Blogs from Esfahan, West, Iran, Middle East

Wednesday 1 November We arrived in time to relax for a while before going out to start exploring this amazing city. For a start we walked down to the Se-o-e Pol (33 arch bridge), a fabulous sight and popular with tourists and locals alike. We realised that we were going to start seeing other European tourist groups for the first time. Luckily the city is big enough and the numbers small enough so that this is not a problem. After this some of us went to the Shahrzad restaurant and had possibly the best ever plate of lamb chops followed by a shared dish of the local speciality, khoresht-e mast (google it). At the end of the dinner the waiters plied us with local nougat (gaz). Thursday 2 November Esfahan A day of sightseeing in this ... read more

Roam abroad in the world, and take your fill of its enjoyments before the day shall come when you must quit it for good. – Sa’adi Arrived in glorious Isfahan, only a four-hour bus ride from Yazd, in the early evening. The jewel of ancient Persia and one of the finest cities in the Islamic world, according to the guidebook, and famous for its Persian-Islamic architecture. The most well-known Persian saying about Isfahan is “Esfahan nesf-e jahan,” or Isfahan is half the world. A wonderful city to explore at leisure, drinking tea and wandering the bazaars, if you can manage it. Amazing mosques, fabulous palaces and elegant bridges, and shopping which will empty both your days and your pocketbook. We stayed at the lovely and atmospheric Sunrise Traditional Hotel, a bit far from the Naqsh-e-Jahan Square ... read more

Our first full day in Esfahan began with a visit to the 40 Column Palace. Kurush, our new guide, gave us the tour of the place and pointed out historic references among the paintings decorating the walls. Outside, a vista of foliage could be enjoyed by visitors. We walked among the gardens for a bit. The next stop was an old mosque known as the "Shaking Minarets". While outside, Kurush bought us this blended carrot drink with ice cream. This mosque was built in the 14th century over a tomb and is famous for, several times a day, having a person climb into one of the minarets and shaking it excessively. This, in turn, will cause the others to shake. While waiting for the show, I met a man who had come from another part of ... read more

Next stop in my little Iran tour, the jewel of Esfahan. I took the 7 hours local bus from Shiraz to Esfahan. The bus was scheduled for 6am, we left at 6.45am. The bus ride was comfortable, less than 4usd for a 7 hours ride. The restroom stop was...by a local mosque, which is a first for me. And one more time, amazing people. Not many tourists do venture independently to Iran today, even less seem to take local long-distance buses....so you end up meeting people, and even when they don't speak English, they are super friendly! Visiting any place on a National day, and you face the issues of closed places such as museums or other sites. I arrived in Esfahan just after lunch time. I knew most mosques do close here by 4pm on ... read more

Geo: 32.68, 51.68Giving up on our Chinese visas yet again we head south, to theoretically calmer but hotter conditions. Camped out the first night and woke up to a flat tyre. Darren pulled a large lump of metal out of the tyre and plugged the hole and we were off and racing. Stopped enroute to visit a kashan which is an old traditional village that had been continuously occupied for 2500 years. Wow it is hard to get your head around exactly how old stuff is here.The town was nondescript however once we found the Bazaar we were in for a treat, it was not full of the normal tourist crap found in the larger cities. It also had some very interesting pools of water under large overhead curved roofs that were very efficiently cooling the ... read more