Day 2 - Sunday October 19th
Our day starts by getting scolded by the waiter at the hotel for getting to breakfast at 9.59, i.e. 1 minute before official breakfast finishes... Old habits die hardJ
Our first stop takes us to Terminal E-Jonub to buy bus tickets for our trip to Kashan the day after. Not reading Arabic script turns the easy task of finding the Kashan ticket office into a challenging mission. After walking through the bus parking and twice circumnavigating the circular bus station building we find counter 15 and the tickets for 3.20pm on Monday. Bustling and with lots of shouting for ‘Esfahan’, ‘Shiraz’ etc buses, I was quite positively surprised by the organisation.
We now take the Metro to the Bazaar area. The trains pass very often and after a first ride being the only women in a carriage filled with males, we learn very quickly that we are meant to take the Women Only carriages. Hijab attired ladies seem to be the norm in the Metro world.
We arrive at the Bazaar, one of the largest I have ever seen. Traditional shops seem to be making space for more commercial ware mostly from China. A pity... Nevertheless carpet sellers abound and there is no lack of invitations to have a cup of tea and visit the carpet shop.
We now take the Metro to the Bazaar area. The trains pass very often and after a first ride being the only women in a carriage filled with males, we learn very quickly that we are meant to take the Women Only carriages. Hijab attired ladies seem to be the norm in the Metro world.
We arrive at the Bazaar, one of the largest I have ever seen. Traditional shops seem to be making space for more commercial ware mostly from China. A pity... Nevertheless carpet sellers abound and there is no lack of invitations to have a cup of tea and visit the carpet shop.
The bazaar is bulging with people of all ages, hurrying down its multitude of lanes and alleys. You need to watch out not to be knocked over by the racing haulers moving their goods through the market. Although stalls have occupied this space for over 1000 years, the current building is quite modern, its roof and vaults adorned with black, green and red Islamic flags (in preparation for the ‘Ashura’ or ‘Moharram’, the days of ‘Mourning’ to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hossein at Karbala in AD 680) and photographs of young Iranian men who died in the Iran-Iraq war of the early 80s, interspersed with larger portraits of Imam Khomeini and Khamenei.
We find our way out of the Bazaar and meander along Khordad Avenue on our way to the Imam Khomeini mosque. Clothes stores, kebab fast foods and juice bars attract family groups, who line the street benches as they munch away at their lunch boxes.
We enter the women’s section of the mosque, a different world from the one we left outside. We find a beautifully decorated and tranquil little oasis. Older women are praying at the far end and younger women, girls and children are resting, talking, texting in an alcove close to the entrance. We stop for half an hour, relax and take in our surroundings.
Our next stop takes us to the National Jewels Museum, in the Central Bank’s vault – you have never see anything like it! Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take any photos... Mountains of jewellery and treasures – diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires... - worn by the Savafid, Qajar and later Pahlavi dynasties. The exhibits include the Globe of Jewels made in 1869, where the seas are made of emeralds, the land of rubies, except Iran, Britain and France which are made of diamonds!
The sun sets, but the night is still young...
We take a very pleasant walk along the trail leading to the town of Darband, in the Alborz mountains to the North of Tehran. The trail, that passes by waterfalls and streams, is lined with teahouses and food & drink stalls and, even though quite quiet on a Sunday night in October, it is easy to imagine the buzz on a Thursday night as Tehranis socialise drinking tea, feasting on kebab or smoking a qalyan. A modern version of ‘1001 Nights’ Tehran style. Pretty unique!
Dinner at Roka – a restaurant owned by an Iranian-British restaurateur serving Italian and Asian food (???) – let’s say we focussed on the fantastic view over Tehran by night as the restaurant sits at the top of a cliff overlooking Darband’s foothills and Tehran.
The night isn’t over yet... We finish off with a late night tea at a traditional restaurant – 3 different singers with their bands alternate on stage and bring the place to its feet..., well the men at least, the women shake their stuff whilst sat down, clapping non-stop. They’re all having a great time and so are we observing the spectacleJ
We take a very pleasant walk along the trail leading to the town of Darband, in the Alborz mountains to the North of Tehran. The trail, that passes by waterfalls and streams, is lined with teahouses and food & drink stalls and, even though quite quiet on a Sunday night in October, it is easy to imagine the buzz on a Thursday night as Tehranis socialise drinking tea, feasting on kebab or smoking a qalyan. A modern version of ‘1001 Nights’ Tehran style. Pretty unique!
Dinner at Roka – a restaurant owned by an Iranian-British restaurateur serving Italian and Asian food (???) – let’s say we focussed on the fantastic view over Tehran by night as the restaurant sits at the top of a cliff overlooking Darband’s foothills and Tehran.
The night isn’t over yet... We finish off with a late night tea at a traditional restaurant – 3 different singers with their bands alternate on stage and bring the place to its feet..., well the men at least, the women shake their stuff whilst sat down, clapping non-stop. They’re all having a great time and so are we observing the spectacleJ
Che belle foto!
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