Old Yazd is a maze of mud brick houses all interconnected by passages that once used to be the alleys of an extended bazaar. Nowadays most shops are deserted and motorbikes noisily ride through the passages avoiding the traffic outside. Yazd can be extremely hot in the summer months, but ancient architects had a solution ready: Badgirs, or wind catchers on the roofs. These little towers on top of a building have slits on all four sides to catch the wind, take it down into the house, while the hot air is sucked out through the same system. At affluent households the incoming air was further cooled by a small pool of water, also moisturizing the bone-dry air. Continue Reading →
Author Archive | Gilles & Heidi
Na’In – Bartering A Carpet For Our Canon EOS D7
The excellent Tourist Inn and two or three places of interest make this small town a perfect stop over for tour busses on the way to Yazd. We gave the place a closer look since an Austrian friend had raved about it.
With little time at our hands, we decided to contact a free lancing guide, who was recommended in the Lonely Planet. Within 30 minutes he showed up, stuffed us in his car (two German Backpackers joined us) and off we went to Masdje–e-Iman, with 1.300 year one of the oldest mosques in Iran. Particularly interesting was the underground praying room for the hot summer months, lit by three alabaster stones in the ceiling. Continue Reading →
Iran – Hospitality At The Highest Level
It’s the people! Our enthusiasm for Iran was fuelled by the incredible warm welcome we received EVERYWHERE we went. People went out of their way to help, get us a hotel room, a seat on a bus, a taxi when arriving late at night. Never did we feel overcharged, not even by taxi drivers, the notorious guild to rip off newly arrived tourists. Continue Reading →
Pigeon Towers
The outside of this terracotta colored circular tower would never give away their very purpose – ancient guano factories. The inside is intriguing, a dazzle of geometrical patterns, a maze of corridors, floors and levels that make you feel lost easily. But the birds feel comfortable and clean. Each one has its small cubicle and when sitting on the roosts, the droppings fall straight onto the floor. All this is still intact, but only a few odd pigeons reside here now. Nothing compared to the 4.000 pigeons that would live in each of those once 300 towers. Nowadays, only a couple of these guano producers are left. Continue Reading →
Esfahan’s Water Issue
The truly sad story about Esfahan is the dried up Zayandeh River. Its riverbed does not even show a small puddle, making beautiful old bridges like Se-O-Se Pool Bridge rest in a dire-looking flat terrain of gravel. Why is that? The precious liquid is diverted upriver, around the area of Yazd, watering pistachio farms and used for making tiles (the desert sand providing unlimited material to do so) in the many factories around Yazd. Of course the lack of rain has added to the problem. Continue Reading →
Can I Take A Picture With You?
Iranians love taking photos of themselves, their family, famous sights and above all of foreigners. This reminded of our travel through southwestern China where Gilles became the photographic object of desire of young Chinese women. In India Heidi was frequently asked to pose with large families. What a blessing to have such freedom in an Islamic country where it can be truly touchy to take pictures, especially of women. Continue Reading →
Muslims – Jews – Christians – Zoroastrians
Esfahan has them all. In the past Esfahan had the largest Jewish community of Iran. Today about 25.000 Jews still live in larger cities and have rejected generous financial offers by Israel to move to the Promised Land. Continue Reading →
Christian Julfa
The Place To Go Out In Esfahan
The Armenian Quarter, Julfa, is where we ended up staying in Esfahan, by sheer incident. All the hotels closer to the center were booked, only the Julfa Hotel had rooms. How lucky we were! This neighborhood has an almost Mediterranean flair: small alleys all lined with trees, cafés and chic restaurants. Throngs of young people stroll the sidewalks and the girls are super stylish, dress elegantly and are so very pretty. Trendy clothes shops that would never make you guess of where you are. Obviously Iranians dress – especially women – very differently in private. Continue Reading →
Esfahan – Love At First Sight
This was love at first sight! Islamic architecture of its finest and a refined urban flair. What left an equally everlasting imprint in our memory was the friendliness and openness we were received with in this town. Hardly anybody passed without giving us a smile, the braver ones whispered a shy “Hello”, “How are you?” or “Welcome to Esfahan”, while passing by. Quite a few stopped to ask how we liked Iran and their city. We also heard brave remarks like: we are not like our government. Continue Reading →
Tombs Territory
Pasargadae & Naqsh-e-Rostam
Pasargadae is where it all started – the large Achaemenid Empire with Cyrus (580 – 529 BC) as its first king. He founded Persia by uniting the two original Iranian Tribes – the Medes and the Persians. And it is his tomb we came to see. We had the place pretty much to ourselves: not many tourists find their way here, although it is not that far from Persepolis. Continue Reading →