Archive | Iran

Pigeon tower, Esfahan

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 →

Allahverdi Khan Bridge, also known Se-o-Se Pol, Esfahan, during the day, with the dried Zayandeh River, Esfahan, Iran

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 →

At the Jewish Cemetery in Pir-e-Bakran, south of Esfahan, Iran

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 →

The Shah Mosque or Imam mosque (after the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran) or Jameh Abbasi Mosque – Maydan-e Imam, or Maydan-e Shah or Maydan-e Naqsh-e Jahan, or Imam Square in Esfahan -, Esfahan, Iran

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 →