We found a room at the first hotel we tried so that was nice and easy. Then we went over to the bazaar area to find the tourist office to get a decent map and to book a trip. The guy there was insistent that the first thing we do was check out the reference to him in Lonely Planet - he was so proud of that. Then he gave us tea and chatted a bit. Then he told us that his daughter has a birthday coming up and he was closing soon to go and buy presents for her - and did we have anything "Made in UK" that we could give him for her............
I gave him a Chelsea keyring that I had brought for that sort of purpose - well, I have no other use for it.
Unfortunately, on closer inspection, it was made in China. Ain't that just the way it goes.....?
We had a long wander around the bazaar - an amazing place about 7 sq km - all vaulted brick domes with courtyards and alleyways. A huge central hall mainly selling carpets, and there are mosques, restaurants, teahouses etc in there. And the wonderful thing is that you can wander freely with zero hassle or pressure to enter shops, and if you do enter they are not pushy. So much more enjoyable than in similar places elsewhere.
Several people stopped us to talk - we've seen no other european tourists yet - most just want to say hello and welcome to Iran, but others are up for a longer chat.
That evening we went out to the main park - a little out of town. Apparently people from the city go out there to camp for the weekend because it's cooler. A large part of the park is a big lake which probably helps with that.
Mainly though it's groups of girls and groups of boys promenading and trying to get together as best they can - it's a lot more difficult for them here.
Next day we went to the main museum in Tabriz - not very large but showing some wonderful pieces from the region - some going back nearly 5000 years. They also have a copy of the huge carpet which is a prize piece at the V&A, but that wasn't on display because they have a special exhibition on.
In the afternoon we went out of town about 40 miles to a village called Kandovan - a remarkable place where the houses are dug out of huge standing rocks - hundreds of them. I'll try to post a photo next time.
With us in the car was a chinese lady who works for the Chinese government in Geneva - she has been travelling alone in Iran for over 3 weeks and seems to have managed OK, although she said she did find the headscarf difficult at first.
That evening - yesterday - we decided to take a taxi to a fish restaurant recommended in LP. I stopped one and said the name to the driver. He didn't understand so got out to look at my book. In no time a crowd of about 15-20 people gathered, all getting in on the act of sorting it out. Eventually someone turned up who spoke a bit of english and said the name in the right way to the driver so we got there.
Taxis are plentiful and very very inexpensive - 7-8 km for $3-4.
A bit of a wierd place - but a nice big fish tank in the middle. Between ordering and our food arriving we noticed a crab about 8 inches across walking past our table - presumably having escaped from wherever he had been held and now legging it back to the sea (probably didn't realise it's about a thousand miles away). We pointed him out to the owner and his wife who went away and came back with a dustpan and brush, but by now he had wedged himself between a table leg and the wall and refused to be dislodged. Eventually they gave up and we got our food and he quietly slipped away. Food was so-so but the entertainment was great.
Today we left Tabriz early and took a bus to Qazvin - 6 hour bus trip for $9 each. Again got lucky with the first hotel we tried. More about Qazvin next time...............
Women's clothing has been of interest - all must wear at least the hijab, the headscarf, but most wear either the chador, the head to foot cloak - generally black, or what I believe is called a "manteau" - a sort of frock-coat, quite close fitting and buttoned up to the neck. And those are worn with trousers. It's generally younger women who wear that and they are not always black - we have seem many beigy ones and even one red one today. There are though many, many young women - even some mid-teens - who wear the full chador. Sometimes, when a woman is adjusting the chador you get a glimpse of bright colour underneath - and shop window displays definitely indicate a taste for the garish for home display. And sometimes you se a hem of a sort of "gypsy" style skirt - I think those are women from more rural areas.
We saw one scene near the bazaar that we wished we could have taken a photo of - a group of half a dozen middle-aged women in full chador were clustered around a seller with a blanket on the ground with mounds of bras in various lurid colours (dayglo pinks and lime greens etc) and partly covered in heavy shiny embroidery (think Las Vegas period Elvis). The colour contrast was a treat but we felt it might not be acceptable to take a photo. Gave us a few minutes of great entertainment though. And now when we see a chador we wonder..........................
I gave him a Chelsea keyring that I had brought for that sort of purpose - well, I have no other use for it.
Unfortunately, on closer inspection, it was made in China. Ain't that just the way it goes.....?
We had a long wander around the bazaar - an amazing place about 7 sq km - all vaulted brick domes with courtyards and alleyways. A huge central hall mainly selling carpets, and there are mosques, restaurants, teahouses etc in there. And the wonderful thing is that you can wander freely with zero hassle or pressure to enter shops, and if you do enter they are not pushy. So much more enjoyable than in similar places elsewhere.
Several people stopped us to talk - we've seen no other european tourists yet - most just want to say hello and welcome to Iran, but others are up for a longer chat.
That evening we went out to the main park - a little out of town. Apparently people from the city go out there to camp for the weekend because it's cooler. A large part of the park is a big lake which probably helps with that.
Mainly though it's groups of girls and groups of boys promenading and trying to get together as best they can - it's a lot more difficult for them here.
Next day we went to the main museum in Tabriz - not very large but showing some wonderful pieces from the region - some going back nearly 5000 years. They also have a copy of the huge carpet which is a prize piece at the V&A, but that wasn't on display because they have a special exhibition on.
In the afternoon we went out of town about 40 miles to a village called Kandovan - a remarkable place where the houses are dug out of huge standing rocks - hundreds of them. I'll try to post a photo next time.
With us in the car was a chinese lady who works for the Chinese government in Geneva - she has been travelling alone in Iran for over 3 weeks and seems to have managed OK, although she said she did find the headscarf difficult at first.
That evening - yesterday - we decided to take a taxi to a fish restaurant recommended in LP. I stopped one and said the name to the driver. He didn't understand so got out to look at my book. In no time a crowd of about 15-20 people gathered, all getting in on the act of sorting it out. Eventually someone turned up who spoke a bit of english and said the name in the right way to the driver so we got there.
Taxis are plentiful and very very inexpensive - 7-8 km for $3-4.
A bit of a wierd place - but a nice big fish tank in the middle. Between ordering and our food arriving we noticed a crab about 8 inches across walking past our table - presumably having escaped from wherever he had been held and now legging it back to the sea (probably didn't realise it's about a thousand miles away). We pointed him out to the owner and his wife who went away and came back with a dustpan and brush, but by now he had wedged himself between a table leg and the wall and refused to be dislodged. Eventually they gave up and we got our food and he quietly slipped away. Food was so-so but the entertainment was great.
Today we left Tabriz early and took a bus to Qazvin - 6 hour bus trip for $9 each. Again got lucky with the first hotel we tried. More about Qazvin next time...............
Women's clothing has been of interest - all must wear at least the hijab, the headscarf, but most wear either the chador, the head to foot cloak - generally black, or what I believe is called a "manteau" - a sort of frock-coat, quite close fitting and buttoned up to the neck. And those are worn with trousers. It's generally younger women who wear that and they are not always black - we have seem many beigy ones and even one red one today. There are though many, many young women - even some mid-teens - who wear the full chador. Sometimes, when a woman is adjusting the chador you get a glimpse of bright colour underneath - and shop window displays definitely indicate a taste for the garish for home display. And sometimes you se a hem of a sort of "gypsy" style skirt - I think those are women from more rural areas.
We saw one scene near the bazaar that we wished we could have taken a photo of - a group of half a dozen middle-aged women in full chador were clustered around a seller with a blanket on the ground with mounds of bras in various lurid colours (dayglo pinks and lime greens etc) and partly covered in heavy shiny embroidery (think Las Vegas period Elvis). The colour contrast was a treat but we felt it might not be acceptable to take a photo. Gave us a few minutes of great entertainment though. And now when we see a chador we wonder..........................
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| And this is the sort of thing on sale in the bazaar - so, colourful in private |
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| And we thought that this was quite memorable......... |
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