Blogs from West, Iran, Middle East - page 3

Today we were going to go to church. In Iran. Go figure. And no, we weren't going to go in a discreet car into a discreet building to meet with discreet people to do discrete worship. Today we were off to the Armenian quarter, home of displaced Armenians and a christian part of Iran for centuries. The Armenians have had a long history with then Persia and now Iran. However in the 1600s, their presence became more defined when the Shah setup a dedicated area called New Julfa for the Armenians. The Armenians were shrewd businessmen and became influencial in Iran. Today 5 seats in the Iranian parliament are reserved for Armenians - a minority group that has remained Christian though in many other ways has assimilated with Persian culture. Armenians supposedly enjoy a lot of ... read more

Another day and another early start tromping across the countryside in our van, this time from Yazd to Esfahan. By now the kids had acclimatized to our driver and guide and rather than the shy-head-down-whispered good mornings, they were now greeting our friends with big cheery "Hello Amu!" (which means uncle in Farsi). Enroute we stopped at Nain, famed for its unique carpet styles and Iran's oldest mosque (8th century). There was also a supposedly interesting citadel though it really was more of a pile of lumpy mud with sporadic outcrops that looked like towers. Perhaps the most memorable part of Nain was when we spied our arch nemeses - a French family that was also travelling with kids. We liked being the only foreigners daring enough to bring small kids to Iran (because its sooooo ... read more

Geo: 32.68, 51.68Esfahan, was the next port of call on our trip into the unknown, Mohammad's home town. He was clearly very passionate about it, and on arrival, offered to show us around that afternoon and the following day! Free tour… we were not going to complain. Our hostel was about a 15 min walk from the main square of the city where everything happens. The hostel itself was not great, especially after the apartments we had just been treated to, but there was a bed! The pillows, were most definitely not filled with feather… our guess was flour or concrete as if you had a pillow fight with them, someone would definitely be knocked out, if not die!Mo's tour was cancelled that afternoon, as Polly required his translation skills to find water purification for the ... read more

So, these are the photos that went with the previous blog... assuming the internet is being more cooperative here!... read more

this is my travel to tuyserkan in west of islamic republic of iran... read more