From Kashan uphill to Abyaneh

Paying entrance fees to get into old Iranian houses with dome roofs you can find in almost any village, as well as paying for hammams without being allowed to swim there. Both didn't really knock our socks off so our visit to Kashan became just a half day cruise on our bikes and a few hours in the beautiful Persian garden north of the city. Apparently, the city does a good job to attract tourists and has developed an effective infrastructure for that.

And then it was time for our first hitchhike- and we should even do it a second time that day! We were not quite optimistic as we were cycling on a calm side road but from the ten cars passing by in the afternoon we easily could stop two empty pickups and each of them took us for a few kilometers up the hill to Abyaneh, a relic of ancient Persia.

When we reached the historic village at dusk we were quite surprised by the coldness up there (we're sure that it would have been different if we had cycled all the way). So this was the first night we ended up in a hotel in Iran and really enjoyed having a cosy room just for us.

The buildings of the 2500-year-old village were made from a mixture of red clay, mud bricks, wood and straw and require a lot of maintenance and renovation, especially after rainfalls. But, except from electricity, gas pipes and some tin roofs, Abyaneh has withstood modernization and retained its traditional integrity. However, during this time of the year, most of the 300 inhabitants live elsewhere so that we only met few people in the narrow, steep alleys.Read more