If I see one more mosque i'm gonna....

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The overnight bus to Esfahan is made easier by the fact that I steal four seats near the back of the bus and lie across them, resulting in a great sleep for me but inconvenience for the attendendant, who has to continually jump over my legs. I arrive in Esfahan and a brawl nearly ensues amongst the waiting taxi drivers, once again proving that I am probably the most popular man in Iran. I check into the Amir Kabir and crash for a few hours. When I awaken I explore the city, and it dawns on me that I am really, REALLY over looking at mosques. This is a shame, as Esfahan has an assortment of beautiful mosques, buy, y'know, they get a bit same-ish after the fifty millionth one. Instead, I choose to explore the bazaar, and taunt numerous carpet dealers by getting them to show me their wares, and then not buy anything. I justify this exercise in time-wasting by reassuring myself that they are more than happy to rip me off, therefore I should be just as happy to window-shop. Having said that, in general, most persian carpet salesman are not as pushy as you might expect them to be. But they will still tell you almost anything to make you bite. 300 years old? I don't think so buddy...

Later in the evening I meet up with Dariush and we explore Jolfa, the Armenian quarter. Kind of like Temple Bar but without the pubs, music or busking. Okay so thats a poor comparison, but you get my drift. We pass a group of old gentlemen staniding outside a shop and Dariush says hello. He explains to me that they are the men to see should you wish to purchase any alcohol, and are therefore good to keep on-side. We meander to various coffee shops and then he leaves me to explore the Si-o-se bridge, which looks amazing after dark. I retire to my hotel and dream about getting smashed on cheap Armenian liquor.


The following day I check out Imam sqaure, and I must say that I really had high hopes of Esfahan after EVERYBODY in Iran was talking it up to me. However the real beauty of any place lies with the people, and while I'm sure that Esfahani's are awesome I simply didn't meet enough of them to justify the hype. But I digress... so anyway, Imam Square.... Sheikh Lotfollah mosque doesn't really do it for me (being all mosqued-out and all), but the Imam Mosque is far more impressive in my opinion, but only for the acoustics under the dome, which are amazing. A small child sits in the dead centre of the room and is tripping himself, his parents and me out by making silly noises which are reverberating throughout the room. Thankfully magic mushrooms are not available in Iran, otherwise I could see a bunch of crusties hanging around the mosque day and night, tripping balls...


My final day in Esfahan sees me followed out of the hotel by a fellow guest, who is also a guide, which immediately makes me suspicious of him. I try to lose him by checking out numerous carpet shops but he follows me, and we continue on to a teahouse to smoke qalyan. It seems that his intentions are purely innocent and he is not trying to scam money from me so we hang out for a bit then part ways. I eventually succumb to buying a carpet, and although I got the price doen significantly I am still satisfied that the seller is making a killing on my purchase. But I don't care as I am happy with the carpet, and will be even happier if it ever actually makes it back to Australia...


Eventually I decide that if I stay in Esfahan any longer I will end up spending my life savings on rugs, so I bail to Kashan, where my contact there is... yes, a carpet salesman.

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