courtyards, drinking endless amounts of tea, enjoying more delicious food and smoking the odd shisha pipe. As alcohol is banned, tea-drinking and shisha-smoking was becoming the social norm for us! And we were certainly replacing alcohol calories pretty easily, as the food in Iran was amazing - we were easily getting used to all the delicious flat breads and feta cheese for breakfast, and nighttime meals of aubergine stews, saffron rice, more flat breads, falafel baguettes and more kebabs than I ever ate during my time at university. The fact that it was all usually washed down with pomegranate juice and fennel tea of course rendered all this gluttony 'healthy'. I was also now more thankful for the loose-fitting clothing…
One evening in Yazd we bumped into an eccentric Czech traveller - and tour guide in training - who we had also seen in Tehran (you don't see too many western faces in Iran and was therefore surprisingly easy to 'bump' into people we had met previously). We joined him and some people he was with, to explore the top of the bazaar roof - he had somehow gained access to the key to the roof via a shopkeeper. Once on top of the bazaar we had an awesome view of Yazd - and all its domes and wind towers - by night, totally serene and quite magical in the moonlight…but you will have to take our word for it as I don't think our pictures do it justice!
Now there is just so much to write about Iran that the second half of our trip will have to be in another blog post…watch this space.
- comments
Jenny Wow certainly different than the tv writers would have you believe. I love the old mans advice, although I'd say children and a dog :-) the dog doesn't answer back .... Or want feeding 3 times in the night - well she would given half the chance :-) can't wait for the next instalment xx
Sarah Wow sounds amazing! Vix you are totally rocking the headscarf... and Simon the beard!