Shahrestān Ardakān

Today was our last day in Isfahan. We spent the morning doing Yoga (Anna) and then heading to the main mosque in Naghshe Jahan square (the third and last mosque in Isfahan for us, in case you weren’t counting). Despite having some construction going on, the mosque’s inner courtyard impressed us. Again, we enjoyed the tranquility, particularly when compared with the hustle and bustle outside. Tourists pay 2-4x of what locals pay, so we made sure we’d get our money’s worth, visiting all parts of the mosque. We also came across an exhibition area, where information was presented on the 1953 coup all the way to the Islamic Revolution, the Iran-Iraq war and the wars in Syria and Jemen. Sadly, the information was very one-side (you can guess which one) and left us not better informed but somewhat saddened to realise that this is the only information that is given to Iranians. (Access to international news sites is limited.)

Outside the mosque we were immediately approached by hawkers, following the typical Isfahan-tourist-trap-spiel: “What’s your country? - Ah, Germany! - Come visit my shop, I want to show you my culture. - You don’t have to buy anything, only have some tea. - If you do want to buy, we take MasterCard, Visa and Amex.”
Being approached in this way quickly exhausted and annoyed us. When we told the guys that we will likely not visit and that they should stop pressuring us, they still only relented after stuffing a business card in our hands. It’s a shame - many Iranians are truly interested in foreigners and it is nice to be “ambassadors” for your country when visiting other places. But being annoyed like this kind of just made us want to put our heads down and get out. So we did - and headed to our now favourite coffee shop.

Two hours later we met with Mohsen, an Iranian acquaintance from Natanz. He was very lovely and made us a gift as well as chatting with us about all sorts of things (and practicing his English on the way).

In the evening we had dinner with our new Catalonian friends and then went for a longer walk around town, visiting the old stone bridges that go across the river in Isfahan. The water in the river is long gone due to drought, but on the plus side we witnesses an outdoor performance from local musicians playing from the bridge to a large crowd standing in the old riverbed. :-)Read more