Honestly I was a bit worried about the acid-attacks which was all over the news so we informed at the reception of our hotel if it was really safe to go outside. They laughed and said we really shouldn’t be worried because most of those attacks were based on personal matters and not because of women wearing “Western” clothing which we previously thought. Besides, most of the culprits were already in jail they said. There would be no danger for travelers or what so ever. I was not really convinced, but since everything outside looked like another regular day, we decided to go anyways. Before walking to the Naqsh- e Jahan Square (the second biggest square in the world) we bought ourselves some breakfast on the way and indeed I really had no reason to be worried. The atmosphere was relaxed, there were many other travelers and we didn’t notice anything strange. At the Naqsh- e Jahan Square we visited the Masjid- e Shah; it was very disappointing to see that many beautiful spots of the Masjid were under construction because of the upcoming holy day Ashura with hanging flags, posters or tents covering up the actual beauty of the architecture! Yet we were able to appreciate some untouched beautiful areas and made some pictures.
After that we walked through the Bazar- e Bozorg (which was quite similar to the previous bazars we’d been to) before eating some lunch. One tip: don’t get fastfood in Iran, it’s untasty and expensive. Just stick to the authentic Persian cuisine while you’re there. I was feeling very sick so we decided to go back to the hotel so I could rest and take a nap. In the evening Farhang went outside to get some food since I was still not feeling well. I really needed a day off. In the meanwhile a guy named Jawad had contacted us through couchsurfing to meet in Esfahan and also show us around in his homevillage Varzaneh on which we happily agreed!
The next day we met Jawad at our hotel and we made a plan for the day before our departure to Varzaneh in the evening. We decided to visit the Masjid- e Jameh and he went buying us tickets so we could have entrance discount. In the Masjid we continued our talks about Iran and Afghanistan and some people behind us got interested so a woman stopped us to ask whether we were from Afghanistan. Guess what, she was a French citizen, talking perfectly Dari because she had been living in Tajikistan and Afghanistan for two years. After some talking I learned she could speak several languages: Dari, Farsi, Hebrew, Russian, English and French! I was amazed and so inspired by her! She was with a Persian friend who also talked French and had been living in the Netherlands for some time too. So suddenly we had this international group of people and everyone was using several languages to communicate haha. We decided to have lunch together and drove to Naqsh- e Jahan Square. We ordered traditional Persian dishes while relaxing & chatting on a small platform again which had became so typical for us now. After dinner we took our goodbyes because we had to get our luggage from the hotel to be in time for the last minibus towards Varzaneh. On our way to the village, some girls sitting behind us got interested and asked where we were from and I became friends with one of them: Mahin! What a cutie! We exchanged our phonenumbers to stay in touch and said our goodbyes before we walked to our place in the small desert village called Varzaneh. From here on, a whole new different Iran experience emerged, read more about it on our next blog!
Recommendation? Yes! We feel we haven’t really had the time (due sickness) to see Esfahan properly because we had only been to two mosques and the famous square while there is so much more to see. So if you go, take your time. The mosques we did see were incredibly beautiful and worth visiting!
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