Day 5: Isfahan

Absolutely amazing breakfast served in a gorgeous little corner of the house...

The weather is still warm but overcast... not so nice for picture taking. Oh well, as long as there's no rain. We're invited to climb up on the roof of the hotel/house to have a different view. I really fall in love with the place.

We leave for the bazaar, towards Imam Square again. In daylight, this time.

(Above: a picture on the way to the bazaar).

Even with the overcast sky, everything is still beautiful. I really like this Square.

We visit all the monuments around the Square.

Sheik Lotfollah mosque...

Then the Imam Mosque itself...

I'm still surprised at the little number of tourists. Of course there are more than in Kashan, but nothing striking... We have lunch again at the Shahrzad restaurant, this time to try the chicken & rice-made-with-butter-and-egg-creating-delicious-crust (I'm sure it has a billion calories).

After that, we walk around the river and visit the different bridges. There is the 33 arches bridge, quite famous...

But the prettiest bridge (and the furthest) is Pol-e-Khaju (Khaju bridge). Where several men come to talk to us (well, to Alain, and indirectly to me). There is this really nice old man too. Alain takes a great picture of him (link).

After the bridges and a disapointing ice cream cone, we head back towards the Square. On our way, we meet Zahra, a English language student with whom we exchange e-mail addresses. She's very kind (and we're still in touch!).

Later, around the miniaturist shop, a young man (Iman) stops us. He speaks perfect French and wants to guide us through our visit of the Square. At first we're a bit surprised, but then we go with him to Ali Qapu palace. He explains everything and politely leaves us after the visit. To be honest, I was wondering if all this kindness would have a fee or not. I'm a stupid foreigner. The guy was just being nice and showing around his city and training his French. How come we're so suprised when people are just being nice?

We get a little lost in the Bazaar until we reach the Friday (Jameh) mosque. Very old, and pretty. The place is almost empty, only 3 tourists and a few locals.

Two little girls in pink are having fun in the abblution fountain. We take pictures (after asking the mother). They have so much fun seeing themselves on the screen of Alain's digital camera!

We return at Dibai House, to have some rest before leaving for the airport. There's a cat (un chat! un shah?) in the hotel...

One strange vision on the way to the airport... On the highway, we pass a pick-up truck. In the back of the pick-up truck, I see a round black shape covered in black cloth. Oh, I think it's just some merchandise... then we get closer, and Alain & I both see that it's a women wrapped in her chador, fighting against the wind (it's a highway!). Then we see the inside of the cabin: it's filled with 3 men. I guess the woman had no choice than to go in the back, based on the rules... I'm a bit shocked. Why couldn't a guy go in the back? Were these men non-related to her? One must've been, or she wouldn't be travelling with them. This is the only time I saw such an event. So this is woman's position in society. Maybe. I only saw it once. In Europe, we're bombarded with these images. You'd think you'd see this at every street corner. Well you don't. Like the women militias driving around to check on the correctness of your outfit... never saw the shadow of one. Is it reverse propagandha to make us "afraid" of Iran? I don't know...

At the airport, hardly no signs in English, and no flight information in English. But we manage. We shop around for Coke light & "Gaz" (nougat with pistachio, you gotta love them). We understand that the flight has some delay, but no details. We'll wait, see what happens. After only 30 minutes delay, we board for a 35 minutes flight, with full comfort, bilingual announcements, a meal & drink (all this for 30 euros).

In Tehran's Mehrahbad airport, we book a taxi to return to our dear Firouzeh hotel. At the exit, some non-official taxi driver tries to convince us to go with him. That'll be the only real bother we'll have in Iran. Just this one time. But, taxi drivers, eh... same problem everywhere... After fighting to get rid of this taxi driver, we manage to find the "regular" taxi queue. I'm a bit disappointed that among all the people waiting in line nobody helped us get rid of the guy. I think in France, people would've gotten into the argument, after a while at least. (Just for the sake of getting into an argument, you know).

Anyway, after a little ride, we are back at our usual hotel. The room is not as nice as the previous one, but it'll do. The airconditionning is full blast and no way to tune it down. It stops around 2AM...