Esfahan II - Half The World

Esfahan is a breath of fresh air after the smoggy, congested and wee-bit-suffocating feel of metropolitan Tehran. The city centre is busy but not closely built up, and there are push bikes on the roads and the locals wander without the stress that’s much more apparent on the faces of the Tehranians. While the pace is a lot more relaxed here, one can tell that people are more conservative here, too. There are more women wearing full chadors (although in the whole time in Iran we never saw full-on veils over faces that covers even the eye area with a mesh like weaving, the most restrictive are just these black chadors that exposes the face) and even those without a full chador are in very dark colours, unlike many of their more flamboyant counterparts that roam the metro in Tehran. There are also many more clergymen here in their designated religious attire walking along the streets, and would occasionally disappear into small mosques dotted through the winding streets. And we certainly go a lot more attention for being foreigners, a lot of it unwanted from the young men and touts that hung around the tourist spots.

















Esfahan a is a delightful concoction of both grand celebrated heritage palaces and mosques, surrounded by the most simple down to earth small-town life of modestly kept housing and traditional trades, supported by traditional markets (I’m trying to avoid the word ‘ghetto’ here…) and quirky little teahouses. (Here is inside the Azadegan Teahouse – the most indignant thing is that we were made to sit in the ‘backroom’, away from the men)


Esfahan is undoubtedly the ‘Jewel of Ancient Persia’, and earned the title of ‘Half the World’ simply because there is so much to see here, and it is now a UNESCO Heritage Site. There are a number of the Persian world’s best monumental stuff that’s built and kept here, including the beautiful (but these days slightly derelict) Chehel Sotun Palace with the amazingly elaborate wall paintings, and a collection of painstakingly designed and decorated mosques such as Jameh Mosque within the Old Town/ Bazaar area, the Imam Mosque, and the Sheik Lotfollah Mosque set out in the broad, open, majestic and geometrically well calculated Imam Khomeini Square, which leads towards the opening of the Bazaar, with an impressive wall painting depicting the mongol war on the main entrance. This is mostly thanks to Shah Abbas I, who reigned from 1587, transformed the Persian empire, with Esfahan as its capital, and built or planned most of its major monuments that still stands today. He also invested in carpet weaving techniques that had been passed around the Middle East and Europe because it was so advanced at the time. There will be an exhibition from 19 February 2009 on Shah Abba's world at the British Museum if anyone’s in London and interested.


Another major draw card to Esfahan is its ancient bridges that lie across the Zayandeh River. In the early evening we strolled up the neon-lit and busy shopping strip of Chahar Bagh Abbasi to the beautifully lit Si-o-Seh Bridge (meaning Bridge of 33 Arches). In the dark the lit arch’s reflections in the water glowed mystically, the reflection lighting the dark water like candles that flickered in a light breeze. It was the time of the evening where people are out and about for strolls before the Iranian late dinner. Teenagers ducked in and out of the vicarious arches (any railing would have completely ruined its aesthetics), their silhouettes dashing across the glowing background like an Indonesian shadow puppet show.










The second one along, the Ferdosi Bridge towards the East is a modern styled vehical bridge lit with blue light. Khaju Bridge, the third one from Si-o-Seh, which acts as a dam, was in similar style as first bridge, but had walled middle sections which were more elaborately built, and larger barge at the bottom, where pedestrians can also walk in and out of. A man was standing inside the arch, singing a wistful slow song. There was a small gathering of people on the steps, and of course we were unsure of what the nature of the meeting was, but the speaker was a very young women, most likely a university student, her voice passionate and resonating.

Nothing was going to prepare us for what was about to happen next…