Blogs from Mashhad, East, Iran, Middle East

Mashhad was always on the list to visit, not only because very few tourists make it this far eastern of Iran, and most importantly, it is also home to the Iman Reza, one of the holiest and important shrine for Muslims. Being one of the most holiest city in Middle East & Central Asia, Mashhad is very conservative. My partner, was required to wear Chatdor at all times within the complex, which is available at the entrance for free, as this city receives tons of thousand Shiite pilgrims from all over the world. My first port of call in this second largest city, of course was this huge 24-7 Iman Reza Complex, or called Hamam in Farsi (not Hamam in Arabic as in Turkish Bath), and the surrounding buildings. The main shrine, located right in the ... read more

There is this saying that I hear quite often when I get off buses, leave a shop or just when I am strolling down a street in Iran. It sounded to me like the Russian 'dasvidanya' and so I asked my host, Vali, about it. Ah, he said, that means 'Power to your elbow' and you use it to thank somebody after he has done something for you. It is a way of wishing them strength and good fortune. And so I say unto you my readers 'Power to your elbows!' because quite frankly that is just a very cool expression. Now as you might have understood I am back in Iran, after three and a half years and many adventures. More precisely I am back in Mashhad, north-eastern Iran, and to pin-point it exactly I ... read more

Reza is working, so he leaves me with his friend Mehrdad. Mehrdad and his taxi driver brother Mehdi come to collect me and after a sneaky lunchtime tea (behind closed doors so as not to offend the masses) we head to the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza. Apparently he was a pretty popular bloke because the sheer size of the Haram is unbelievable. After much confusion (since alot of the site is off-limits to non-muslims) we are allowed in and are ushered to the Islamic Relations Office and Foreign Pilgrims Affairs, where I am bombarded with Islamic propaganda by friendly staff. The museums are interesting, my favourite exhibit being the ode to nuclear power - a sculpture of two hands holding a radioactive cannister, with jars of each element displayed underneath...... contra-versial. So, its Tuesday morning ... read more

Finally, this is our next blog entry... it took a while and is short wrap up of our last 10 days in beautiful Iran. Esfahan This city is the beauty queen of Iran. We stayed 4 nights but could have stayed a lot more. The biggest attraction is the Imam Khomeini Square. The second biggest square in the world (the biggest is Tiananmen Square in China) is not only huge, but it is surrounded by nice buildings. Among others two of the most wonderful mosques in the whole Islam. We visited both, the Imam Khomeini Mosque and the Sheik Lotfollah Mosque and were deeply impressed. The square is also home to close to hundreds of souvenir shops as part of the bazar and as a tourist you are begged 10 times per day to buy a ... read more

So what is this badgir you talk about? Well... It is the world’s oldest form of air-conditioning and very eco friendly too! Travelling through the desert cities of Iran, one can't help but notice them as they are everywhere... We might call them wind towers, because that is essentially what they are... Towers to catch even the slightest breeze and then lead it, through a column of water to cool it down, into the house, while the warm air is led through separate vents upwards and out of the same towers... How ingenious is that!! I for one think that everyone should get rid of their conventional air conditioning and build one of those... They look cool too! The ultimate badgir city is Yazd, my destination after Esfahan... It is one of the world’s oldest cities ... read more