Tag: iran

SIXTH STOP IN IRAN: ISFAHAN (DAY 2)

اصفهان

On the second day of our visit to Isfahan, we began the tour concluding the visit of the Naghsh-e Jahan square. The Shah mosque, at the south of the square, was the one missing from the day before, constructed in 1611; more than a mosque it is a complex with different buildings, like two religious schools and a winter Mosque around a square with a water pond in the middle.

When we got inside, it was praying time, so we saw how a man stands on a specific spot of one of the buildings to sing the praying call; the architectural characteristics of that single spot made a magical acoustic effect that permitted all people in the mosque to hear the call, regardless how far away they were; amazing experience.

Then, to take the last sight of the Naghsh-e Jahan square we took a ride on a horse carriage all around it, admiring for the last time each one of the buildings, I really didn’t want to leave the square but we still had a lot of places to see…

Therefore, we walked to the next spot, the Constitution House of Isfahan, a historical house that exhibits documents and photographs from the period of the Persian constitutional revolution. Also known as one of the first interfaith centers where Muslims and Christians came to talk about their religions. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I was so amazed by the courtyards and the woodwork of the windows that surround them.

It is a common thing in Iran restoring historical houses and open them to the public; as the previous house, there was another one nearby at walking distance: the Mollabashi historical House, the most beautiful of all houses.  This one had so many colorful and gorgeous details, it was mind-blowing seeing all those different designs on each room and on the inner courtyard.

The most important feature of the house is how they play with light using color glasses on the windows, color lamps on the big rooms and carved walls specially designed for letting the natural light pass to the basement rooms.

This house is a must-see of Isfahan, but I recommend you to get there early as it gets crowded suddenly and you won’t be able to take good pictures.

Concluding with the historical houses, we got back to the car to drive to the last monument, a little bit outside the city: the Menar Jonban also known as the “shaking minarets”. Because the special architectural characteristics of distance, ratio and high permits each tower to move at unison with the other one when one of them is shaken.

Make sure to get right on time to see the shaking show; we sadly took off before it happened, but fortunately, we could see it from outside.

Our Isfahan tour has ended and as always we were starving, we didn’t realize that the lunchtime had passed by far, so it was so difficult to find food, as we were on the middle time between lunch and dinner, in which a lot of restaurants doesn’t offer food options. Thank god in our third restaurant attempt, when I was already getting grumpy, we found a heavenly Hamburger so we could finish the day happy and satisfied.

Second Day (blue):

  1. Naqsh-e Jahan Square
    1. 1.Shah Mosque
  2. Constitution House
  3. Mollabashi House
  4. Menar Jonban

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FOURTH STOP IN IRAN: HAMEDAN

همدان

On the sixth day, after eating a wonderful Persian breakfast, we took another day trip, this time to Hamedan only an hour driving from Malayer; the city is one of the oldest ones in the world and the oldest one in Iran. We started with the tomb of Baba Tahir, one of the most important poets in Persian literature, he was born and lived in Hamedan, but nobody knows the exact date of his birth and death. Inside the monument and around the tomb some of his poems (written in Hamedan dialect) are exposed; it was a shame that I wasn’t able to read them, but I had my personal translator boyfriend that did it for me.

  • Tomb of Baba Tahir
  • Alaviyan Dome
  • Mausoleum of Avicenna

Second stop: Alaviyan Dome, when we arrived to the place there was a man that sold the tickets to us, then as a kind gesture he accompanied us to the Dome and gave us an explanation of the place (here my personal translator was so useful); he was also so grateful to see someone from a very far away country so interested in Iran. The place, was initially a mosque built by de Alaviyan family during the Seljuq era (1038-1118) and later became a family crypt.⠀⠀⠀

Third stop: Hegmataneh, it was the ancient city of Hamedan that use to be the capital of Iran in the 8th century BC; the 50 acres terrain contains the remains of the city, museums, archeological areas and historical buildings. A funny thing happened to me in this place, when we were visiting one of the museums we met a group of 12 years old girls who were doing a school visit. At one point we felt that they were staring at me while saying things to each other; then, one girl came and asked: “where are you from?” I responded: “Colombia” and we continued with our visit. However, I began to feel a little bit nervous because they were following us all around the place; my boyfriend found out that they had already forgot my country because the rumor was that I was from Turkey or Japan. In addition, they began to shout at me: “hey miss, do you love me?” (My boyfriend explained me that it was one of the only phrases they knew in English) so I really didn’t know how to react. At the end, they wanted to ask again about my country, as it was a general confusion on the subject.

A similar thing happened a couple of hours later when I was waiting for my boyfriend outside the bathrooms. A group of 6 years old girls began to gathered around me saying a lot of things in Persian, as my personal translator wasn’t available I had to handle the situation by myself; so I asked: “Salam, Englisi baladi?” which means: “Hi, do you speak English?”, as a response a little girl started waving her hand. I thought: “thank God” and ask her: “Hi, how are you?” but she just remains in silence and then respond to me in Persian; fortunately my boyfriend came to my rescue telling me that the girl was just at first level of English lessons. The whole situation was so strange to me, I was feeling like a famous person, and then I understood that those girls wasn’t used to see foreigners.

After my fifteen minutes of fame we headed out to the next place: the Mausoleum of Avicenna, a complex dedicated to the Iranian polymath Avicenna, the father of modern medicine and one of the most significant physicians, astronomers, thinkers and writers of the Islamic Golden Age. His most famous works are “The Book of Healing” and “The Canon of Medicine”. It was an amazing exposition, so interesting and educative, and the main building, the Mausoleum, a beautiful piece of architecture.

At that point we were starving, since we haven’t eaten anything since breakfast; so we went to the last site: Ganjnameh, famous for two trilingual cuneiform inscriptions (as the one we saw at Bisotun in Kermanshah) carved in stone and a beautiful waterfall. The legend says that the inscriptions reveal the place of a hidden treasure. The place was 12km away from Hamedan, so the first thing we did when we arrived was searching for some food; I tried the Persian version of pizza (living in Italy I eat a lot of pizza) and I must say it was amazing! (I know Italians won’t agree with me). Once with our stomachs full and happy we went to explore the place.

Finally, after a very long but beautiful day, we drove back to Malayer and in the middle of the way, the funniest thing happened! We saw a flock of sheep walking on the middle of the street, I felt like an excited little girl watching the sheep went by. Lastly, we arrived home and for dinner, I tried another Persian version of the Italian cuisine: the lasagna, this one was delicious too!

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THIRD STOP IN IRAN: KERMANSHAH

Bisotun – Karvansaray hotel - Taq-e Bostan

On the fourth day in Iran, we took a day trip, with my boyfriend and sister in law to Kermanshah, from Malayer, the city we were staying; it was a two hours drive to the first point: Bisotun. The arriving to this place is a little tricky, as it is an enormous protected natural area, finding the entrance is so difficult and if you pass it (as it happened to us) you must go back a long way between traffic to search it again. This place is famous because of an inscription on the wall of a cliff at 100 meters height about the achievements of Darius I of Persia before his access to the throne. The text was written in three languages: Ancient Persian, Elamiteand Babylonian using cuneiform writing, that’s why it became so important,since it allowed historians to understand this type of writing; it is the equivalent of the rosette stone for hieroglyphs.

Cuneiform bracelets with our signs

At Bisotun protected area we also met a sheep’s flock, it was the first time I could get close to a sheep so I was very excited, I managed to take a couple of selfies with them before continuing our journey. After walking around the park we were getting hungry, fortunately there was a typical restaurant inside the complex, full with Persian carpets and beautiful decorations, we seated down on the floor and enjoyed a “Halim Bademjoon”  made with eggplant and a “Tabe Kabab” with meat.

At the end of the visit, we entered to the Karvansaray hotel (inside the protected area) to admire the beautiful inner courtyard, in the past, hotels of this type were used by horse or camel travelers who needed to rest one night before continuing their journey.

Our secondplace to visit was Taq-e Bostan; its name literally means “Arch of the Garden” or “Arch made by stone”, is an archaeological park with a series of rock relieves carved on the stone from the era of Sassanid Empire of Persia (around the 4th century AD), about the achievements of Ardashir II and ShapurIII. The details were so beautiful and the stonework was in a great conservation state. For closing the day, we went to a restaurant nearby, where they had transparent cabins above the floor level, with a Persian carpet inside, and in which you could smoke shisha and drink tea, while listening to a traditional bagpipe show. Finally, we drove back to Malayer and took dinner at home.

1. Bisotun
2. Taq-e Bostan

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SECOND STOP IN IRAN: MALAYER

Nushijan Hill - Mini World (Kuhsar Park) - Baam-e Malayer

A car took us in 6 hours from Tehran to Malayer on the morning of the third day; we arrived to my boyfriend’s house where all his family was waiting to know me for the first time. They received me with all their love and kindness; even if the communication was difficult (they only speak in Persian, so my boyfriend had to translate everything to me), I could feel they were so happy for us to be there together. It was already lunchtime, so his mom cooked my favorite Persian food “fesenjoon” and it tasted like heaven.

After an amazing introduction to my family in law, we took the car, went to eat some Iranian ice cream and headed to the first stop: Baam-e Malayer, the highest point of Malayer from where you can see the entire city; the lookout area also has an artificial waterfall, a restaurant and the possibility of renting a hookah at night. Later, we went to see an attraction called: Mini World, inside of Kuhsar Park.It’s basically a reproduction of different famous world monuments but in a small version, the park is still in construction, but we were able to see the Eiffel Tower, the Parthenon, Persepolis, Si-o-se Pol Bridge, the Hafez mausoleum, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and other Persian sites. Kuhsar Park is also famous for being the place where Persian families go to picnic in summer.

Both, Baam-e and Mini World were restructured a few years ago as part of a plan by Malayer’s administration for bringing tourist to the city and creating a direct highway on the north of the city for inhabitants to arrive to the center. I enjoyed both places, the first one for the incredible view and the second one for its cultural content.

As we were so tired for our early trip from Tehran to Malayer, we decided to leave the last place for another day. On our fifth day in Iran, we majorly did family visits and in each house we were fed, I don’t know how I managed to eat all that food, maybe because it was so delicious. In addition, my boyfriend’s sister-in-law make me up since I was fascinated with the Iranian girl’s makeup.

In the middle of one visit and another, we took a little ride, 20km north from Malayer, to the last place: Nushijan Hill, an antic multi-storied fort on top of a 37 meters hill. Built with mud-brick it is considered the oldest building in the world of its type; it dates between 723 and ±220 BC although it was only found in the year 1967 as a result of an excavation. Almost no tourist knows this place, so the fort was practically empty and that’s why I could take a picture without having to cover my hair.

1. Baam-e Malayer
2. Mini World (Kuhsar Park)
3. Nushijan Hill

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FIRST STOP IN IRAN: TEHRAN

The day after the flight, we woke up early, put the scarf on my hair and went out to discover Tehran. A taxi took us to the first place: the Golestan Palace (chosen by the UNESCO as World Heritage), a palace complex used as royalty residence by the Qajar dynasty that is compound by different buildings constructed on different epochs. The beauty is that each palace has its own particularity; one of them had the interior entirely covered by little pieces of mirrors. As it was a complex, it took us whole morning to see it all, after that, we had “kabab” for lunch (the restaurant was almost empty, so I took advantage to uncover my hair for a while) and continued with the visit.

Near the Palace, there was the National Museum of Iran on walking distance, so we took a quick peak inside just to take the picture (we hadn’t enough time to visit the exposition). However, in order to arrive there, we needed to cross a principal street, I didn’t expected that it would be like an impossible mission; the traffic in Iran is crazy! The cars never stop, so you must cross in the middle of them.

National Museum of Iran - Sa'dabad Palace - Darband

The next stop was the Sa’dabad Palace, all across the city; it took us some time to arrive. It was similar to the Golestan Palace, but much bigger, is a 300-hectare complex with natural forest, streets, galleries, palaces and museums. The Qajar and Pahlavi monarchs built the palace as their residence. When we arrived, there was also a little food and candy fair, typical from different regions, we bought a delicious pomegranate juice, a candy made with a mixture of nuts and “baklava” a dessert pastry with chopped nuts held together with honey.

The last stop was my favorite: Darband, a neighborhood located at the beginning of a hiking trail into Mount Tochal (the world Darband literally means: door of the mountain), along the way up there were several cafes and restaurants giving the face to a river that passes under them. We began to go up searching for a restaurant that we like the most and on our way, we found a man who sells fortune cards, the cute thing was that the one who choose the card was a canary, I really didn’t like what my card said, but the canary was so cute.

We finally found our restaurant and it was so romantic, being there with the person that I love touched me profoundly; the sound of the river passing underneath us, the colored lights that illuminated us, because it was getting dark, and the artificial fire they set up so we wouldn’t felt cold made the perfect atmosphere. We were sitting on a platform with a carpet on it (of course); we drank some tea, smoked some shisha and ate some typical dishes enjoying our time together; it was the perfect closure of our Tehran trip.

1. Golestan Palace
2. National Museum
3. Sa'dabad Palace
4. Darband

We took this rout on our 2nd day Iran trip knowing Tehran. Unfortunately, we couldn’t saw all the beautiful things that this city has to offer, so I mark for you another two places that you totally must see, we hope to visit both on our next trip. 

* Azadi Tower
* Milad Tower

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MY JOURNEY TO IRAN

It all began one year ago when, as aresult of a series of casualties, I met my Iranian boyfriend. We end up workingtogether in a cosmetic shop in Rome by the summer of 2018 and it turns out thatwe already had common friends and we both live in Milan, but for some strangereason we haven’t met before; I’m convinced that things just happen in theright time, when you’re ready for them.

So, I began with the basics, learningsome words in Persian, tasting their delicious food and attending to theirfestivities; at the edge of the 7th month we decided to take theleap and go to meet his country, I was so excited with the possibility ofknowing his family and his roots. Once the decision was made, we started allthe requirements so I could visit the county:

  1. Applying for a tourist Visa: this was the hardest part; we got an appointment online and arrived to the embassy all confident with the necessary documents, next thing we knew: my Visa was rejected (and I had already paid for the fee). I was so sad thinking that I could never know my boyfriend’s background. As a Colombian, the requirement was to apply through a travel agency, but nobody had informed us about that, so fortunately we found a very good agency from Iran that provides us with a code, with that (and a new payment at the embassy), I was able to have my Visa in a week.
  2. Doing the Luggage: I ask my boyfriend help for choosing the most suitable clothes for our trip, it came out that nothing in my closet was appropriate. Therefore, I had to buy some clothes, they should cover my arms, legs, neckline and butt and, in addition, I should find something to cover my hair. This rules are only effective on the street, if you are at home you can have more open clothes, but it always depends on how religious is the family which you’re staying with (fortunately for myself, my boyfriend’s family: not religious at all)
  3. Accommodation: This one is a little tricky, in Iran is forbidden to book the same room for a not married couple (if one of them is Iranian); luckily for us, in all of the cities that we were going there was some relatives who could accommodate us without sleeping in separate rooms. 
#1 Day Flight
#2 Day Tehran
#3 Day Malayer
#4 Day Kermanshah 
#5 Day Malayer
#6 Day Hamedan
#7 Day Borujerd
#8 Day Malayer
#9 Day Isfahan
#10 Day Isfahan
#11 Day Pasargad & Persepolis 
#12 Day Shiraz
#13 Day Yazd
#14 Day Kashan 
#15 Day Malayer
#16 Day Flight

Afterall that, we finally managed to make the trip, taking a flight directly from Milanto Tehran, Iran’s capital. It was a five hours flight and we arrived at night,from the airport we took a Snapp (something like Uber) to the house we werestaying, the next morning we began our 16-day trip around 11 cities.

At Tehran, we’ve been moving by taxi, butsince we arrived to Malayer (my boyfriend’s city) it was easier doing the travels by car, taking into account thatall the cities were nearby. The road trips were so fun; we prepared a memorydrive with our favorite’s songs, that we sang and danced all the way, and a bagwith snacks for eating when we were feeling hungry; the funniest thing wasseeing, from time to time, groups of sheeps crossing the streets. On my nextpost, you will find information from the insights of each city and a bonus oneabout the amazing Persian food (I publish every weekend).

Well,what can I say about Iran? I really enjoyed it! The people there are so kindand the country is not dangerous at all (like some people think). It isincredible the amount of beauty that this country has on every detail; most ofthe ceilings, for example, are geometrically designed with the “moqarnas chiseling”technique emulating a honeycomb. I must come back to see the rest of thecountry because it really worth the visit.

However,I must also say that not everything was perfect. Sometimes it was a littledifficult for me feeling that I had to hide myself on the streets because, as awoman, I didn’t had the same rights; most of all, in the hot cities where Imust remain with all those clothes that I had on me (so I recommend nottraveling on a hot season). The bathrooms were also a challenge, as most ofthem were latrines that I was not used to (little Tip: always check the lastcabin, you can find a normal bathroom in there, and bring your own toiletpaper). Nevertheless, you need to understand that is a different culture, soyou won’t feel comfortable with all of it, but the rest part is so amazing thatdealing with these little difficulties it’s not that bad.

THINGS I LEARNED AND SOME EXTRA TIPS

  • I loved the food and how they have a whole tradition around it: Sitting on the floor, on a Persian carpet, they put all the food in the center so you can take whatever you want and at the end, when you are so full that you can’t stand up, you say “nushejan” (the Persian word for enjoy your meal) and drink some tea with cookies (I know more food) or maybe smoke some shisha.
  • If you can, travel with a local, a lot of people only speak in Persian, so the communication will be easier, plus you can take advantage of some discounts if your friend can convince others that you are Iranian as well (Iran is so cheap, but if you’re Iranian is cheaper). However, spend some money on your stay; right now, the economy is not doing well.
  • There’s no Visa or Mastercard connection in Iran, you won’t be able to use your debit or credit card; bring cash and exchange it for the local currency. The exchange office in the airport is more expensive, so change a little bit there and the rest in the city.
  • Be careful crossing the streets, there are no traffic lights or crosswalks, so the task can become an impossible mission.
  • A Persian person cannot live without three things: a carpet, some tea and a shisha.

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