Interesting places, friendly people, to Iran in 2018 (Part 1 of 2)

 Interesting places, friendly people, to Iran in 2018

(Part 1 of 2)

(Travel Story Series @ Hon Too Fang 2021)

In April 2018 we joined 10 others on a self-planned tour to Iran, a dangerous place to many. But in reality Iran is a peaceful place and the Iranians the most hospitable hosts. 

A 1 - Introducing Iran

The Islamic Republic of Iran is a big country in the Middle East, 5 times the size of Malaysia. She has many immediate neighbours with surname “Tan”: Pakis Tan, Afghanis Tan and Turkmenis Tan, all to the east. The population is 81 million, estimated to be made up of 61% Persians, 16% Azerbaijanis, 10% Kurds.

The economy is a mixture of state ownership of oil and other large enterprise, village agriculture, and small scale private trading and service ventures. The service sector is the leading contributor of GDP. In 2014, the per capita (ppp) GDP was US$ 17,100 (Malaysia: 27,300). From 2014 data, about 5 million foreign tourists visited Iran, only 10% of these from Europe and North America. Economy is slow as it comes under US-led financial sanction for many years. 

The official religion is Shia Islam. There is no official census based on ethnicity and religion. The estimate is Shia Muslim 90-95%, Sunni Muslim 4-8%, and 2% non-Muslims.  The official language is Persian. Shown a car number plate in the Persian language. Every number looks like the symbol of a tool, may be the car needs some fixing!

A 2 - Brief history

Iran, or Persia, is recognised by UNESCO as a cradle of human civilisation. From the 10th to 7th century BC, Persia was ruled by the Assyrian Empire based in Mesopotamia, present day Iraq. In 550 BC, Cyrus the Great founded the local Achaemenid Empire. At its peak around 480 BC, the empire controlled most of the Middle East, West Asia, Eastern Europe, part of Egypt and Macedonia. The empire was conquered by Alexander the Great in 334 BC, with the emergence of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, followed by other local dynasties.

In 633 Muslim Arabs conquered Persia and established several caliphates. Local Muslim dynasties emerged since the 9th century, the last being the Pahlavi Dynasty ended by the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Shown a relief at the ruins in Persepolis, dating to around 500 BC, showing a row of foreign messengers paying tributes to the king of the Achaemenid Empire, each carrying a different kind of gift.

A 3 - Shia Islam and the Islam Republic

Islam has 2 main sects: Shia and Sunni. Shia accounts for 10 - 15% of Muslims in the World. And Iran is the world leader in Shia Islam. After the death of Prophet Mohammad in 632 there was a power struggle on the successor to lead the Muslim community. One sect was led by the Prophet's father-in-law and they became the Sunni. The other sect was led by the Prophet's son-in-law and they became the Shia. These 2 sects have been fighting each other ever since. All because of in-laws, always the trouble-makers! The sects don't differ much in theology though. 

The Islamic Republic of Iran was formed on April 1, 1979 shortly after the last emperor, the Shah of Iran, was ousted by the revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini. 

Being an Islamic republic means the elected government rule in accordance to Islamic principles. The political system is rather complicated. They have an elected President, an elected Lower House and an elected Upper House. The Upper House elects a Supreme Leader who is the head of state, head of the military and the police and enjoys veto power on many issues, even legislation passed by the Houses. The first Supreme Leader was the late Khomeini. The current and second Supreme Leader is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, since 1989. The pictures of these two Supreme Leaders could be seen everywhere, especially on the walls of mosques.

A 4 - Tourism and our tour

Iran has 22 UNESCO World Heritage sites. Amazing number. But the tourism industry is not booming mainly because the Americans label her an evil woman. There are not many tourists from the US and Europe, only 10% from the data for 2014. 

We are a self-planned group, initiated by PW who found a tour agency in Iran, modified the suggested itinerary, negotiated the price and paid deposits. We booked our flights and off we flew to Iran. There were 4 couples and 4 singles in our group, equal numbers in gentlemen and ladies. We know most of the others in our groups from previous tours. 

We flew from KL to Tehran on the Iranian airline, Mahan Air. Shown a shot of the departure schedule at the Tehran Airport. With 3 flights within an hour, look like flights in and out of China dominate the Iranian sky. 

Our tour started in Tehran, went west to Hamedan and Kermanshah, near the Iraqi border. Then south to Isfahan, Yazd, Persepolis and finally Shiraz. Took a local flight back to Tehran and later home. A total of 14 days as visa is not required if we stay not more than 14 days. The 12 of us travelled in a 30-seat bus, each comfortably occupying a row of 2 seats. A very good investment by paying a little bit more to upgrade to a bigger bus from the original 18-seater.

B 1 - Persian architecture (1) glass-mirrors

The Venetian glass-makers started producing small glass-mirrors in the 15th century. By the early 16th century they have perfected the coating technique with a mixture of tin and mercury. Shah Abbas I (1571-1629) introduced the use of these glass-mirrors in his palaces, particularly on the ceiling to reflect light. Since then it has been widely used in all kinds of buildings in Iran, in particular the great Shia shrines. Shows details of these glass-mirror pieces. 

(Note in 2021: this purple-heading B series is on general matters related to Iran, like Persian architecture, religion, etc, things not related to any specific place. It will run parallel with the brown-heading C series on specific tourist sights.)

C 1 - Tehran

We started our tour in Tehran, the capital city with some 8.7 million people living in the inner city. Traffic jam everywhere as petrol cost about RM 1.30 a litre for private cars, even cheaper for public buses.

C 2 – Tehran - Golestan Palace

Golestan Palace is the former royal palace complex mostly developed from 1750-1779 when the Qajar Dynasty elected Tehran as the new capital of the land. The palace was rebuilt to its current form in the 1865s. They are the oldest historical monuments in Tehran. The main buildings are two storey high, made up of many function halls. The exterior are mostly decorated with mosaic with floral patterns.

Hall of Brilliance/Reception Hall

The more famous halls include the Hall of Brilliance, Talar-e Berelian, where glass-mirrors are extensively used, 1st 2 photos. The next 2 show the main Reception Hall, Talar-e Salam.

Karim Khani Nook

One famous cozy corner in the palace is Karim Khani Nook, a small terrace with a small fountain for the king to relax.

Container Hall

Exhibits in the Container Hall, Talar-e Zoroof, where gifts of chinaware to the Qajar kings from the Europeans are kept. 

Edifice of the Sun

Another prominent building is the Edifice of the Sun, Shams-ol-Emareh, with 2 towers. This building is a fusion of Persian and European architecture, rather rare at that time.

And lastly, young Iranian visitors to the palace. The older Iranian visitors were very eager to take photos with the Malaysian counter-parts.

C 3 – Tehran - Tajrish

We spent a late afternoon and early evening at the northern suburb of Tajrish, close to the snow-capped northern hills and a cooler place because of the higher altitude.

Imamzadah Saleh Shrine

There is a famous Shia shrine here, the Imamzadah Saleh Shrine. The term "imamzadah" means a descendant of an imam. An imamzadah shrine is the tomb of a descendant of an imam, but not the imams themselves. This shrine at Tajrish houses the remains of Saleh, a son of one of the 12 Shia Imams, Musa Al-Kadhim. Some other prominent people were also buried here, the graves shown in the 3rd photo. This shrine do include a mosque though not all shrines do. The last photo shows the ceiling of the main gate structure, called iwan. Very beautiful and colourful architecture.

Tairish Bazzar

The Tajrish Bazaar is noted for the signboards of the stalls made with beautiful ceramic and fixed above the stalls. The 2nd photo shows the saffron, the popular but expensive spice in Iranian cuisine. Saffron is derived from the flower of the Crocus Sativus. It is very expensive, easily RM 20 a gram as sold online in Malaysia, much more expensive than musang king, the king durian, for sure.

Darband

Near to Tajrish is a place called Darband which is the starting place of a hiking trail to the mountains. There are many restaurants here. We had dinner in one of them, kebabs of course. See the variety of desserts, simply killing!

C 4 – Tehran – Grand Plaza / Mashq Square

First 2 photos taken at the Grand Plaza and the others at Mashq Square, a former garrison recently converted into a government complex, housing the National Library and Museum, combining old and new architecture. 2 photos showing the main gate and 2 the façade of the new museum building.

C 5 - Hamedan

Next stop: Hamedan, 360 km south-west of Tehran. A city with half a million people. Shown a building at the rest area of a highway stop and a street decoration in the city.

The notable tourist attraction here is the ancient inscription on a hillside at Ganj Nameh. The inscriptions were carved in granite in two sections, ordered by two kings, Darius the Great and Xerxes the Great. About 2,500 years old. The inscriptions are in 3 ancient languages, Old Persian, Babylonian and Elamite. Boasting the deeds of the kings of course. On site is a tablet giving the English translation.

The inscription is located at the Abbas Abad Valley. Next to the inscription is a public park where the Iranians could have their picnic.

C 6 – Kermanshah – the villages

Another 190 km south-west of Hamedan is Kermanshah, a city with some 850,000 people. The province itself is the wettest place in Iran and one of the key agricultural cores of Iran. There are many Kurdish people in this region. Shown a shoe shop in the city with colourful merchandise. We changed to a smaller bus to go to the hills, shown enjoying juicy watermelon along the way, and a park in the town of Kavansas, with a Kurdish elder.

We stopped at a few villages. Not really anything special to see. Shown scenes at the village of Hajij.

C 7 – Kermanshah – Tekyeh Moaven al-Molk

A tekyeh is a purpose-built public mourning house for Shia Muslims. This one is relatively new, completed around 1903. This place is well known for its exclusive tiling.

The tiling narrates a lot of stories about the history of politics and religions in Iran. Tiles come in a variety of forms and designs, portraying many stories, on the prophets, the kings, heroes, even legendary and mythical characters, etc. The tiling was carried out from 1941 to 1958. Very impressive indeed. 

In general the portraying of images of human or even other living beings is prohibited or discouraged in Islam. The term is “aniconism”. However it is more relaxed in Shia teachings. Nevertheless so many human images are presented in the tiling is really surprising, more so when many images of women are presented. A local woman visitor told me this is the only place in the country where women are so “generously” portrayed.

C 8 – Kermanshah – Bisotun Inscription

The main tourist attraction in this area is the Bisotun Inscription, a rock relief on a cliff dating to around 500 BC. A UNESCO World Heritage Site. The relief is about 15 m high by 25 m wide, and located about 100 m up the limestone cliff. The author is Darius the Great, talking about his conquests and battles, also in 3 old languages as the Ganj Named Inscription we visited earlier in Hamedan. 

The inscription is illustrated by a life-sized bas-relief of the king, with a foot on the chest of his enemy, accompanied by his servants and attended to by the conquered people, portrayed in dwarf-size. 

The 1st photo shows the steep Mount Bisotun, the inscription appears as a dark patch on the left about a third in height from the road. The inscription is under some kind of restoration at the time of our visit and we could not go near. The 2nd photo shows a local family in front of the inscription shielded by scaffolding. The 3rd photo shows what the inscription and bas-relief would look like, the photo is a shot from a poster. The Bisotun complex has near to 20 historical monuments. The others are much smaller. The last photo shows a smaller bas-relief and inscription related to another king carved around 100 BC.

The historical site is maintained like a recreational park.

Many locals come here to picnic.

C 9 – Kermanshah –  Shah Abbasi Caravanserai

Near to the inscription is the old Shah Abbasi Caravanserai dating back to the 17th century on the Iran-Iraq trade route. It has been renovated to become the 5-star Laleh Bisotun Hotel where we stayed for 2 nights. Shown the intact watch tower of the caravanserai and the beautifully decorated reception area of the hotel.

C 10 – Kermanshah – Tag-e Bostan

Taq-e Bostan, meaning "arch made by stone", is a site with a series of large rock reliefs carved around 4th century AD located near the city centre of Kermanshah. It comprises a rock relief standing on its own and several more reliefs at 2 rock cut arches. They illustrate the investiture ceremonies of several kings. 

First on the 2 rock-cut arches. The 2nd photo shows the relief in the smaller cave: kings Sapur II and Sapur III. The 3rd photo shows the 2-level reliefs in the older and bigger cave: the upper level shows the crowning ceremony of Ardashir II. The 4th photo shows a winged female angel at the outer façade, a typical Roman feature now integrated into the Persian architecture.

Over to the right side there is an independent relief and inscription, 7.4 m by 4.8 m, dating to about 100 BC. It shows King Mithradates II being crowned. And more beautiful local Persian tourists.

C 11 – Khorramabad

From Kermanshah we travelled another 320 km in the south-east direction to reach Khorramabad, a town of some 330,000 people. The main attraction here is a castle, the Falak-ol-Aflak Castle built between the 3rd to 6th centuries, claimed to be the largest castle in Iran. As we have limited time we did not go inside but instead chose to roam around the town. Shown the external view. Quite impressive.

Instead we walked around their town. The 1st photo shows a memorial service on the anniversary of the martyrdom of an early imam. Burning of incense, not unlike the Chinese do. And the beautiful minarets of the neighbourhood mosque. At the bazaar handsome cocks were on sale and Mercedes Benz too, come as 3-in-a-pack.

Mithra Park

We also took a rest at the Mithra Park with about a dozen sculptures, mostly on mythical animals, two of them shown.

B 2 - Persian architecture (2) -  4-iwan system

An iwan is a rectangular hall or space, usually vaulted, walled on 3 sides (or with doors) and entirely open on the 4th side. It is a pre-Islam Persian feature but has been well adopted in Islamic architecture. Starting from the 11th century, the 4-iwan design emerged. Where a big building has a central courtyard, it will be designed to have 4 entrances and hence 4 iwans. Shown below the courtyard and 2 of the 4 iwans in 2 buildings: the Shah Abbasi Caravanserai in Kermanshah and the Shah Mosque in Isfahan.

B 3 - Persian architecture (3) - mocarabe (stalactite overhang)

The mocarabe is an ornamental ceiling design consisting of a complex array of vertical prisms resembling stalactites. It is a common Persian Islamic feature since the 12th century. Shown details of such stalactite work at the Chehel Sotoun Palace in Isfahan, the Grand Bazaar in Shiraz, the Imanzadah Saleh Shrine in Tehran and close details of the system at the Pink Mosque at Shiraz.

C 12 – Isfahan

Next stop: Isfahan, a city with 2 million people. It is about 390 km south east of Khorramabad. Shown the beautiful scenery at a highway stop and our driver filling free self-service hot water.

C 13 – Isfahan - Naqsh-e Jahan Square

Isfahan was an old capital of Persia, in the 11th and 12th centuries, and again in the 16th to the 18th centuries. In the early 16th century, Shah Abbas I built a giant square at the city centre, and named it the Naqsh-e Jahan Square, meaning "Square of the Image of the World". About 560 m by 160 m, it combined the activities of worship, commemoration, sovereign administration and trade at one place. This is The Tourist Spot in Isfahan and an UNESCO World Heritage site. The square is bordered by 2-storied arcades which serve as the Grand Bazaar, with a palace and 2 mosques. 

The 1st photo shows the vastness of the square. In the 2nd photo, the tall building on the right is the Ali Qapu Palace and the Shah Mosque is on the left. The 3rd photo shows the shops in the Bazaar and the dome of the Jamal Mosque. Horse-cart is a popular ride for tourists at the square. Happened to watch a cycling activity.

Ali Qapu Palace
Shown the exterior of the Ali Qapu Palace, built by Shah Abbas I. The 48-m tall building has 6 floors. We did not go inside.

Grand Bazaar

The Grand Bazaar is huge in terms of the number of shops. With beautiful structures too. Shown typical merchandise for tourists and some young visitors. 

Azadagan Tea House
We had tea at this niche Azadagan Tea House in the bazaar, where the ceilings and walls were fully decorated with old stuff like photos, match boxes, cigarette boxes, rifles, and especially lamps. Very very special.

With such a unique setting, these 3 couldn’t resist taking a selfie: with Cath and Connie.

Shah Mosque
The Shah Mosque is the royal mosque constructed in the early 17th century. It is a 4-iwan design where the courtyard is 70 m by 70 m. The main entrance takes the form of a semicircle, resembling a recessed half-moon and 27 m in height, the arch framed by turquoise ornament and decorated with rich stalactite tile-work.

The interior is equally beautiful. The splendour of the mosque is mainly due to the beauty of its seven-colour mosaic tiles. It is estimated about half a million pieces of tiles were used. The huge main dome was under renovation and not accessible. Not photographed too.

C 14 – Isfahan - Chehel Sotoun Palace

Chehel Sotoun Palace is a pavilion built by Shah Abbas II for entertainment and reception, a partial palace. It is surrounded by a huge garden, one of the 9 Persian Gardens in Iran collectively listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Shown 2 shots of the garden. There are many busts of Persian literary greats in the garden, like that of Miremad Hassani with his Persian turban, a calligraphist living in the 16th century.

The entrance of the pavilion has 20 cedar columns. With another 20 reflected from the pool, it has 40. That is why the palace is nicknamed the "Forty Columns". The palace is famous for the many frescoes and paintings on ceramic tiles on the walls and ceilings, depicting specific historical events. For example the 3rd and 4th photos depict the reception of the Mughal Emperor Humayun in 1544 and the Battle of Chaldiran against the Turks in 1514.

C 15 – Isfahan - Vank Cathedral

The Persians were at war with the Ottoman Turks in 1601-03. The king ordered the full evacuation of several cities at the frontier. The Armenians in those cities were settled in this new district of Jolfa in Isfahan. The Armenians were Christians and they started to build their churches and monasteries. We visited their main cathedral called the Vank Cathedral, first built around the 1650s. The cathedral consists of a domed sanctuary, much like an Iranian mosque. The cathedral's exterior is exceptionally plain compared to its elaborately decorated interior which is covered with frescoes and gilded carvings and paintings.

The Vank Cathedral is affiliated to the Armenian Apostolic Church, the main denomination of the Armenian Christians. It is also known as the Armenian Orthodox Church.

At a corner of the courtyard there is a raised area with a memorial to the 1915 Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Turks. The number 103 means the 103rd anniversary. With a group of young visitors.

There is also a museum here showcasing the history of the Armenian Church and the community. Shown 2 exhibits, one a handwritten book of the Bible dated to 1662.

C 16 – Isfahan - Pigeon towers

For centuries Isfahan’s farmers relied on pigeon dropping to fertilise the city’s fields. The dropping is rich in nitrogen. To gather the dropping, special tower homes were built for the pigeons. The biggest could be 20 m in diameter and 20 m high, and could house up to 14,000 pigeons. The interior consists of endless nesting balconies in checkerboard honeycomb pattern scattered uniformly along the walls. The birds are not captured and trained to occupy the towers, rather, they are instinctively attracted to them because they resemble their natural habitat of rocky ledges and crevices. During the early part of the last century the towers numbered in the thousands. Now farmers use artificial fertilisers instead of bird droppings. Unused and unattended pigeon towers started to collapse. Now only several hundreds could be found. 

We visited one near the city in Isfahan, built in the 17th century. It consists of 8 small cylinders inside a large outer cylinder. Look out for the woman on the ground in the 1st photo to realise the size of the tower.

Happy ladies at the flat roof of the tower. Not sure why they are so happy. The dome-like structure provides the entrance/exist point to the tower for the birds. Many domes. But it could still be a traffic jam for the 14,000 birds if they decide to go out foraging at the same time. To prevent snakes going up the wall to catch the pigeons, there is a band of special smooth plaster on the outer wall that the snakes could not hold on to the surface and would fall. The zone is shown as the white band in the 1st photo above. Old Persian wisdom and ingenuity.

C 17 – Isfahan - Bird Park

Visited a bird park too, with a central giant tent. More than 5,000 birds in over 130 species are said to be kept here. Shown a peacock, a crane, a pheasant and a chicken with shaggy long pants.

C 18 – Isfahan - bridges

There are 2 famous old bridges in Isfahan. We visited them in the evening. Both are arch bridges. The Khaju Bridge, 133 m long was built around 1650. It served as a bridge and a weir. At mid-span there is a pavilion built for the king to meet his people. The Allahverdi Khan Bridge, 298 m long, was built around 1600, on the old Silk Road route. It has 2 superimposed rows of 33 arches.

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