What a great sleep those two Popes gave me. Enough to get me to Tehran with enough energy to run !!! Add a scrumptious fine omelette of tomato and cardamon puree for brekkie this morning and I was set for the 830am departure and 390km drive ahead of me to Tehran.
Tehran was an eye-opener regarding the history and culture of what we call moder-day Iran. Why ? Because Iran as one sovereign nation today was not that all of the time. It is in fact the result of 23 separate and distinct dynasties over 6 empires. that started in 4000BC. All the dynasties governed one or more “empires” that covered today’s Iran and far beyond its current geographical boundaries. In this sense Iran is at the end of a whole timeline of civilisations which is what makes it so interesting. Our western media gives us the impression that Iran is a one-dimensional, strict Muslim country similar to other Muslim countries and has always been like this. No. Quite the contrary. Over its history, it has been a number of civilisations including Christian. It is not Arab. It is Farsi – with its own language and alphabet (including numerals). Iran is based on a multi-dimensional past unlike most countries which maintained a unitary language and history. Most of the attractions I saw in Tehran are dedicated to “Sultans”, a title and role which I shall explains separately at the end of this post.
The first two hours towards Tehran, took us from the rice fields of our overnight area to a huge open valley with a flat base, green with agriculture, before entering a narrower valley of bare rock that had been dammed. This explained the green valley. Not only is there hydro-electric here but large wind farms as well giving further evidence of Iran’s advancement. It is in this valley that I observed large numbers of olive groves – this first time since Turkey since Georgia and Armenia do not have an olive industry. This explains the many huge jars of olives that I saw in Iranian supermarkets and corner stores.
Lunch stop was at noon in a shopping complex just outside the city of Qazvin, 162km from our final destination. The rest of our drive was over very flat agricultural landscapes with lots of silos and infrastructure mostly related to wheat since flat “lavash” bread that looks like square shaped bubble wrap (no made by conveyor machines) is very popular and the flour used is Iranian.
My first impressions of Tehran coming in were good. A big city set in front of a mountain chain with snow on it. There are plenty of trees around and lots of dilapidated apartments. No more clean cities here. For me it was like a combination of a very old Athens mixed in with Cairo with trees added. Not the best looking but certainly not an eye-sore. We arrived at our newly built hostel at around 430pm with heavy traffic coming in. I swung into gear and found a supermarket but no hot food so I purchased some pre-prepared Persian dishes which I heated up in the hostel microwave. Another movie and early night so I could rise 615am to run the capital.
Going to the bathroom in the morning revealed a big weakness in this newly built hostel. Great rooms and beds (airconditioned with curtains around each of the 4 bunks in our room) but not enough toilets. As a result, they were trashed with toilet paper. No worries because the showers were great and I washed my winter gear which dried overnight under our room air conditioner. My run was down the main boulevard. Plenty of footpath and in a straight line – no worries about getting lost. The traffic was crazy but its bark was worse than its bite. What do I mean by this ? The vehicles look like they will never stop but when you step out in front of them they actually slow down or stop and let you pass. This was the same in Cairo and Bangkok so I recognised the trend.
Tehran (Pop 16.8 million, Elevation 1,222m) is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is No 2 in population in the Middle East after Cairo and No 24 globally. Tehran began life has the Silk Road city of Rey in the 11thCentury AD. Rey was invaded by Arabs and Turks and finally destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th Century AD and rebuilt again by the Ottomans. By 1789 it had become the capital of Persia under ruler Agha Mohammed Khan. It remained relatively the same until 1920 when a massive modernisation and construction was started fuelling its growth to the now sprawling metropolis. Tehran is very much the commercial and political centre whereas the third largest city, Isfahan is the cultural and historical centre where most of the Sultans lived.
After a great shower and quick fetta lavash wrap the group assembled for a tour of the city in a bus, We departed 9am. I thought about walking the city alone so I could take my time with photos but it is too big. Most attractions are spread out in a 10km-by-10km rectangle and the temp would hit 29C today. Not the best for walking. We visited the following sites: Goldestan Palace & Gardens (500,000), Old Bazaar (Rip-off nuts), National Museum of Iran (400,000), Azadi Square & Tower (300,000 to go up tower), Former USA Embassy & Murals, Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church & Greek Consulate, St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church. My favourite was the top of the Azadi Tower with views of the city 45m up from the gorund – a great alternative to a jail-bound drone !!! The Goldestan Palace was not only striking, inside and out but there were loads of school children visiting that were super-keen to test their English with us. A great experience. Thanks to a 90min lunch (that most did not want) and someone turning up 30min late we got back to the hostel at 5pm which did not give me enough time for walking to some additional attractions before finding food and doing blog. To make up for it I found my first whole BBQ chicken only 10min walk from the hostel and at $6AUD it was a memorable and tasty dinner. Whenever I shopped for food and drink people would always ask me where I was from. On hearing Australia, their faces lit up and smiled and the first words out of their mouths were “welcome, welcome” followed by “very far, very far”.
I must say that Tehran surprised me. It was great to run in and visit on foot. Lots to look at. The locals are welcoming and the city has its share of fine-looking palaces and mosques. I was glad to spend St Georges Day in this city and still coping with 5 days of no wine !!! Enjoy the thirst-quenching images of Tehran, a surprisingly engaging city…
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Our departure from Tehran on 24APR involved catching a small bus to a large half-car junk yard, half-parking lot for large vehicles some 12km from our hostel. Our 260km journey to Kashan was smooth and traffic free since today was a religious public holiday. We skipped Qom since the shrine we would have visited there would have been packed with followers on this holiday. Landscape was fairly uneventful with flat dusty earth and scattered villages with lots of manufacturing plants within 2hrs of Tehran making mainly plastics and homewares – many of these are Chinese which explains why Chinese tourists are one of very few that do not need visas to enter Iran. Our pee stop was more than that. An oasis. This fabulous shopping mall to rival our own in the middle of arid land just outside the city of Qom. Bathrooms brilliant. Shops pristine. Even soft serve ice cream to rival our own. Outside it must have been close to 30C – hot winds, scattered cloud. At last – warm to hot weather. No more jackets. No more coughing. At least for now. Once we enter the Stans and head into the mountains again elevation will bring back the cold. The next 2hrs was all desert. Yellow and brown dirt everywhere. Mostly flat with rows of distant weathered jagged ridges. This is the real Iran I expected everywhere. It dominates but there is still a lot of green for agriculture.
Kashan (Pop 686,500, Elev 1055m) emerged out of the dusty plain and heat at 1:15pm. Kashan is famous for 3 things: The Traditional Houses, Rose Water and the place that some say the 3 Wise Men set out for Bethlehem. The houses are more like palaces with grand gardens used by past sultans and shahs as their summer residence. The rose water is made from the most powerfully fragrant roses I have ever smelt. The Wise Men is the stuff of legends. Earliest evidence of human presence around Kashan date back to Paleolithic period (2.5million BC to 10000BC) since stone tools were discovered here. Earliest written records of Kashan as a settlement are in 644AD when Persian craftsmen assassinated a caliph who had held them hostage. The earthquake of 1778 levelled the city of Kashan leaving 8000 casualties.
We parked and headed to a restaurant for lunch. I left for my solo walk. Sadly, the Royal Houses were shut because of today’s religious holiday so I ended up seeing the following attractions: Alavi St (Pedestrian Walk), Sultan Amir Ahmad Bathhouse, Sacred Shrine, Toy Museum, Tabatabaei House (Outside Wall), Kamal ol Molk Square. While I saw all these sites the group had a 3hr-lunch. Now you know why I never have lunches whilst travelling. For starters I do not have lunch back at home but when you are travelling time is of the essence and food can wait – these sites cannot and you will never see them again. Our hotel was the best to date. Built in the traditional style of brick with mud/straw render and coloured mosaics this was a clean stylish place with a gigantic palatial style dining hall. Two-to-a-room with plenty of aircon, hot water (shower with curtain) and internet. Pity we were here only one night. I walked to the centre of town for some sunset photos and found a fabulous supermarket to stock up. A huge funeral passed by as a headed to the supermarket with upfront chanters, the coffin carried by many and an army of black hijabs following. On my way back to the hotel I passed a local eatery and bagged a delicious twin beef kebab with rice and grilled tomatoes. A lovely way to end the day alongside the mandatory movie and fruit juice (wine substitute). Early sleep for tomorrow’s sunrise run in Kashan before our drive to Isfahan.
SULTAN IN A NUTSHELL
Sultan is a title and position of full sovereign authority over a Muslim empire or kingdom. It is an Arabic word meaning "strength", "authority" or "rulership". Sultan is the Muslim equivalent of King as we know it in the western world. Sultan was used by the absolute ruler of the following empires: Ghaznavid, Great Seljuk, Rum, Ottoman, Timurid and Kazakh Khanate. Saltan Mahmud was the first 998–1030AD (Ghaznavid Empire in present day Afghanistan) and the longest serving was Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent 1520-1566AD (Ottoman Empire). Brunei, Malaysia and Oman are the only modern-day sovereign states which retain the title "sultan" for their monarchs. The ruler of Morocco changed his title from Sultan to King in 1957. Iran saw the rise and fall of a total of 12 Sultans hence the proliferation of Mosques and cenotaphs devoted to them.
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