Travelogue Summer 2018/3 Fairytales in Isfahan (Iran)

With a comfortable VIP bus we drove from Yazd to Isfahan. A taxi to the hotel. A cheerful young girl without a headscarf (until she hit the street later) welcomed us. It was a kind of hostel around a beautiful courtyard. And for us it was the base to view one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Isfahan

Isfahan Nagh-e-Jahan square 

The Nagh-e-Jahan square is immense. With 150 by 500m it is the second largest in the world. Surrounded by double arcades, two fabulous mosques and a palace. With footpaths and lawns. And in the evening hundreds, thousands of people gather. The stone benches and the lawns were almost completely full. With the darkness in the sultry evening, it was wonderfully relaxed. Groups of women and children formed the majority. They took out rugs, thermos jugs and gas stoves - having a picnic was taken to a higher art here. Under the full moon, surrounded by the façades where each arch was lit, it was Arabian Nights live. The weekend mood made the people even more open to greetings, waving, laughing and welcoming us.

Isfahan Great Abbassi Mosque

The Great Abbassi Mosque, the largest of the two on the square, stood out because of the overwhelming amount of blue tiles and blue mosaic. Halfway through the construction they switched from mosaic to painted tiles, because it went faster. Not only the large alcoves are blue, but also the entire span of the courtyard and a number of niches. Abstract, geometric and fantasy figures interspersed with Koran texts and the occasional scene with animals. A lot of marble has also been used. Several parts of the mosque were being renovated, including the largest niche and the dome which were scaffolded. In a workshop we could see how with a real size mold of 1 / 16th "part" of the dome, the tiles were re-drawn and copied before they were replaced.

Isfahan Khajou bridge 

The Khajou bridge again was incredibly beautiful. 350 years old. The lower base was a dam, then granite pillars and waterways with stairs, then brick pillars under which people were standing in the shade. A man was singing. The upper part of the bridge had raised sides that again formed gates where people were sitting in the shade. Everyone was cheerful and friendly. The only dissonant was that the river was dry, which is almost always the case in recent years. The water is diverted to elsewhere.

Paterns and dimensions

The mosques could be overwhelmingly large, but never pompous. Because of the perfect proportions in the dimensions they always seemed serene and soothing. The surfaces consisted of abstract patterns that overlapped, intertwined, repeated themselves, varied, coalesced with the arches and domes, expanding or shrinking where necessary. Breathtaking mosaic that you could look at endlessly.

If only Escher or Gaudí had seen this ... In fact, Escher did see this in Andalucía, and then became the draftsman we know today. Gaudí studied Persian architecture and Islamic art mainly from books, during his training.

Ladies and dress codes

In recent years there has been a wave of relaxation of the dress code. Especially in fashionable Isfahan you could tell. The long overcoat was by no means always over the knee, was by no means always black, was sometimes open or fitted, and sometimes even almost transparent. Also blouses were sometimes tight, colorful and playful. The headscarves were often worn way back and there was a lot of hair showing. Usually straight black, but also bleached and wavy.  Occasionally it hung loose down the back. Jeans were sometimes pretty tight, but always to the ankle. Some women were exuberant with rouge all over their face, bright red lipstick, and especially the eyes, eyelashes and jet-black eyebrows received a lot of attention.

Not only the more modern dressed ladies were keen to flirt a bit. My blue eyes, long hair and radiant smile :) attracted the ladies' interest, and they showed that openly.

If you do not know that women in Iran are legally disadvantaged, you may get the impression that they are equal. They are fully present in the streets and behave in a self-confident and self-assured manner. They are on average higher educated than men and sometimes they are the main breadwinner in a family. In any case their position is better than in any of the surrounding countries.