Hello! Welcome to Iran. First stop, Tehran. Traffic setting, catastrophic. There are so many cars on the road here that scooter McGavins have to take to the footpath. As a pedestrian you need to constantly be on guard for action and our hotel seemed to be right in the middle of it!
Our first day consisted of catching up on sleep, eating at a cafe, going to the Artist's Park and walking around looking lost. We had so many people come up to us to make sure we were OK and not lost! We even had some cutie uni student help us on the train. They giggled a lot and were really excited to be talking to us.
Walking down another street that was completely dedicated to shoe shops, we were looking lost trying to find a café. That's when we met Mahdi. He asked if he could buy us a coffee and, taking Lonely Planet's advice, we said yes! Afterward Mahdi offered to take us around Tehran the following day. We met up with him in the morning and he took us to the old palace which had rooms that were covered in mirror mosaics and wax figures of old Shahs dressed in their royal finery. The rooms were beautifuly decorated and really gave you an idea of how impressive it was.
After a few hours at the palace we had worked up quite a hunger. Mahdi took us to a local joint near the bazaar for a traditional feast of kebabs, rice, yoghurt and bread. Full to the brim we waddled on over to a tea house to enjoy strong cups of tea and puff on a qalyan (shisha) with flavoured tobacco. Exhausted from our big day, it was time for a rest. Tomorrow we would be heading to Kashan and guess who offered to drive us? Yep, Mahdi and his family!
They met us early at our hotel the next morning and we were introduced to his beautiful wife and adorable six year old son who was hilarious! Before we knew it we were flooring it down the highway being served up pistachios, piping hot tea and cranking Eminem's 'just don't give a f***' They had no idea what it meant and danced along merrily!
We got to Kashan in record time and made our way to a historical house. Kashan was filled with historical houses that were restored and open to the public. These houses were beautiful: they had beautiful window frames and some stained glass; water features in charming courtyards; huge kitchens with fire pits, wells and even a type of tandoori; there were underground rooms designed to keep fruit and veg and were used during summer when the other rooms were too hot. One of the best things we saw was on old wind catcher in a historical house turned 5 star hotel (it was amazingly beautiful and amazingly expensive). They would build these big towers from their houses that had four sides and large holes in them. These were designed to catch any breeze and channel it down to the house below. One of them in the 5 star house was designed so the breeze blew over the water feature first and cooled it down. Genius!
Iran has a bunch of Persian gardens that have been heritage listed by UNESCO and one of them was in Kashan. It was beautiful with a giant water feature that spread across the whole garden and was filled by a giant hole in the centre pools. There were even little fish swimming about. It was a hot day so we took our shoes off and dunked our feet in! Risqué!!
Lunch was spent at another kebab place set in a beautiful garden with lots of cats. It was lovely sitting in the shade of trees eating and drinking tea. Before we knew it the day was over! Mahdi and his family needed to drive back to Tehran so we said our goodbyes and bought some bubbles for his adorable son and waved them off! Mat and Mahdi had found a place for us to stay. It was an old house with a lush courtyard, vegetarian food and plenty of tea! Ahhhhh time to relax!
Our first day consisted of catching up on sleep, eating at a cafe, going to the Artist's Park and walking around looking lost. We had so many people come up to us to make sure we were OK and not lost! We even had some cutie uni student help us on the train. They giggled a lot and were really excited to be talking to us.
Walking down another street that was completely dedicated to shoe shops, we were looking lost trying to find a café. That's when we met Mahdi. He asked if he could buy us a coffee and, taking Lonely Planet's advice, we said yes! Afterward Mahdi offered to take us around Tehran the following day. We met up with him in the morning and he took us to the old palace which had rooms that were covered in mirror mosaics and wax figures of old Shahs dressed in their royal finery. The rooms were beautifuly decorated and really gave you an idea of how impressive it was.
After a few hours at the palace we had worked up quite a hunger. Mahdi took us to a local joint near the bazaar for a traditional feast of kebabs, rice, yoghurt and bread. Full to the brim we waddled on over to a tea house to enjoy strong cups of tea and puff on a qalyan (shisha) with flavoured tobacco. Exhausted from our big day, it was time for a rest. Tomorrow we would be heading to Kashan and guess who offered to drive us? Yep, Mahdi and his family!
They met us early at our hotel the next morning and we were introduced to his beautiful wife and adorable six year old son who was hilarious! Before we knew it we were flooring it down the highway being served up pistachios, piping hot tea and cranking Eminem's 'just don't give a f***' They had no idea what it meant and danced along merrily!
We got to Kashan in record time and made our way to a historical house. Kashan was filled with historical houses that were restored and open to the public. These houses were beautiful: they had beautiful window frames and some stained glass; water features in charming courtyards; huge kitchens with fire pits, wells and even a type of tandoori; there were underground rooms designed to keep fruit and veg and were used during summer when the other rooms were too hot. One of the best things we saw was on old wind catcher in a historical house turned 5 star hotel (it was amazingly beautiful and amazingly expensive). They would build these big towers from their houses that had four sides and large holes in them. These were designed to catch any breeze and channel it down to the house below. One of them in the 5 star house was designed so the breeze blew over the water feature first and cooled it down. Genius!
Iran has a bunch of Persian gardens that have been heritage listed by UNESCO and one of them was in Kashan. It was beautiful with a giant water feature that spread across the whole garden and was filled by a giant hole in the centre pools. There were even little fish swimming about. It was a hot day so we took our shoes off and dunked our feet in! Risqué!!
Lunch was spent at another kebab place set in a beautiful garden with lots of cats. It was lovely sitting in the shade of trees eating and drinking tea. Before we knew it the day was over! Mahdi and his family needed to drive back to Tehran so we said our goodbyes and bought some bubbles for his adorable son and waved them off! Mat and Mahdi had found a place for us to stay. It was an old house with a lush courtyard, vegetarian food and plenty of tea! Ahhhhh time to relax!
Our next day in Kashan was spent walking through the old streets and admiring the architecture and design of the town. we visited mosques and historic houses and then retired to our room to escape the heat. It was difficult for me wearing a head scarf. I'm so used to wearing shorts, singlets and things in summer but here I was in jeans, long shirt, shoes and scarf. Sure, I still looked FABulous but I was like a wilting flower. A really, really beautiful one. I soldiered on! Eating dinner was the hardest with it heating up me ears and hanging near my face but again I soldiered on and ate everything in my path. Pretty much.
The buses here are great. On time, cheap and comfy! One of our buses had reclining seats ahhhh yeah! our next destination was Esphahan the beautiful city with the beautiful stuff to see. We spent a few days here exploring the picturesque square with splishy splashy fountain and surrounded by the tempting bazaar. We spent my 29th birthday here not drinking beer (it felt weird!) but exploring cute cafés, mosques, old bridges and skyping other birthday princesses. One of the main mosques off the bazaar has a giant dome that, when you stand in the centre, amplifies your voice. We were lucky to witness an Iranian tourist singing a traditional song. His voice and the beauty of the blue tiled surroundings gave me goosebumps.
The buses here are great. On time, cheap and comfy! One of our buses had reclining seats ahhhh yeah! our next destination was Esphahan the beautiful city with the beautiful stuff to see. We spent a few days here exploring the picturesque square with splishy splashy fountain and surrounded by the tempting bazaar. We spent my 29th birthday here not drinking beer (it felt weird!) but exploring cute cafés, mosques, old bridges and skyping other birthday princesses. One of the main mosques off the bazaar has a giant dome that, when you stand in the centre, amplifies your voice. We were lucky to witness an Iranian tourist singing a traditional song. His voice and the beauty of the blue tiled surroundings gave me goosebumps.
Next stop along the tourist trail was Yazd, a desert city with more historic houses, charming streets and oasis like home stays. It is SO hard doing what we're doing! I hope you're all appreciating our efforts! Again, Frosty came up with the goods and scored us a room in a 400 year old house with another beautifully cooling courtyard. The perfect spot to drink plenty of strong chain. We ate dinner in yet another historic home stay around the corner with an even bigger and bushier courtyard. On a side note, if you need a new rice recipe, google an Iranian one. The way they do their rice is so delicious! Time consuming but worth it.
Yazd was like walking through a Star Wars set. Its winding streets lined with the tall, sand coloured walls of houses were magical to explore. We even found one cafe with a rooftop we could climb to watch the sun set surrounded by wind catchers and mosques. We like Yazd. We like it a lot. Bloody hot but amazing.
Yazd was like walking through a Star Wars set. Its winding streets lined with the tall, sand coloured walls of houses were magical to explore. We even found one cafe with a rooftop we could climb to watch the sun set surrounded by wind catchers and mosques. We like Yazd. We like it a lot. Bloody hot but amazing.
No fancy bus for us to Shiraz. Just hanging with the locals for the six hour ride playing it cool and taking in the desert landscape. Amazingly we found yet another historic house in tof the city! It truly was an oasis! One of the lovely old fellas even looked a bit like Pa with his pristine white hair, big ears and bristling moustache. No rude jokes frhim though. Shiraz was home to even more Mosques (shocking I know) one of them I had been looking forward to the whole trip. It had beautifully stained glass windows through which the morning sun shone and filled the room with rainbow colour. We got there early but so did the absolutely massive young chinese tour group. My grand plans of amazing shots went out the window as the sprawled all over the place posing prettily and taking photos with their ginormous lensed cameras. A bit disappointing but they did look like they were enjoying themselves so we made do and tried our best. Shiraz is the city of poetry and has the tomb of one of Persia's most famous and loved poets, Hafez. his tomb is set among a beautiful garden and locals and tourists alike flock there to pay their respects to their hero. It was pretty cool knowing that the locals there didn't just know of him but knew his work and could recite their favourite poems. Beautiful! Every house has one of his books and they like to open to a random page and read that poem which can give them guidance in their day to day lives.
One of the best things in all of Iran for me was Persepolis. I had studied ancient Persia and Persepolis in high school and loved it. I would pretty much be Frosty's tour guide and a damn good one at that because I never forget anything. What was I saying again?
We go in and it's just as I imagined, crap! No, it was awesome! I recognised so many of the ruins but hardly any facts except a few points here and there I can share with Frosty and Daniel our buddy who shared a taxi with us. I'm pretty sure he was impressed with my vast knowledge. He didn't say anything but I could just tell. We also were able to visit Naqsh-e Rustam where Darius the Great is buried along with some other rulers. it was a very impressive day and I'm really glad we went. Some places are so touristy for a reason and as much as touristy spots can get annoying, this was amazing. We were pretty lucky it wasn't peak season too.
Our last part of the journey had us experiencing an overnight train on the new line from Shiraz to Tehran. So cheap and pretty luxurious. We even got a doonah and a real pillow!
Back in Tehran it was time to visit a place that served up an Iranian specialty. We had seen it on Shane Delia's cooking show and I had been thinking about it the whole trip. Dizi was a dish that was thought of as a peasant dish but was now becoming popular again. You were given a clay dish filled with lamb, fat, beans, lentils, onion and stock that had been cooking for hours. First you pour off the soup and a piece of fat and mush together. Then you tear up flat bread in to tiny pieces and add to the soup. Your first course is served! Next you smash the ingredients left in the clay pot until its one big delicious mess and eat it with bread and salad and plenty of pickled chilli. Ohhhhh baby! Get in my belly!! Sounds wild but it was the best meal I had in Iran and the perfect way to end our time there.
And that, my friends, is Iran! Next stop Eastern Europe! But you already knew that
One of the best things in all of Iran for me was Persepolis. I had studied ancient Persia and Persepolis in high school and loved it. I would pretty much be Frosty's tour guide and a damn good one at that because I never forget anything. What was I saying again?
We go in and it's just as I imagined, crap! No, it was awesome! I recognised so many of the ruins but hardly any facts except a few points here and there I can share with Frosty and Daniel our buddy who shared a taxi with us. I'm pretty sure he was impressed with my vast knowledge. He didn't say anything but I could just tell. We also were able to visit Naqsh-e Rustam where Darius the Great is buried along with some other rulers. it was a very impressive day and I'm really glad we went. Some places are so touristy for a reason and as much as touristy spots can get annoying, this was amazing. We were pretty lucky it wasn't peak season too.
Our last part of the journey had us experiencing an overnight train on the new line from Shiraz to Tehran. So cheap and pretty luxurious. We even got a doonah and a real pillow!
Back in Tehran it was time to visit a place that served up an Iranian specialty. We had seen it on Shane Delia's cooking show and I had been thinking about it the whole trip. Dizi was a dish that was thought of as a peasant dish but was now becoming popular again. You were given a clay dish filled with lamb, fat, beans, lentils, onion and stock that had been cooking for hours. First you pour off the soup and a piece of fat and mush together. Then you tear up flat bread in to tiny pieces and add to the soup. Your first course is served! Next you smash the ingredients left in the clay pot until its one big delicious mess and eat it with bread and salad and plenty of pickled chilli. Ohhhhh baby! Get in my belly!! Sounds wild but it was the best meal I had in Iran and the perfect way to end our time there.
And that, my friends, is Iran! Next stop Eastern Europe! But you already knew that