ESFAHAN TO TEHRAN, MARCH 10, 2017 Yesterday afternoon, we went to a tea shop which is very characteristic of where young people congregate. This tea shop happened to be in an antique shop, so it was very interesting. After having tea. we walked to the bazaar. We saw a very interesting demonstration of color block printing. 
They use all natural eyes on cotton fabric. Some hand painting is done at the end after the block colors are applied. The fabric is then steamed to set the colors. The result is quite beautiful. We bought a tablecloth which we really liked. We then walked through part of the bazaar which was very crowded. We only stayed about an hour and then came back to the hotel. Today is another travel day. We are driving from Esfahan to ... read more

MARCH 8, 2017 ESFAHAN Well, so far the Hotel Abassi is a disappointment. The room, though large, is furnished like a monk’s cell. There is a king size bed, one chair and a thin table. And, they must have taken a bit of advice from our younger son David, and furnished only one bedside stand. The room is ,of course, hot, but opening the windows allows it to cool down. Of course the room faces the main street where trucks and autos run all time day and night. Fortunately we brought our Marsona sound machine with us (NEVER LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT!) The pillows are made of concrete. Fortunately I always carry my German pillow with me but poor Dennis had to sleep on a little highly decorated throw pillow. But the best was yet to ... read more

PERSEPOLIS MARCH 6, 2017 This morning we started off a little earlier to go to Persepolis. It took about 1 Hour and 20 minutes to get to the site. This site was selected by Darius the Great around 518 B.C. Persepolis was never intended to serve as the capital of the empire but was rather a site in the heartland of their empire that they used for special celebrations. Xerxes and Artaxerxes continued building on the site and expanding it. Resting on a terrace platform,Persepolis was the acropolis of Parsa, the “city of Persians”. It extends over an area of 125,000 sq meters, and crowns a rocky promontory which projects from Mount Mithra. The platform is flanked on both sides by valleys where the houses of nobility were built. Further out from this were the mud ... read more

TEHRAN IRAN February 27.2017 Well after two days of flying, we saw the lights of Tehran. It was about 4:30 am and the sun was just rising on the horizon. As we got nearer to the airport, there was a denser layer of white smog covering the city. The tall mountains north of the city were covered with snow. As we landed a little car with flashing light on top and a “FOLLOW ME” sign in the back pulled in front of the plane. There were no ground crew holding red lights guiding the plane it. We arrive at the jetway and got off the plane. The plane was not full. Only four people in first class. Coach was only about 1/3 full. The signs leading you in to the officials were clearly marked. There were ... read more

YAZD, MARCH 3, 2017 Today we are in Yazd. This is an ancient city whose origin is uncertain. It is at the confluence of two great deserts. It is at the foot of the the Shir mountains. For centuries water has been brought down to this town by a series of “ganats”. These are series of channels dug to capture the water from the mountain and bring it down to large underground reservoirs. It is the center of Zoroasterism in Iran. This religion is extremely old and has about 10,000 followers today all over the world. It was the first religion to embrace monotheism. It is fairly simplistic and somewhat mystical. One of the unusual elements of their beliefs is that at death, we should not defile the earth with our rotting flesh. So they put ... read more