Iran | We can't get over Persia
- Marta & Oskar
- Nov 4, 2018
- 9 min read
There are so many things we loved about Iran that we could keep posting for a few more weeks. To make it a bit easier to digest for our friends and family, and to finally move on to another adventure, here is an Iran mega-post:
1. Rooftop sunsets and tea sessions
It will be my most vivid memory from Yazd. This dry desert city comes to life just before the sunset when the heat subsides. Shop owners pour water on the street to cool it down, muezzins call for prayer, girls clad in chadors rush to the mosques and tourists together with local students uninterested in spending hours listening to the mullahs take to the rooftops to catch the evening breeze while drinking rose tea. Magic!
2. Persian Gardens and pigeon houses
Persians were incredibly inventive when half the Europe was running around the forests chasing deer with bows and arrows. I’m not sure if this is technically correct, but it definitely felt this way as we learnt about Iranian inventions. Let’s start with the most impressive of Persian gardens we visited (okay, Oskar wasn't that impressed). The main feature in the Fin Garden in Kashan are its multiple circulating fountains and water canals, all of which were designed without the need for mechanical pumps. Similar principles were used to construct qanats, underground channels that made living in the desert possible. The adaptation to the arid climate of Iran yielded other inventions too. The ice houses, for example. Locals constructed huge dome-shaped buildings with thick walls and plenty of shade and, in the middle of winter, ‘harvested’ a thin layer of ice that formed in the shallow pools at their front. In the early morning, they cut it into even pieces and stored in the domes. The ice lasted throughout the summer. Yet another one were badghirs, or wind catchers - a natural form of air conditioning. Each wealthy house or water reservoir had few towers that would catch even the smallest breeze and direct it indoors. Or, finally, the pretty pigeon towers with thousands of little 'rooms' to house the birds and later collect their droppings to fertilise watermelon fields (yuck, but look how pretty they look without the birds!).
3. Lively squares and parks
If you want to get friendly with Iranians, squares and city parks are the places to be. Nothing more is needed than just looking foreign which, in my case, was not difficult given the constantly falling hijab and a camera hanging on the shoulder. Then, there are high chances someone will ask you where you are from, what you have seen in Iran, where you are going next and, most importantly, whether you like Iran. It happened to us on many occasions and, contrary to what Iranians told us, the city that won the laurel for being the friendliest was Isfahan. There, we met a lovely old guy who took selfies with us on his old Nokia, gave us sweets as a thank you and waved goodbye. We were also offered tea and biscuits in the park by the family sitting nearby. They looked at us curiously and with a touch of pity when we sat on the grass with nothing else but a bottle of water when everyone around us was feasting on kebabs and fruits. The boy who came with the tray didn’t know much English but occurred to be a local rapper with over 50 thousand followers - again, the magic of Iranian Instagram. At night, as we were heading home via the main square, we started chatting in German to three boys, all of them named Ali. One of them insisted we joined his family for a picnic and so we did, laughing, chatting about our wedding and snacking on cucumbers and pomegranates for over an hour. So, when in Iran, do as the locals would and get to the squares!
4. Traditional hotels
Yazd, Isfahan, and Kashan are most famous for hotels located in old merchants or aristocracy houses. The prettiest one we stayed at was in Isfahan and the most magnificent one was in Kashan. It was an old palace with four courtyards. Each of the courtyards had two enclaves where you could relax and hide with a book. One of the enclaves was facing north and was used in summer and second was facing south for use in winter. The interesting features did not stop there. There were guest and family squares, each effectively inaccessible to the other. There were also the hashti, small transitional spaces that oriented the visitor (and the building) towards and away from Mecca.
5. Rustic home stays
These were the nicest places we stayed at, with delicious food, free-flowing tea, and endless bowls of dates. My favourite was Nartitee near Yazd - a beautiful mud brick house run by a Zoroastrian couple. It had a flat roof you could watch the sunset from and a pomegranate garden filled with old tables and hammocks. There was also Khoone Geli in Gilan province. Set at the foot of the mountains and surrounded by mandarine and orange trees. Here we luckily had the whole house to ourselves and spent long evenings reading on the balcony. Khoone Geli also wins the competition for the most relaxing place to stay and best food in Iran.
6. Homemade Food
The food, OMG, THE FOOD - it must have been our biggest surprise. We came to Iran expecting just the famous kebabs in all shapes and forms but, as we learned, there is so much more to it. For the most delicious food, head to the homes of Iranians. There, you can have the fluffy rice with tadig (burnt rice made by steaming it over a thin layer of potato or bread), tender chicken cooked in green herbs and vegetables sauce, homemade cheeses and yoghurt, an omelette filled with greens (kuku sabzi), a paste made of burned eggplant with tomato and eggs (mirza ghassemi) or with whey (kashk-e bademjan), meatballs made with lentils, herbs, various nuts and pomegranate (koofteh), or dolmeh - a mixture of rice, spices, fresh pomegranate juice and sometimes meat wrapped in wine leaves. But the undeniable king of the dishes for me is fesenjan - a mouthwatering sauce made of ground walnuts and pomegranate served with lamb meatballs. It is both sweet and sour and feels like eating dessert for main course. If that's not enough, there is saffron in all the dishes because it is dirt cheap. A note to vegetarians: you can get by. It may not be the most exciting culinary trip of your life, but you won’t starve. A note to vegans: bring your own food, I guess? Special mention: in every major city you will find good coffee! Sometimes served straight out of a cool old truck.
7. Bazaars
I love them and Oskar… well, he has to visit them, because I love them. Similarly to squares and parks, they are a perfect location for people watching. Lanes are divided into sections - there are vegetable alleys, gold and jewellery lanes, carpet streets, clothes, shoes, ceramics, spices, the list goes on. Bazaars are not only for shopping. In fact, they mostly served as the meeting places and the unofficial focal point of the city - most of them have cafes and tea houses often in the place of the old caravanserais (a bit like a silk road pit stop for camels and a hotel for merchants) or bathhouses (which closed after the revolution). Some bazaars are crazy busy like the one in Kashan with everyone going somewhere trying to find a better deal. Some are rather mellow, like the one in Shiraz where most of the sellers were asleep or watching YouTube. The most magnificent one we visited was in Isfahan. It was bright, lively and felt like a maze.
8. Ancients villages
The prettiest one we visited was the pink hued (yes, this is the Millennial in me!) Abyaneh. It is built high in the mountains on the southern slopes to catch more sun in the cold winter days. In the streets, old women (all young people left long time ago) sell sheets made of cooked and dried fruit. In the valley below, you can get lost in apple and walnut orchards and meet and occasional donkey.
9. Arts, crafts and all the pretty things
On top of the 15 kg backpack and 4kg daypack, I’m now carrying roughly 7 kg of souvenirs. It is impossible to leave Iran empty-handed. Yes, there are carpets and rugs, but there is so much more! I absolutely fell in love with miniature camel bone and marble boxes painted with pigeon feather brushes. One can also fill the suitcase with various copper dishes, stamp painted tablecloths, stained glass adorned mirrors, handmade cotton scarfs, silverware, ceramics and many many more. The most incredible form of art we saw was in Gilan province. There we visited a home-based weaving workshop where the owner not older than me tried to revive this century-old tradition which almost died after the Islamic Revolution. She quit her steady and prestigious job as a lawyer and moved to the countryside. Her mother was over the moon with joy and her father thought her mad. That did not dissuade her - within a few years she started a weaving school and launched her own fashion label. However, her main dream was to replicate a traditional 2x2m silk woven piece made by her grandmother over 60 years ago. It took more than 6 months to complete - each of its symbol has a different meaning and all of it together tells a story about the life in her village. Incredible!
10. The people
None of the above would be possible without the Iranians. They made our trip ten times more memorable and fun thanks to their generosity, patience and countless smiles. Despite all the craziness going on around them, they remain joyful and hospitable. They persevere, living their lives to the fullest within the limits the regime and the international community have brought onto them. And they keep dreaming and hoping for the change.
And a 'shy' low 3 - what we are not going to miss?
1. Well… the hijab
The problem with the hijab is not that you simply need to follow the rules when on holidays in a foreign country to show respect to the locals. For me, it is more the fact that one is forced into doing or being something, rather than having the freedom of choice. Women are definitely more repressed than men in Iran, there is no discussion about this. They don’t have the right to keep the children after the divorce, they can be made to marry when they turn 13 years old, they need to be covered head to toes or risk a punishment. However, the religious regime hasn’t spared men either. If someone, despite the gender, is born a Muslim, they cannot change their faith and apostasy is often met with death penalty. We’ve heard stories of Muslim and Christian couples needing to flee the country to be together. So for me, the hijab is just a symbol of something bigger. I realised how much I undervalued the freedom I was born into when I experienced, in a tiny way, what it can be like when it is taken away from you.
2. The driving!
I was lucky that, when in a taxi, I was often sitting in the back not seeing the road in front. For starters, seatbelts are non-existent and drivers text friends constantly. Red light is a suggestion and pedestrians are invisible. The worst thing that can happen is a taxi driver who is really interested in you - he constantly turns around to show you pictures of his family, swerving at the last minute to avoid the car in the front. The music is pumping and he is showing you his latest dance moves. When you reach the destination, he takes a selfie with you (of course), exchange phone numbers, and then leaves the car to hug you goodbye, insisting you don’t pay (but you still must pay, this is just taarof). So in the end, I’m not so sure if I love it or hate it?
3. What environmental conservation?
One doesn’t come to Iran to get lost in nature since more than most of the country is dry or semi-dry desert. Still, it was heartbreaking to see the aftermath of the terrible mudslides that ravaged the north of the country due to heavy rainfall and uncontrolled deforestation. Our host told us that the washed bridges and destroyed roads won't be rebuilt for years due to the lack of resources and he was hoping this makes people think about what caused the disaster. I’m not so sure about it… Another example is the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah which survived only in Iran, but is struggling due to loss of habitat. I’m not an expert and I understand that after almost 10 years of war and almost 40 years of sanctions Iranians have more urgent things to worry about. I just hope that when the time comes it won’t be too late to for them to act.
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