Mosques on Mosques on Mosques

We had a young guy called Mostafa drive us to Esfahan, his English was so so, but with a combination of great charades skills, and simplified English I was able to yarn to him about interesting topics for example:

• Treason, selling drugs, murder & rape will get you the death penalty via being "hung out" which meant by hanging.
• If you murder someone, the family of the victim has three choices by law, these are:
• death penalty
• pay equivalent of NZD $833,333 (this value goes up every year due to inflation)
• let them go
• You do not lose your hand if you steal (this happens in Saudi Arabia), but you do go to prison.
• Doing drugs used to get you the death penalty, but now the government provides rehabilitation for addicts.
• Most of the drugs in Iran come from Afghanistan; they include weed, hash, sheesha/meth (not to be confused with the water pipe; although it did explain why we got sideways looks on New Years for asking for it), crack, opium, heroin & a drug made from pigeon poop.
• Iran is just like everywhere when it comes to dating, all the kids have VPNs that allow them to use Facebook, Twitter & Tinder, but it is just more low key. He said my chances were not great with the locals because I was not a local, which is gutting because some of the girls here are stunning, I wish my Tinder worked.
• Mostafa met his wife while crossing the street, he asked for her number, and then arranged to meet her and her family at a restaurant with his family to discuss the wedding etc., he married her two weeks ago, and had known her for 2-3 months beforehand.
• The more traditional way to meet your wife, involves a meeting between families, I've heard different things from different people, I guess it is like anything, it depends on the individuals involved.

Naqsh-e Jahan Imam Square, Esfahan

Esfahan is the Number 1 tourist destination in Iran, and there was a long list of things that we wanted to see here. There was a walking tour that you could do on your own in the bazaar to see all the sites, but we got horribly lost and ended up off the map. That was until a derelict-looking, unshaven, old man came up to us with his hood up; turned out he spoke perfect English and was a retired literature professor. His name was Ali and he took us on a tour around all of the sites that we'd wandered passed. We said we were hungry, so he took us to a local spot that we wouldn't be able to find again even if we tried. It was where all the cool kids hung out and smoked sheesha (the water pipe not meth). However, it was a strict Islamic cafe, and the couple opposite us got too "friendly" and the owner kicked them out.

Quiet lane in Bazaar-e Bozorg, Esfahan

Hip cafe in Bazaar-e Bozorg with the naughty couple in yellow

We went to mosque after mosque, and were just wowed by the intricate, symmetrical patterning on the buildings, especially the Masjed-e Sheikh Lotfollah, which features on the cover of the Lonely Planet. We also visited the Masjed-e Shah, which is the most impressive size-wise of the mosques. In the middle of the great chamber, there is a black tiled square, where the Mullah would stand. There were no microphones in those days, but if you stood in the square and spoke, the echo would reverberate around the whole complex.

Ceiling of the Masjed-e Sheikh Lotfollah

Outside frontage of the Masjed-e Shah

Outside frontage of the Ali Mosque with the tall minaret

That night we went and visited the Vank Cathedral in the Armenian Quarter. The Armenians were brought to Iran because they were amazing stonemasons, and they were allowed to practice their own religion, being Christianity. From the outside you could easily confuse the Vank Cathedral with a mosque, but on the inside were the most elaborate murals depicting events from the bible.

The Vank Cathedral, Armenian Quarter

Ceiling and walls of the Vank Cathedral

Mudbrick roofs & badgirs of the buildings in Yazd

Our next destination was Yazd, the desert city, with its mudbrick old town, winding lanes and badgirs (windcatchers). Again, we decided to take a walk around the city to see all the sites. Dad was hungry, so we stopped to get some fruit from a little fruit seller. He got an assortment of bananas, apples, and one orange which he was looking forward to last. As we were walking passed a construction site, Dad dropped the orange behind a gate and it rolled just out of reach, he spent 10 minutes trying to get it out but to no avail.

The Tony trying unsuccessfully to retrieve his orange

Lovely old man shining Dad's dirty shoes

After that episode we again got horribly lost in the labyrinth of lanes throughout the old mudbrick town, where everything looked the same. We eventually found a little rooftop cafe where we relaxed and had a pomegranate juice and Dad had a non-alcoholic lemon beer until we got our bearings.

Tony and the Old City of Yazd

The Amir Chamakh Complex

Lost selfie down the alleyways in Yazd

Outside our guesthouse, the frontage of the Masjed-e Jameh mosque, Yazd

Later that afternoon we heard about a bodybuilding show that the Iranian men do in a gym that was once a water reservoir. We went along not really knowing what to expect, inside the circular building there were chairs all around what looked like a pit, with a little stage that had the time-clock and a man with a microphone and drum. At 4:30 on the dot they started; the men performed different exercises rhythmically to the man drumming and singing. It was one of the oddest things I've seen, they started with a combination of downward dog & push-ups, then arm & leg waving, then spinning, and finally they each picked up what looked like bowling pins (5, 10, 15 & 20 kgs) and proceeded to spin them around. I think we had a matinee performance with the older guys but they were all jacked and seemed pretty fit. On the way back to the hotel to make us feel better about ourselves we bought a tray of the famous Yazd sweets, and gorged ourselves before bed.

Saheb A Zaman Club Zurkhaneh, men doing a cross between downward dog and a pushup

The following day we arranged a tour to see some of the sites on the outskirts of Yazd. We started with the Towers of Silence, which was where the Zoroastrians used to perform sky burials up until 50 years ago. This was where they took the bodies of their dead, to be eaten by vultures on the top of the towers. Afterwards we went to Meybod, to see Narin Castle and the famous Icehouse, which was like a giant freezer which they filled with ice during the winter, so they could have ice, and non seasonal fruit in the summer.

Top of Narin Castle, Meybod with the Icehouse in the distance

Afterwards we headed to Chak Chak, which is the Mecca equivalent for Zoroastrians today. Chak Chak is a tiny little town which is high up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere, and inside at the top is a Fire Temple where there is a flame that is always lit that they pray to.

Chak Chak hidden amongst the mountains

Inside the Fire Temple at Chak Chak, like Mecca for Zoroastrians

We concluded the tour with a trip to Kharanagh, the virtually deserted crumbling village which is more than 1000 years old. We were able to walk on the rooftop terraces and walk inside the royal chambers freely, before we headed back to Yazd. We had dinner that night at a little falafel restaurant with Marcus & Marianne, an awesome couple on our tour from Norway.

The roofs of the crumbling Kharanaq Village

Next stop is the Ancient Cities of Pasargadae, & Persopolis, home of Xerxes from the movie 300, Darius the Great & Cyrus the Great.

Hope you're all well

Nick + Tony