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‹ Previous (05/06/2008) MONTH Next (2008-08-04)› ‹ Previous (2009-09-19 - Pakistan) COUNTRY Next (2009-10-08 - Turkey)› Iran Qareh Kalisa (see on map) 05/07/2008:
We thought to go to Qareh Kalisa, settled in a remote valley in Iran, close to the Turkish border, a fast visit to the church before following the journey up to Tabriz; but finally we have been there almost 4 days. We had read that every year, for San Tadeo, date close to the solstice of summer, Qareh Kalisa becomes a point of pilgrimage for the Armenia community living in Iran, but we did not think that we would have so much luck of running into this important holiday. It is believed that the church of Qareh Kalisa was founded by san Tadeo pupil of Jesus, in the year 43DC, in spite of the contemporary Armenian king, that in 66 DC killed the saint and 3000 of his followers. In spite of this fatality, in 301, Armenia was converted in the first Christian nation of the history and san Tadeo in its mentor. In the thirteenth century, after a fateful earthquake, the church was reconstructed almost in its whole with black stones brought from the mount Ararat, being called popularly since then, Qareh Kalisa (black church). Later, the enlargements with clear stone changed its physiognomy, although they increased the beauty of the church with magnificent engravings. We arrived on Wednesday in the morning and,they identified us as simply tourists and not Islamic (they explained afterwards that the Muslims have the entry vetoed during these three days of peregrination). Tents of the organisation were being set up on the surroundings of the church, at the same time as the first pilgrims, some of which they set up their own tents, started to arrive. In the mountains of the surroundings they were raising two tents of green, yellows and orange colours, that I identified as the Rasta flag of Ethiopia. Thinking that some pilgrims were smokers of marihuana I headed towards there, but when arriving I discovered that they were welded. Afterwards, some friends that we met there explained to us that they were from the army to protect them from the Turks or Iranians who want to get to to the holiday to observe good-looking and uncovered girls, and i am not surprised. As the Armenian pilgrims kept entering the enclosure of the camp around the church, they kept being released from the Islamic prohibitions of the country ; the women took the veil off, the men showed their crucifixes, the girls went out of the shops dressing attractive European models and the boys were exhibiting T-shirts without sleeves and short trousers. The families of different cities and regions were refound and celebrated it killing lambs supplied by the Kurds from the village next to the church, but also drinking home vodka and eating pig introduced illegally in the country by some pilgrims coming from Armenia. At night, the holiday was cheered up with improvised shows of music, songs and popular dances. Also although there was time for the religious ceremonies, this time, with the women wearing a scarf inside the church (how it demands the orthodox tradition) and passing under the portraits of Khomeini and of the current president Ahmadinejad hanged especially for the occasion on the door of the church. Predictions that we had heard about the Iranians in general have been complied, we immediately made numerous friends and during these days we were invited to different coffees, tea and food. One of these friends was Hahk, a man that gives lessons of Bible clandestinely, that explained with sad look "Here we have three days of freedom, but during the rest of the year, the women that do weare the veil are flagellated, the men that eat in the light of the sun during the ramadan are punished 30 days without eating, or if they surprise you looking a television channel of another country, they confiscate the television and the satellite dish from you. Afterwards, Hahk remembered that during the Shah, before the Islamic revolution people lived much better: "at present, the majority of families in Iran have home, car and money, but without freedom, that is not at all valid". It does not surprise then, that as it explained another family to me, many Iranian Armenians look for emigrating to United States, where, if they manage to enter, they are helped with 500 dollars monthly for two years. Others choose to emigrate to Armenia, where the economic conditions are worse, although in exchange they gain the freedom. In any case, more of half of the Iranian Armenians have emigrated the last years, remaining only about 200.000, and remaining obvious to the annual peregrination, where in spite of being about 3000 this year, are less than in the previous years. Tabriz (see on map) 06/07/2008:
Yesterday in the night, when reaching Tabriz we met with Hadi, a son of carpet vendors in the bazar, and this morning he has taken us to his shop where he had shown the magnificent works of art that they owned, I mean that for the love of the art but also with the concealed desire of selling us some carpet. In any case, while we were in his shop a couple from Germany entered who have ended up buying a carpet after Hadi showed his great skills as a salesman. Next, Hadi has led us to walk through the bazaar, where Alexandra has bought herself a new long and fine shirt and a light veil not to pass so much heat. During the walk, Hadi has explained to us that the bazaar of Tabriz, is the second oldest of the world, after the one in Damask in Syria, for where the caravans passed on the silk route more than a thousand years ago. At present the bazaar still preserves about 35 kilometres of passages covered with vaults of bricks and about 7000 shops, with many of these - according to Hadi - related to the business of carpets. While we ate in a simple restaurant in the Bazaar, I have tried to take different times political or religious subjects of the country, although it was evident that it inconvenienced him and he immediately tried to change subject. In any case, Hadi has known how to explain something positive about the Islamic law that is applied in Iran, as the absence of addictions to the alcohol and the nonexistence of the problems of safety derived from these. On the other hand, he has also explained that during the Islamic revolution the people wanted the current country, even if at present there are people who do not feel comfortable. When finishing eating, Hadi has commented that the Armenians in Iran had the same laws as the Iranians, but at night, has had to admit me that the Armenians also had the same duties as the Iranians, some duties based on the Islamic laws that in a cultural way should not correspond (option of not wearing veil, to be able to eat during the ramadan...). This second part of the discussion, has passed off taking an ice cream in a luxurious hotel in the presence of his girlfriend, an inventor girl (she has invented a device to guide the blind people) who has been invited to different international exhibitions. In a moment that Hadi was attending to a call, Mariane (like this was called the girl), has confessed to Alexandra that she would be pleased to live abroad, because in Iran she does not feel relaxed, especially for the question of the veil (all the while was touching it not to show too much nor too few hair). At nine in the night, Hadi has gotten up at once and commented that they had to leave, for Mariane had already expressed before that the family obliged her to not arriving later than 10 pm at home (despite being 23 years old). So, we have said goodbye and returned where we have the car parked, in the park Elgoli, a great urban open space where there are many tents planted, next to our autocaravan, on the asphalt. Hadi had commented to us that many people of the south come to pass the holidays in Tabriz for the mild climate, but so many people are around and the noise at night inconvenienced us a little and we have decided to leave tomorrow in the morning towards the following destinations. 07/07/2008: This morning, when I have woken Alexandra up to start us off towards the south of Tabriz, she has commented me with a sad face: "I have to return to Romania, my grandmother is very ill and my mother needs me". Even if it was an unexpected decision, it has not surprised me in a complete way, for in Istambul she had commented that the next time that she wanted to leave home she announced it to me the same day and that did not expand the decision more than 24 hours. On the other hand, she had also been connected yesterday to Internet and logically had talked with her mother, who - as always - had asked her to return remembering her that Iran and Pakistan were dangerous. This seemed another reason for her decision, for it is evident that Alexandra does not feel at all comfortable in Iran, obliged to wear the veil in a country that every time will be hotter. Besides, it is also true that between the two of us, some small conflicts had appeared, I believe that again caused by the tension that Alexandra felt approaching Iran and going into the country. I have asked whether she was sure of wanting to leave and crying she has said to me that yes. between weeps she has explained me that she had to choose between the happiness of her family or her own, between being an unhappy altruist or an egotistical happy, because she loved me a lot, in fact, I hardly would find again anybody that loved me as she loved me. I have heard it and not wanted to take part in her decision: she did not want to stay because of my requests, but, in the near future, the same problem or need to leave would appear again. On the other hand, if I left, we would probably not be together again and I already started to get used to this new situation in the idea about how to adapt. Alexandra has started to do the suitcases and later, at noon, we have went towards the centre with the car. We have found an agency of buses, and after doubting a little more, Alexandra has decided to buy the thicket (40 $ Tabriz - Istambul). Afterwards we have returned to the autocaravan, where we have passed all the afternoon embraced. But as the preliminary hour was approached, Alexandra was more undecided and among weeping said to me that she did not wanted to leave, although at the same time she explained to me that she could not stop seeing her mother because she would become upset if she backed out another time. At the same time, Alexandra begged me that i asked her to stay, although I kept not wanting to be influential in her decision. Finally, the hour of leaving has arrived. I have suggested to Alexandra to go outside so that i passed her the suitcases, but she did not want to go out. Afterwards she has gone out and have taken a suitcase, but has made me to go up again to the autocaravan continuing to declare that she had to leave. The minutes passed and if we did not hurry up she would lose the bus, but was more undecided than ever, crying that she would throw herself under a car instead of having to decide between me and her family. And finally i ordered: " Alex stay" and with a radiant face of spontaneous happiness she has exclaimed: "Sí?","sí", and next we have gone to take some delicious melon juice that is prepared in Iran. Takht-e Soleiman (see on map) 09/07/2008:
Have passed two days going over the south of Tabriz and visiting a few touristic attractions. Yesterday we visited Kandovan,a village with the homes excavated, since about 700 years ago, in a careen of rocks similar to Capadoccia. And today we have visited Takht-and Soleiman (the pitch of Solomon, in Persian), some Zoroastrian ruins that have impressed us a little more than Kandovan. The Zoroastrisme is a religion founded by Zoroastre, born ten centuries before Jesus in the lands where at present is found Iran. This monotheistic religion had many followers during the first centuries, but, the pressure of the Islam made later decrease the number of believers up to the approximately 200.000 that are spread by Iran and India. In Takht- part of the walls of a former citadel and the ruins of a former Zoroastrian shrine are raised by Soleiman, on a hill. Right in the middle of the hill and in front of the ruins, there is a dark gap of about 140 meters of depth, with the water springing up from its interior and going over on two ends of the gap. 3 more kilometres in the east there is the prison of Soleiman, a quite higher conical hill, from the summit of which the sights are terrifying, then to the centre of the hill there is a vertical crater of about thirty meters of diameter and more than a hundred of depth, which formerly was full of water that also sprouted. In the summit of the prison of Soleiman I ran into a group of five men who were resting taking tea. They offered me one, and afterwards, while we went down conversing in poor English and my null Farsi (or Persian) they invited me to go to dine with them in the next village. I suggested it to Alexandra and, despite not being very enthusiastic, we accepted the invitation. While we dined some simple spaghetti Bolognese world politicians started to be listed to me with opinions: mentioning for example Ahmadinejat (the current president) followed by a "very good" (very good) or "I love you" (I love you). They also mentioned Bush "very bad", together with Berlusconi, Zarcozy, Sharon, Blair, however they probably answered for Zapatero (Spanish president) because I was there, but also because the governments of left seem less critical with the policies of Iran. Later we commented to them on our plans of journey and as they always told us that the adjacent country was very dangerous, that Pakistan was full of Terrorists (in Turkey they also told us that Iran was very dangerous). Surprisingly also they commented that the following city that we wanted to visit, Hamadan, was very dangerous and that there we should not accept the invitation of anybody. Hamadan (see on map) 12/07/2008:
In fact, Hamadan was away from our planned itinerary about 300 kilometres, but it was worth to divert ourselves, in exchange for visiting some friends, David and Maria, the two Spanish who had passed some days in company of Alexandra while I fixed the papers to recover the car in Aswan, Egypt. On the other hand, now that we were already further from the border, we already obtained the diesel troublefree to the normal price: 0,01euros/litro, so that about 300 kilometres with the air-conditioning on only cost us about 25 cents of euro. We met with David and the Maria the day before yesterday late and we started to explain our adventures of the last months. They described us the marvelous experience of Sudan and the disastrous one of Ethiopia, because of the children and of the people that tried to trick them continuously. As I, they also received a very negative message on their Internet blog for describing so badly the Ethiopians, but when remembering our adventures again solved that we had still been affable. Afterwards, they followed Arab Emirates , Djibouti, Yemen (they loved it), Oman, Qatar, highlighting the great hospitality with which they had always been received in the Islamic countries. Yesterday we met with David and Maria, together with a German who was travelling with a van through the middle east. Joint we visited an interesting mosque and later, the mausoleum of Esther and her uncle Mordecai, both of an important role about 2500 years ago to avoid that the Jews were exterminated while living in Persia and could live here until nowadays. It was a Jew who opened us the door of solid stone of the mausoleum and once inside he explained us the history of Esther and Mordecai (a film has been made recently: "one night with the king"). Afterwards he commented us that there are about 25.000 Jews living in Iran, but when asking if these had problems with the Islamist government answered us very dryly that not. In the afternoon we went towards a park threaded in the mountain where in no moment became full of and Iran with floor mats, tents, bags, pots, ... picnic in the night, with an atmosphere similar to the park of Tabriz where we had been parked. This morning, we have been a good while connected to Internet (in Iran there are no wireless networks to connect freely) and after saying goodbye effusively to David and Maria, we have started to go towards Tehran. Mid-afternoon we have stopped near some fields moved away from the road and stayed there until the night. But about eleven, two big mowers have approached and they have stayed next to the autocaravan with the crazy engines on. the drivers seemed apprehensive of us and as the machines did not stop doing noise, we have decided to start the car and to go to park far from them and nearer to the road. We have started to sleep, but near of the one in the morning, somebody knocking very strongly the autocaravan has woken us up. I have put on a T-shirt and I have opened the window. outside, a group of armed men, one of them in uniform in front of a police car, have required me to go out. Of the way how they caught with tension the weapons I have deduced that i should not entertain them a lot, so, I have opened the door naked from the waist down, proving them at the same time that we were sleeping and we were not spies. But one of them has pulled me with force out of the autocaravan and asked me how many people we were in the autocaravan - without speaking anything of English -. I have indicated him that there was my wife and after requiring me of putting on the trousers has entered in game Alexandra. The officer has asked me that i go and make Alexandra go out, but I have said to him that i wont, for she was hysterical and screaming as a madwoman. The officer has gone up to the car and after some minutes of holding the threats and the shouts of "out go" (he goes out) of Alexandra he has been assured simply that we were tourists that we were passing the night in a maybe wrong place (maybe near one of the secret nuclear facilities). In any case, they have let us keep passing the night there and left while they let some dull laugh escape. Afterwards i had been due to calm down Alexandra explaining that control was normal, for we found ourselves in a country continuously threatened to be attacked by the United States and had to try to detect the possible spies that had infiltrated. Alamut (see on map) 14/07/2008:
The day after our fright with the police, we followed our path towards Tehran, where a very friendly and nice couple waited for us. Before however, we diverted ourselves a hundred kilometres to visit an interesting castle. During the stretch, we kept circulating through the good roads of Iran, each village had a poster in the entrance with all the photographs of the martyrs of the previous war against Iraq. The towns had simple homes and many people seemed poor, although nobody asked for charity or seemed to be hungry. In any case, it seemed strange that such a rich country with oil resources and offering good education and free health it was so little prosperous economically. On the other hand, when observing rubbish poured by the outskirts of the village and the almost null take-up, it made us think perhaps the Iranian were mentality not very far away to the Africans, with the people living day by day and without having to have more than the neighbour. Another aspect that we observed was the minor presence of the Islam in Iran in comparison to other countries of tradition Suní. Even if all the women go covered, there are less mosques and the edges of the muecines are much duller. Hadi from Tabriz had explained to us that in Iran, most of the Muslims were Chiítas (the real Muslims) and the muezzins only need to sing three times a day, instead of five. At noon we stopped in the city of Qazvin, where we visited an interesting mosque, as many of the old constructions in Iran, done of bricks and decorated with colourful ceramics, and walked afterwards through an interesting bazaar. Next, after eating kebab (meat on the hot coal) and connecting to Internet we thread the steep road between the mountains up to the castle of Alamut or also called castle of the murderers. The murderers or Hashshashins were a shiíta sect created by them, to defend and to press the enemies and so they were dedicated during some centuries to murder the main suni leaders of the Islamic world. Different legends think that the murderers were drugged with Hashish until they thought that they lived in the paradise, they were expelled afterwards from the gardens of the castle and they were informed that they could return to the paradise if they complied with the mission, which normally consisted in murdering somebody or leaving a threat of murder. We arrived in the afternoon at the foot of a big rock on the summit of it there was the castle of Alamut concealed. I went up snorting and although, I was not impressed by how photogenicwas i was really surprised by the inaccessibility, in fact, it was never conquered. Anyway, in 1256, the commander of the castle yielded it during the Mongolian offensive of Hulagu Kan with the expectation that this was pious, but, Hulagu destroyed the fortress at the time of the truth. Teheran (see on map) 23/07/2008:
On Monday the 14th we arrive to karaj, at about 30 kilometres of Tehran, and there we found the friendly couple of Couchsurfing, Azade and Amir. We parked in the calm street in front of their home and the day after in the morning we directed towards the embassy of Pakistan, taking a shared taxi for the 500 metres that separated us from the station (10 cents of euro), going up to the efficient train and later metro up to the centre of Tehran (15 cents of euro), and two more shared taxis (12 cents of euro each). The total stretch had us occupied an hour and a half, but it was worth not to go by car, because the traffic of Tehran is terrible and because, although we could have found some hosts in the centre of Tehran, Azade and Amir were formidable. Once in the embassy, and about twenty minutes after waiting in a chaotic queue, they informed us that we would need a card of recommendation from our embassies (those that we had in Ankara were not valid). the same day we went to the embassy of Spain where they could make us the letter and also to the embassy of Romania, where they commented that they would have the letter ready the day after. But on Wednesday, the Romanian consul was about not to deliver the letter to Alexandra arguing that it was very dangerous to go to Pakistan. And likewise presented it to us different Iranians and even a Pakistani that we found on Saturday in the embassy of Pakistan (on Wednesday they had holiday, added to the weekend: Thursday and Friday). Unfortunately, on Saturday we arrived at 11 at the embassy of Pakistan, and arguing with us that they only attend from 9:30 to 10:30 they made us return the day after. For the third time we returned to the embassy to deliver the forms. In the fourth, yesterday Monday, we payed the cost of the visa (only 50 $ between both) and in the fifth, today, we have collected finally the visa. We did not think that we would be so much late to carry out the visa of Pakistan, but in a certain way it went well, because yesterday David and Maria arrived from their tour through the North of Iran and we could find each other again, although in Hamadan we had said goodbye as if we did not have to see ourselves again for two or three years until we arrived Spain. On the other hand, it was also good to make use of the great hospitality of Azade and Amir, with which we feel very at ease and maintain very interesting conversations, which helped us understand better the country where we were. Azade is an engineer and works in a thermoelectric station and Amir is a computer scientist who works from home modelling objects in 3D. the home is small, but decorated with a lot of taste, in which we spent quite a lot of hours connected to Internet, looking the television (mainly Alexandra) and conversing. Azade told us that the economic situation of Iran is not so good, with much inflation,reason for which recently they had selled their horse and buyed two good bicycles for which they also appeared very keen in exchange. In the train, a businessman that we had met, also explained to us that the average class in Iran had lost economic power because of the current president, who does not apply the correct economic policies. On the contrary to all the information arrived from Iran, Azade also commented that in Iran there is good political in favour of the woman, for example there is full equality between the salaries of the men and women. Even so, Azade detested the norms of dressing and the duty to use the veil, especially in summer. And even if the men had some norms of dressing more relaxed, Amir also considered unfair some of the Islamic norms, as that of not being able to swim in the pool beside his wife or to sit together in an urban bus. Anyway, Amir was not too predisposed to criticise the Iranian government, arguing that it was dangerous, because in Iran the political power and the religious power are joined, and if you criticise they can accuse you of criticising the religious leaders, that it is the same to criticise the Islamic religion or to question the same Allah. Due to the duty to take the veil and only to show the face, Azade told us that the nose is operated by many girls of the city to be more attractive (the visible part), and, apart indeed from crossing some admirable noses, we also saw perfect noses, and some with the signs of the recent operations. In the embassy of Romania we met a boy, Mihai, that was studying in Iran. He told us that he has a girlfriend, but that he will not get married because he does not want to convert to Islam. On the other hand, he also told us that the foreign media do not want to publish positive news about Iran. For example, he explained us that there are regions in Iran where the women do not take veil (Kurds, afghanis and others). Anyway, that is an exception, because two days later met Maryam, a 19 years old girl born after the revolution, that explained us that since two years ago there are numerous police of the dress in the street, that censures the women if they paint too much the face, show too much the hair under the veil or dress too tight clothes or show more skin than the rule. the police of the dress can even put a girl in prison and not leave her go out until the day after, that the parents have taken a more decent dress to her. That's why, Maryam explained to us that in the street all the world takes a mask, even if the social reality is very different. For example, in the north of the city, where Maryam lives and the middle and rich classes in general reside, there are streets supervised by individuals where the girls can walk without veil. In any case, they always have to be pending of the presence of "basijis", normal people who do not doubt to report you to the police for any critical comment or behaviour out of the rule. In the meeting with Maryam there was also a German traveller that was going to Asia on bicycle, Markus, and with which we maintained a discussion about whether the people supported the Islamic government or not, then the majority of people that we had found (basically members of couchsurfing) seemed very critical, although in the last election the Iranians chose the most Islamic and most radical party. Apart from maintaining interesting conversations about the political and social situation of Iran, a day Azade explained a very interesting curiosity of the Iranian calendar, which is different to the occidental one and to the Islámic. The Iranian calendar of 12 months starts the first day of the spring, and surprisingly, the Iranians celebrate the change of year in the same astronomical minute of entry in spring, so much are 12 in the midday as the 4 of the dawn. On the other hand, the Iranian calendar has the years from the Hijra or migration of Mahoma from Mecca to Medina, the same beginning as the Islamic calendar, with the difference that the Islamic calendar is lunar, about 11 days shorter than the Persian calendar, which is to tile; therefore, at present they are in the year 1387 and 1429 for the rest of the Islamic countries. Finally, we had a little more time in Tehran to visit some of the relics of Iran, standing out above all, the biggest treasure of the world, the museum of the Jewellery of Iran or of the jewels of the crown, which contains the most important collection of jewels of the world, that they were compiled by the Shahs of Iran during the 2500 years of monarchy. The collection, strongly protected, contains tens of objects (swords, crowns, thrones, jugs...) diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires... Among these, there is a magnificent globe of the world that contains 35 kilos of gold and 51000 precious stones, representing the oceans with emeralds and the continents with rubies and diamonds. We also visited yesterday accompanied by David and Maria, the old embassy of the United States, that was occupied by iranies students later in the revolution, and retained 52 people for 444 days with the excuse to be spies or to work for the big Satan, expression that we have seen in numerous graffiti in the exterior wall of the old embassy. We have also visited the museum of the martyrs, which is in front of the old embassy, which exposes information about different martyrs that fought against the bloody war against Iraq, in which were obliged to cross mine fields to find safe crossings towards the enemy positions. The museum also had a section dedicated to some martyrs who had fought against Israel (with suicidal attacks) and another showing numerous Islamic leaders murdered by the terrorist group MKO. This movement, also called People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI) had fought against the Shah, but, its Marxist ideology was confronted later with the Islamic ones, that killed thousands of its members in reply to two terrorist attacks of this group. --- When i interviewed Azade opined that the main problem of the world is the lack of energy and the waste of it, all together provoking wars. We should show to the people how to use less energy and to look for new alternatives to the polluting energies. as engineer she can help personally investigating about new alternatives. Azade did not want to be on the camera while asserting that the main problem of Iran is the waste of the energy because of how economy is. Azade feels happy, although she tries to worry for the happiness of the others trying to help them, if she could help them would be happier. The secret of happiness is satisfaction. Esfahan (see on map) 25/07/2008:
At about 150 kilometres to the south of Tehran we visited Qom, a sacred city for the Muslims Shiites, where a big mosque rises up on the tomb of Fatima, the sister of the eighth Imam Reza (Shiite leader and descendant of Mohamed), that also died on Iranian lands and was buried in Mashhad. I entered the big mosque built with bricks and decorated with marvellous mosaics of porcelain, and without anybody noticing that the non Muslim me has entered up to the interior, I went for rooms full of mirrors until I arrived in front of the decorated tomb of Fatima, where the mullahs (religious men) with turbans on the head and women completely covered up in black worshiped the tomb, while watchers with plumes of colours supervised that nobody made photos in the sacred temple. After Qom we kept going down towards the south of Iran, crossing a sterile desert, with the little transparency of the air, turning the colours off and concealing the mountains in the background. Anyway, when we reached Kashan, we realised that Iran started to show us its most charming face, for in Kashan there were some pretty houses built in the eighteen and nineteen centuries. The houses, which belonged to rich traders of crafts and carpets, show the splendour with which they lived, with exquisite rooms decorated with reliefs, paints, mirrors, church windows... and with a view to intimate interior courtyards with trees and ponds. In the afternoon, we took refuge of the heat visiting the Fin gardens, with numerous channels of water where we could soak the feet, although they quarrelled me because i had the trousers raised up to the knee showing my hairy legs (In Esfahan they told me off again because i was wearing a T-shirt that showed the back when i crouched down; it is curious that to Alexandra, the most rebel with the norms of dressing no one said anything, but I already accumulate two warnings and she none). The following destination, Abyaneh, was found in the mountains and we thought to pass a night fresher than the previous ones. While we went there we could observe the strongly protected nuclear facilities of Iran with watchtowers and numerous antiaircraft defences. Anyway, by being built near a very common route, I thought that on the contrary to the American propaganda, perhaps they did not have to hide too much. Today in the morning we have visited Abyane,an old village with the houses worn out a bit and built with red clay. For the main street, apart from crossing with many Iranian tourists, we also crossed with some local woman, dressing colourful skirts that arrived only to the knees and were covered with one long veil of lighter colours. Some of the local men also distinguished themselves by dressing some wide trousers of a black material. 30/07/2008:
In the middle age, Esfahan was known as Nesf-and-Jahan (half of the world), because to visit it meant having visited half of the world, due to its beauty and to the marvels that contained. And although Esfahan was outside destroyed partially during an Afghan conquest in the eighteenth century and the new maritime routes nullified the business of the silk route and likewise of Esfahan, this city could still be considered as one of the prettiest cities of the world and undoubtedly the most beautiful of the ones visited until now in Iran. Esfahan is a calm city, with the streets shaded by the trees and numerous parks with fountains to take refuge of the heat. Besides, Esfahan preserves exquisite historical legacies, highlighting the enormous Imam square (or previously called Naghsh-i Jahan), that is the second biggest in the world (after the Tianmen square, in Pekin) and for sure one of the most charming. The square is surrounded by two levels of doorways of Islamic aesthetics, under which a part of the big bazaar of Esfahan settles. Most of the square is covered by lawn and flowers, where every night, as the heat is turned off, tens of families extend their carpets and relax, while they take tea or eat fruits. At one end of the square the mosque of the Imam rises up, described by the locals as the most precious mosque of the world, and probably it is, containing all the walls and domes covered by painted tiles that configure some dense, harmonious and marvellous trimmings. Of similar beauty the smallest mosque of Sheikh Lotfollah ascends, to the lateral of the square, in front of a big pool. On the other end of the square the covered bazaar is extended, through which one is able to walk two kilometres with calmness, with the cheerful vendors but without them pressuring you to buy from them. When finishing the bazaar another of the historical relics of Esfahan is the mosque of Jameh, with more than seven centuries of history built and rebuilt with different artistic techniques. I should not forget either to mention the popular bridges that cross the river with numerous Iranian families relaxing under their shifting boards; and the dream-like palaces, surrounded of forests, that seem to have risen up from the stories of the thousand and one nights. In one of these palaces there were some delicate paints, some of which they showed sensual girls showing the breasts. I found it remarkable that, on the contrary to what the European church had made during the middle age, the religious regime of Iran had not erased these paints. In any case, I think that i should also mention the only negative point of the city: the tourism that it always ends up corrupting, because in some sites, for the first time in Iran, they tried to cheat with the price. Despite passing five wonderful days in Esfahan, not only we were visiting monuments and relaxed in the parks. We wasted a whole afternoon to buy a new tyre to replace one that had burst before entering Esfahan and wasted another morning to extend another month the visa in Iran. While we were at the police station, I met again with Santiago, a traveller from spain that i had already met in Kashan. Santiago travelled for some months following a route similar to us, although afterwards he went to Afghanistan and through other "stan" countries .Apart from talking for some hours with Santiago, we also had occasion of talking a good while with Meisam, a student of computer science that still had to make the military service. Meisam explained us that when finishing the university he should do 20 months of obligatory military service, although the option of not doing it is not too recommendable, because then you do not have the option of leaving the country (except to countries with saint mosques: Aràbia Saudí, Iraq and Syria), you cannot work for the government, you cannot buy yourself any house, not even having the option of getting married. For this reason, in his university there are more girls studying than boys, although somebody also explained to us that when it became obligatory to wear the veil at school (in time of the Shah it was prohibited), many traditional families started to register the girls in the schools. When questioning him on the government, Meisam explained that the previous day they had hanged 30 people in Tehran, as punishment to offences as drug dealing, murder, robbery and adultery... Last year 300 were killed, the majority hanged, but also some stoned to death(killed with stones), that it is the punishment that receives a married woman that commits adultery and her lover in specific cases. Answering to our questions, Meisam explained us that if a man is found with a prostitute (or not), the two are obliged to get married with impossibility of divorce, since in such a case, the man has to pay with a part of his body (a leg, an arm, an eye, the head...). Finally, Meisam surprised us explaining that he was not Muslim and that not even so alone believed in God, therefore, theoretically according to the Koran, any Muslim should murder him. Afterwards he explained the motifs of not being religious, "if you do not think, you can be part of any religion created by the man, but when you start to think and realise that the religions are made by humans and not by God, you do stop believing inevitably". Afterwards he gave me a digital book forbidden in Iran for its contents: "God Delusion", by Richard Dawkins, but also forbidden in Europe, because I had not paid for the copyrights. 31/07/2008: Today it is exactly one month since our entry in Iran and, while we crossed a burning desert towards Yazd, we have had once more a discussion about Iran and its people. In spite of the Islamic government of the country - fanatical according to Alexandra - I think that Iran is one of the best countries to travel on the planet, then apart from being economic (we have only spent300 € in a month including food and diesel) and to have good cultural and touristic attractions, its inhabitants are the most hospitable in the world (together with Sudan). It has already happened some times that they have invited us to eat or to dine, and many more that have given us bread, fruits and vegetables; they offered us even money once. And not only that, apart from being hospitable-related, the Iranians are honest, in general opened and interested to know foreigners. But Alexandra does not value so much these positive aspects because for her it weighs too much the duty to wear the veil, partially because it is a too great ideological collision, for she would be partisan of forbidding it in Europe. On the other hand, according to Alexandra, the fact that a country is governed by a dictatorship (besides Islamic) discredits it as a country favourable to tourism. In any case, even so, Alexandra feels moderately at ease in Iran, because often she declares that she would prefer spending more time visiting the country, although maybe also because she has fear to go in Pakistan and she wants to defer the entry so much as she can. Persepolis (see on map) 03/08/2008:
Persepolis is admirable, but it had to be even more in the antiquity, when it was the capital of ceremonies of the Persian Empire, that Alexander the great decided to burn it. I would dare to say that Persepolis would be part of one of the seven marvels of the world if Alexander the great wouldn’t have wanted to take his revenge with the Persian king Xerxes, the troops that about 150 years before, had arrived up to Athens and had burned the Acropolis. In any case, the history justifies the action of Alexander the great explaining that the incident was produced in a night of drunkenness in which he was influenced by a courtesan of Athenian origin. Although it remains little of the former palaces, the things that remain are formidable, highlighting some big doors adorned with winged horses with the face of the king Xerxes, very high columns (of 20 meters) that were part of the central room, the numerous covers of the room of the thunder, but especially, the magnificent reliefs that adorn numerous stairs and walls representing welded, kings killing mythological creatures or fights between lions and buffalos. They also appear among the reliefs, different representations of Faravahar, the main symbol of the Zoroastrian monotheistic religion, founded by Zoroaster quite a lot of centuries before Jesus. Although formerly the Zoroastrianism was the main religion of Persia, at present they only subtract little less than one million faithful, divided up among India and Iran. Proof of this is the temple of fire in Yazd, which we had visited two days before. Yazd is a ancient city that preserves an old town with narrow alleys, some of them covered by succession of small domes, and with the houses built of mixed mud with straw, also although they highlight different houses of rich merchants, some converted into hotels. Typically of Yazd, in the summit of many homes, are some towers with vertical openings connected to the rooms that stand out under, that were used to hunt the wind and to direct it towards the interior of the habitats. The qanats, canalisations of water carried out at more than twenty meters (up to 200 m) of depth to prevent the evaporation during the hot summers, are also typical. Yazd had been a shelter for the Zoroastrians from the beginnings of the expansion of the Islam in Persia, preserving at present only one small community among the predominant mosques. This small community maintains the flames of a temple of the fire, which burn uninterruptedly since about a thousand years ago. To the outskirts of Yazd there are the towers of the silence, which were used till few years ago according to the Zoroastrian tradition so that the bodies of the dead men were cleaned by vultures. From Yazd, we have gone towards the south, to Shiraz and the next old cities. First we visited the ruins of Pasargadae, without too much interest, apart from the tomb of Cyrus the great, the founder of the Persian Empire. More interesting were the tombs of Naqsh-and Rustam, excavated in the wall of the rock and containing interesting reliefs. And of course Persepolis, that we visited yesterday afternoon and another time today in the morning, to finish enjoying it with all the possible angles of light. ‹ Previous (05/06/2008) MONTH Next (2008-08-04)› ‹ Previous (2009-09-19 - Pakistan) COUNTRY Next (2009-10-08 - Turkey)› |
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