Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Today was my last day in Esfahan so I headed out with Gabrielle, Doug, Harry and Kiwi John into the Bazaar to pick up some gifts. I'm not really a shopper but it was really nice to just wander through the Bazaar with the others looking at the various stalls. I bought a few bits and pieces as presents - including some delicious sweets. We also managed to fit in time for a saffron ice-cream before heading back to the hotel.
In the afternoon we left Esfahan and headed to the ancient village of Abyaneh, which is situated at the foot of Mount Karkas. The village itself is a rabbit warren of steep, twisting lanes and red mud brick houses with lattice windows and wooden balconies. Mustafa took us on a walking tour of the village where we ambled through the many lanes occasionally bumping in to some of the local women who were wearing very colourful traditional costumes. Our hotel for the night was the Abyaneh Hotel, which is a family run hotel set just on the outskirts of the village. I had the most amazing panoramic views of the Mountain and village from my room. The hotel itself reminded me of a Swiss Ski Chalet and was very different to anywhere that we had stayed previously. The food was really good and I tried the locally speciality chelo fesenjun, which is chicken cooked in a pomegranate and walnut sauce served with rice - it was delicious.
We only stayed in Abyaneh for one night so the next morning we packed up and headed to the next destination of Kashan. On the way to Kashan we passed through the HUGE Nantanz nuclear site, which employs hundreds of people. We were under strict instructions not to take any photos while we passed through the area, which seemed to go on for miles and miles. Yet apparently 90% of the site is underground!
We eventually arrived into Kashan and headed staright to see the traditional house of Seyyed Jafar Tabatabei, which was built around 1880. Seyyed was a very wealthy carpet merchant and his house reflects his wealth. It is absolutely stunning and is full of mirror and stained glass artwork as well as some beautiful tiles and painted decoration. The house is split into 3 sections an internal area, where the family lived, an external area used for entertaining and guests and then finally the servants quarters. There are 4 courtyards, one of which has a large fountain pool as well as some beautiful gardens. A short walk from Khan-e Tabatabei is Khan-e Boroujerdi or the house of Boroujerdi. Rumour has it that Boroujerdi was also a carpet merchant who fell in love with Seyyed's daughter. When he asked Seyyed if he could marry his daughter he said he could but only if he built her a house as good as his own. He went ahead and begun building the Khan-e Boroujerdi, which he finished 18 years later. Now I'm not an impatient sort of girl but seriously 18 years!! Was he building it on his own in his spare time? Just imagine you've waited 18 years to marry the love of your life and you didn't consult her on the decorating. You've used the wrong blue and she says do you know what I think I'll marry Mohammed instead - you'd be so annoyed.
Anyway his house was lovely but not as grand as Sayyed's. Although you'll be pleased to know that Sayyed did let Boroujerdi marry his daughter. I do love a happy ending. Oh and another thing about the houses in Kashan is the door knockers. Each door has two knockers one round and fat the other long and thin (seriously I'm not making this up). They are designed to give off different sounds so that those inside the house can tell whether a man or a woman is knocking at the door. This is vitally important in a country where women cannot be seen by men without their heads covered. The round and fat knocker is for the women and the long thin for men! From the traditional houses we headed to the Agha Bozorg Mosque. Whilst I am a little over the mosques (don't get me wrong they are very beautiful) but there only so many blue and yellow mosaic tiles that a girl can ooh and ahh over. Anyway when we visited this particulr mosque Mustafa spoke more about the Islamic Law and the practices of being a muslim. He also spoke about the Fatwa, which is when a muslim leader issues an edict on a particular subject. The most famous Fatwa was the one issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran, on 14 February 1989 against Salman Rushdie. It was really interesting to learn about the Fatwa and find out more about Islamic Law.
That night we headed to a local family's home for a cookery class. As we've travelled around the country we have seen that there are some staple dishes, which most restaurants serve. These dishes are Iranian rice, which is a lot lighter and fluffier than any other rice I've ever had, vegetable stew, aubergine stew, yoghurt with either cucumber or shallots and kebabs. We were shown how to make the vegetable stew and aubergine stew as well as learning that to get the rice as light and fluffy as they do requires about 2 hours of cooking! As delicious as it is I'm going to stick to my Mr Ben's boil in the bag done in 10 minutes rice - a lot less hassle. Thankfully we then got to taste the amazing food whilst talking to some of the younger members of the family who were all keen to practice their English. It was a really lovely evening and a great way to finish what had been a very busy day.
- comments