Iran- Tabriz

                                      

Tabriz was the last stop of our journey through magnificent Iran. It is a city but not filled with stress and the air is fresh but not cold. After visiting the monument of the Poets, we arranged to leave the country and head towards Turkey (Istanbul). The only downside of this plan is that the bus drive took almost 30 hours…

Iran- Rasht

                                        

After a quick stop in Tehran we drove north of Iran to the city Rasht. Surprisingly the climate here was much cooler and nicer than in the other areas of Iran we’ve been. The landscape here is greener and hillier. We visited Masuleh, a small village in the hills where the ways (we can’t really speak of roads) are almost exclusively made out of stairs. We could really understand why Theranis would come here for their holidays: it is indeed a fresh breath of air, green hills and in the evenings even a bit chilly.

Iran- Kashan

                                    

On our next trip we headed by overnight train to Kashan. There again we visited another bazaar (where we had a chilling time in an old hammam transformed into a café and qelyen place) and the very beautiful Masjed-e Agha Bozorg.

Iran- Shiraz

                           

In Shiraz we met Elmira and Mazdak again and stayed with her aunt Mona, uncle and their kids. What a nice insight into Iranian family life we got offered here! The whole family did really everything to make us feel comfortable and at ease. With our 2 words of farsi and their 4 words of English we were quite happy that Elmira and Mazdek helped us out here. Otherwise we would have been totally lost (in translation).

We used our stay in Shiraz to go explore the bazaar and the shirazi argh-e. Actually Shiraz is the base from where to visit famous Persepolis, so this is what we did. On our way there we also stopped at the impressive rock tombs of Naqsh-e Rostam and Naqsh-e Rajab. All in all it was a very instructive (and hot) day. In the evening, like the one before, we smoked qelyen (water pipe) on the roof and enjoyed the refreshing night breeze.
We'd like to thank on this place Elmira and Mazdak as well as the whole shirazi family and friends for their hospitality and their guidance on our Iran/Shiraz trip. You made us love this country even more! Merci (imagine the accent :-) )! The time we spend with you was really behesht!

Iran- Esfahan

                                    

Our next stop was gorgeous Esfahan. Not only is the Naqsh-e Jahan Square beautiful but it seems that it is the second largest square on earth (after Tiananmen square in Beijing) and surrounded by a nice bazaar. It hosts the magnificient Masjed-e Sheikh Lotfollah which is simply breathtaking. From the corridor to the main room everything in this mosque is delicately decorated and artistically elegant.

An other highlight in Esfahan was the Armenian Chruch which was very impressive and somewhat “baroque”.