From Shiraz to Esfahan: People and Places

As you know from my last post, on Saturday we left Tehran and headed south for some traveling in Shiraz and Esfahan. Both cities are quite different from Tehran, and from each other, but all three have incredible things to offer.

In Tehran, our time was (and will be when we return on Thursday morning) primarily devoted to spending time with family. We did some sight-seeing last week, but we always had a number of family members with us, so it was less about the place and more about the people. Now that we are not with the family, I’ve had a chance to experience these two other cities in a much different way.

We arrived in Shiraz at about 10:00am on Saturday morning. My first impression of the city was that it was absolutely beautiful, and that was just at the bus terminal. (The three Iranian bus terminals I’ve been to really put Port Authority to shame!) Most of the terminal is out in the open and have fountains and flowerbeds all over. It was so welcoming right from the beginning!

As it turns out, the city itself is also pretty welcoming. As opposed to Tehran, which is a huge metropolis of 14 million people (more than the entire population of Greece or every single US state – not combined – with the exception of California, Texas, New York, and Florida!), Shiraz feels more like a college town (which it is). It is filled with young students who seem to be everywhere! The general atmosphere was relaxed and open. I noticed fewer women in chadors that I had in Tehran, and there were lots of brightly colored scarves and manteaus.

The people we met (with the exception of one grouchy cab driver) were all incredibly kind. Nima went down into the lobby of our hotel our first night there and when the young computer tech guy heard him speaking English, all he wanted to do was chat! It turned out he was a 21-year-old college student who works seven nights a week in order to make his car payments. He is also a graphic designer. His English was amazing and he was so happy to be able to practice with Nima. The second night we were there, we all ended up down in the lobby and spoke with him for quite a while about politics (US and Iranian), his job, his family, his university studies, his feelings about Iran’s religious laws, and his favorite TV show, Friends. As we were getting ready to head back to our rooms to go to sleep, he gave Nima his cell phone number and told him that if we have any problems at all while we’re in Shiraz, we should just call him. He meant it too! In the end he didn’t even let us pay for the internet we used (which is how we met him to begin with). When it was time for us to check out of the hotel, he gave us his address so that we can mail him a real letter, as opposed to just emailing, when we get back home.

When we went to the tombs of Sa’di and Hafez, we had another experience with incredibly warm, curious and welcoming people. A group of young women at Hafez’s tomb noticed us right away. After a couple of minutes of getting up their nerve, they came over and started speaking to us in Farsi. They asked if we were Arabs! We found that funny (I mean, just look at me) but they were from Sistan-Baluchistan (a province in Southeastern Iran) and knew we looked different, but couldn’t figure out where we could possibly be from. They were shocked to learn we were from the US. One of them asked to take a picture of us so that her mother would believe her when she told her the story.

When we went to the tomb of Sa’di, two other people approached us separately. One was another young woman who heard us speaking English and wanted to say hello, find out where we were from, and take a picture. She was thrilled to find out that we were from America and happily shared the information with the people she was with. The other was a young man who wants to be an actor. For the most part, he talked about acting, but as with the other people we encountered, he was also excited to find out that we were American.

When we were at Persepolis, we met three or four other groups of people from all over Iran who wanted to chat with us. They were all eager to hear our thoughts about Iran, and many of them offered us places to stay and insisted that we change our travel plans to stay with them and were already planning on changing their own just to accommodate us. They weren’t just saying these things to be nice or as empty offers of pretend hospitality. They literally meant that they would change their plans so that we could see where they lived and stay with them. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to take them up on their invitations…maybe next time. We exchanged email addresses with some, and took pictures with all! Iranians (especially in Shiraz) are just the nicest, most welcoming people I’ve ever encountered!

On our last day in Shiraz, as we were leaving a shrine (like a mosque, but with a tomb inside), Nima’s father asked a police officer for directions to get us to a beautiful garden across town. The cop pointed to a taxi stand close by, but none of the cabs would take us because of the direction we were going. The cop saw our failed attempts, then came over to where we were standing. He hailed a cab himself, spoke to the driver to make sure he’d charge us a fair price (there are no meters in Iran, just flat rates agreed upon at the beginning of the trip) and sent us on our way. I have never seen a cop in the US (or anywhere other than Shiraz for that matter) do anything like that! It was amazing!

This morning, when we arrived in Esfahan after a six hour bus ride from Shiraz, there was definitely a different feel. It isn’t that people here aren’t nice; it is that they just don’t seem to be (or at least haven’t yet been) as open or welcoming as in Shiraz. The city in general feels more conservative. It is a business town as opposed to a college town. People aren’t dressed in bright colors, and we haven’t had any encounters with people approaching us to talk or help us out (except for a young woman in a riverside park who heard us speaking English and shyly said “hello, how are you?” in her Iranian accent as we passed). We have another day here tomorrow so maybe something will change, but for the most part the people in Esfahan are more serious and keep to themselves more than in Shiraz. This makes me even happier being a Shirazi, instead of an Esfahani!

Although I’m writing about people in this post, I simply cannot write from Esfahan without mentioning how incredibly beautiful the city is. Today we spent time at the Si-Oh-Seh Bridge (Bridge of 33 Arches) and Naghsh-e Jahan Square. When we were at the bridge – which is really impressive and was built between 1599 and 1602 - Nima and I shot a three-minute video to send to my students who have been learning about bridges!

Naghsh-e Jahan Square is one of the largest civic squares in the world and is surrounded on all sides by buildings from the Safavid Empire. The Imam Mosque (formerly called the Shah Mosque), Ali Qapu Palace, and Sheikh Lotf Allah Mosque are all absolutely amazing buildings built in the late 16th/early 17th century. Basically, it is a huge, green square with beautiful fountains surrounded by a number of mosques, a palace and a gigantic old bazaar. The mosques are immense and the outsides’ are ornately decorated with rich, bright blues and greens with floral details. They are unlike anything I’ve ever seen! I could have just sat and looked at the buildings for hours! We’re going to go inside the mosques tomorrow, so I’ll update you on that as soon as I can. There has been a picture of one of the mosques hanging in my living room (which is also at the top of my blog) for years from when Nima was here five years ago, and now I’ve finally seen it first hand.

The square and Persepolis are arguably the most visited tourist attractions in Iran and are both UNESCO World Heritage sites. Even though there aren’t too many international tourists in Iran in general, we have come across a few different groups – mostly Germans - in these places. The funny thing is, I have the same reaction to tourists here as I do when I’m at home in New York. I just want them to leave so that I don’t have to be bothered with them! I guess my love for Iran has really taken hold because, even though I am myself a tourist here, I feel a sense of connection to this incredible country and I want to enjoy it without outside intruders getting in my way!

We’re headed back to the family in Tehran on a late bus tomorrow evening. Things might be pretty busy from now on since we’ll be approaching the end of our visit (only one week to go), but I still plan to get another post or two up before we head home.

Thanks again for reading everyone!