Our hosts in Esfahan were young newly married couple - Shahram and Bahareh. As they were honoring all the islamic traditions then even a handshake between Kadri and Shahram or Branko and Bahareh was totally out of topic. Otherwise the atmosphere in their home was very relaxing. Even with an afternoon nap !
Esfahan, former Persian capital city, is well-known for its beautiful architecture, historical monuments, gardens and bridges.
Sio-Seh Pole, thirty three arches, about 300 m long bridge, no water in the river at this season...
through the bridge...
on the bridge...
On Khaju Bridge we witnessed a lively Friday midday, when many passionate iranian men gather under the bridge to sing together. The aqustics is really good ! Women can only watch, admire and envy, as for them singing and dancing is forbidden.
The central square of Esfahan is truly an historical pearl. At evenings you can at any month feel as if it is Christmas time and in the daytime you can imagine that you are walking in palace gardens.
kaardi pealt oma maad otsima ma ei pea....
Our routes also crossed with Xavier again. This time - no big beard, but still happy smile on his face.
There is no direct bus connection between Hamedan and Kashan, so you have to change buses in Qom. This lead to our third spontaneous hitch-hiking experience in Iran, when trying to escape from Qom taxi drivers who kept trying to convince us that there is no bus at all to Kashan and we have no other chance than to take a taxi.
So we tought to one Iranian truck driver the essence of hitchhiking. He was going to Yazd and was eventually facinated about the idea of hitchhiking and would have been very glad to give us lift even till there.
When getting off on the payage near Kashan, it was already dark. Since hitchhiking did not work anymore, we tried to get a taxi to the city center together with two japanese girls, who we met there. They were exchange students, living in Tehran and studying Farsi language and culture.
When they asked Branko, where is he from and after getting to know that from Slovakia, the reaction of clapping their hands and high-pitch voice of "hiiiiiiiiiiiiii-hi-hi", first startled us, but then later when the same reaction followed when getting to know that Kadri is from Estonia, we were all four clapping our hands and shouting "hiiiiiiiiiiii-hi-hi".
They were exactly the kind of Japanese girls, that picture we had in our minds: little modest, always happy and smiling and very fond of giggling.
Finally we reached to Kashan center and decited to share hotel room with the japanese girls.
Reminder on the wall of our hotel :Imam Khomeini, president Ahmadinejad and Imam Khamenei are watching you !!!
In the same hotel were staying two indians and a guy from Pakistan, coming to Iran to sell their hadicrafts. They were very friendly, at the same time very jellaous for Branko, that he has a chance to share the room with three girls.
They were cooking indian mid-night dinner and invited us to join.
Next day we had some time to look around in Kashan before the afternoon bus to Efahan. First place we went to was Kashan bazaar, of course. If you mingle with some sellers in Kashan bazaar, they will for sure offer you a chance to see the rooftop of the bazaar. It is in fact a remarkable scenery and gives an idea how vast the bazaar really is. Some sellers simply close their shops and go to the roof with you from their good heart, some ask money for it.
After some time in bazaar, other interesting places in Kashan had to be checked out.
House of the rich Ameri family, made into a museum
Former city walls in the backround
If you think these are nuns crossing the street.....think again, this is in Iran !
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22. October was Branko's birthday, so we celebrated it in the most grandest way:
First picking fortune for Branko - it said everything will be well, until you do your daily prayer
And later having birthday lunch. Happy Branko tasting the most incredible Iranian sandwitch and zam-zam cola.
We were already about to move to the bus station in order to catch a bus to Esfahan, when we met Ali, a tour-guide for two full busses of iranian lawyers from Esfahan. At first we were very sceptical about his offer for joining his tour, but as he mentioned that we can have a free seat in the bus to Esfahan in the evening, we decided to go with the flow again.
So we got to see some other places of Kashan, like 5000-year old Sialk ziggurat (step pyramide) and Fin garden (garden designed by old persians, as they imagined how paradise garden looks like)
Kadri, Ali, Branko
Branko's birthday party ended in the bus of jolly iranian lawyers. We got many invitations, but our CS host Shahram was already waiting for us.
There are two types of buses in Iran - cheaper, slowlier and less comfortable Mercedes buses and little more expensive Volvo buses with ongoing Iranian movies and juice and biscuits included into the ticket price.
Still even the price of Volvo buses is incredibly cheap - 100 km for little more than 1 EUR.
It is very easy to find the bus to your desired destination, because as soon as you arrive to the bus station, "bus mosquitoes" (guys working for companies trying to find passengers for some commission) run at you and shout names of different cities, assuming that even if you were thinking of going to Hamedan, you will change your mind immediately and go with them to Shiraz. But anyway, eventually you will find the right bus mosquito and then he will organize everything for you.
The only tricky thing sometimes can be that the bus is going to the place you want to go, BUT it will only stop on the highway near the city and continues somewhere who knows where....
And then if you miss that place near the highway where to go off, you will be put off on the highway even more further away from the city.
And when it is also dark already, it can be quite disturbing !
What to do in Iran in the dark on the highway ?!
Our second spontaneous hitchhiking in Iran was from somewhere of the highway near Hamedan to the city center. We were picked up by a kick-boxing referees, living in Greece for most of the time. They said they only picked us up, because we seemed to be "lost tourists".
Hitchhiking was successful, we got to the city, with no charges and even with piece of bread.
Next job for us was searching for cheap musafirkhune (guest house). Finally found one cheaper one, where was possible to do some business:
The initial cost of the room for two persons - Manager puts 160 000 rials on the bed.
Our price - Branko takes 100 000 away. Manager is not happy. Puts 40 000 back. We are not satisfied. Branko takes 20 000 away. Manager frowns. Puts 20 000 back OK, if not, then not, we go and look for another place. Manager becomes quite nervous, stops us on the doorway and eventually gives in !
This is our cell nr 15 :
Friendly Iranian people posing in the lively market:
Few glimpses of Hamedan:
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Mmmm, fruit juice with ice - so cheap and so good !
And then something caught our eye on the street in front of a cafe - ice ! What a perfect storing place for it !
No more of these jammy fruit juices anymore !
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Hamedan, with the ancient name of Ecbatana, is believed to be the oldest Iranian city and one of the oldest cities in the World.
The scientist and writer known in the west as Avicenna (Abu Ali Sina) is buried in Hamadan.
At the moment, the settlements of one part of the city have been moved to somewhere else and busy archaeological excavations are taking place in Hamedan.
Way to Tehran was like a lighter version of Karakoram highway. It gave us an experience in adrenaline endurance and also helped us to make a decision that the real Karakoram highway is not for us !
Teheran is really like a beating heart of Iran. It is the kind of city, where you do not want to spend too much time of your journey. It is crazy, busy, noisy, polluted and just like Amir (from Tabriz) said, in the end of the day you feel headache and the city is still beating in your head.
However, there are also some interesting places to see. Former american Embassy, for example, which ceased to exist in 1979 when hundreds of Iranian student protesters made their way over the wall to the building and took the embassy over. Now the site has been turned into anti-american Iranian military place.
As it is custom in Iran, beutiful parks are a MUST, however crazy the city is.
Public bus transportation in Tehran can be quite tricky and quite annoying for most of the mixed couples traveling in Iran. First you have to go into the bus waiting class corridor and then go either into men's line or women's line in order to enter into the different sides of the bus. Locals are very helpful though, directing you and even letting you pass, so that you will not have to wait in the long queue and can enter to the bus as a VIP .
men's line
women's line
Inside Tehran buses women and men are seperated with 1 or 2 bars, leaving the space for women some 8 seats and for men 18 seats. Quite a few times we came across to an ironical picture, where women's part was packed with people, no place to go through and many women in the station had to wait for another bus, whereas in the men's part most of the seats were free. What a waist of space and time !
