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Published: March 9th 2017
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ESFAHAN, MARCH 9, 2017
This morning it is bright and sunny but very chilly about 50 degrees. We started out by walking to the Royal or Imam Square. Begun in 1602 to be the jewel of the Safavid Empire.There are two mosques on the square the Masjed-e Shah and the masjed-e sheikh Lotfollah. This is the second largest square in the world, second only to Tiananmin Square in Beijing. It is 512 m. long and 163m wide. The first mosque has a beautiful portal but the mosque itself is oriented towards Mecca. The main sanctuary if covered in beautiful tiles in geometric and floral motifs in blues and golds. As one proceeds to the center on the mosque there is a black stone in the middle of the floor. From this point sound has 49 echoes even though the human ear can only hear about 12.
We then went back out into the square where carriages were pulling parts with two people inside. To each side of the main entrance to the mosque is the bazaar. The square was filled with people some sitting on benches, others roller blading or riding bikes.
We then went to the other
mosque. While waiting for the rest of the group and won came up to me and introduced herself and asked me where I was from and asked me about my trip. We had a lovely conversation for about 5 minutes. Her English was excellent and she was very friendly and polite. This mosque is much less grand than the first one. It was originally intended for use by the Shah’s harem. The decorative tiles in this mosque are beautiful yellows and blue with a more subtle color scheme. There are latticed windows in the dome that allow the play of light over the tiles. They are really beautiful.
We then took a tea break which was very nice. There were several types of teas that were very good. We then went to the Ali Qapu Palace which was the residence of Shah Abbas I. It is six stories high and has a wonderful balcony that overlooks the whole Square and has a direct view of the mosques. Some of our group climbed to the top for pictures. Then we went to lunch. Our lunch restaurant was new and was beautiful. It was intricately painted inside with mirrors edging the
paintings. The food was very good. After lunch we walked the back streets where we saw two Afghanis digging wells. In one well that they had finished you could not even see the bottom. In the other one man was down about 6 feet and was removing dirt with a pick ax and then scooping it into a bucket which his helper then puled up and dumped. There are many Afghan refugees in Iran. They take jobs that no one else wants but according to our guide they get paid good wages to do such work. We then went to the bus and went to see the 33 Arch bridge. We then returned to the hotel to rest before our onslaught of the bazaar at 4 pm. Tomorrow we go to Tehran.
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