Trip to Esfahan

We met one local tour guide who offered more interesting off-road trip to Esfahan (for 55 eur) and we decided to take it (not using our paid hotel in Naein). It was worth - even after pretty chilly sleep in abandoned caravanserai. He was loud and very energetic, but he had good stories and humour.

Kharanaq is an amazing mud brick village. It is good example how was a life of people 1000 years ago. It has been renovated modestly - so for elderly people could be dangerous. It has been one of the best examples of such type of architecture.

Next stop was Chak Chak - the best site of Zoroastrian religion. It is the most sacred Zoroastrian shrine. You have to climb up but it is worth of it. You feel it is a holy place. The story behind it was that a priestess escaped there when being chased. Her cane became a tree that is still growing there and the spring is one of the most holiest places for the Zoroastrians.

In Meybod city we visited pigeon tower - it could be seen in many places but this was the best example. Interesting to know it had several purposes. Farmers built them to keep birds (not only pigeons) away from the fields, but also to get valuable bird manure. Farmers put in tower water to drink but also food. Inside it was full of nests, but at the moment only few birds actually lived there now days. We paid a visit also to Narin castle. It could be one of the oldest mud brick castles, it was also quite big, so it takes a bit time to walk around it. We were also shown industrial part of the city where the ceramics and pottery was made. If you haven´t seen anything similar, it is interesting to see. Most of it was mass produced, but for some the decorations on it were made by had.
Khargoushi caravanserai is abandoned for many years. it is surrounded by classical Iranian desert. It is used time to time by shepherds. We slept under the stars in sleeping bags on the roof of it. It was very windy and we needed to put on few more layers. Supposedly it is only one of the few ones that aren´t restored yet or damaged beyond repair. Our guide was telling how police is sometimes patrolling the area in the night, because drug trafficking is also done by desert roads. So when moving around desert during a night don´t get scared if police officers with machine guns stop you. If you explain who you are and what you do there everything should be ok.


Zein-o-Din is in fact more interesting. There is also a restaurant and it is possible to rent a room. Prices seemed for us quite high. And there is small observatory where they organise star gazing during the nights for a price.

With our 4 wheel very old Landcruiser we passed through salty land. In spring, large area is under water and it is big lake (we saw similar place in few other areas). In summer rivers are very small and very salty. It was for us very difficult to understand what attracted flamingos to stay there, as water looked to us lifeless.
One of our top sites was Varzaneh desert. It is beautiful classical sand dunes desert. It seems to be also very popular among locals. We saw many families coming for picnic. You can ride a camel, quad or proper 4 wheel car. We took opportunity and challenge to take a ride with our "grandfathers" landcruiser. Driving there is quite different. Thanks good guide was experienced in this. We took a short walk on dunes but heat started to hit us and we finished our exiting desert trip in some 2 hours. There isn´t that much to see but the sand dunes all the way where your eye can reach, but the ride there is a rush. If you are not into such extremes you can just walk around the entrance of the desert or ask for a ride with a camel.

Esfahan was definitely our number one city / it is spectacular place. Many interesting sites to see, lively, the best place for shopping. Imam square (Nagh-e-Jahan complex) with 2 mosques and great bazaar is one of the largest public squares we have been so far and probably the biggest in Iran. It was full of local people - for picnic, for shopping just for a walk. Don't forget to go there also at evening when lights are on. If you want to do some shopping for local stuff this would be the best place, you probably could spend hours in there if you are looking for something special.
Lotfallah mosque is very small but it is great architecture. It has entrance fee but it is worth to pay a visit to shoot some nice photos. And it is the place where the Lonely Planets cover foto is taken. Also the Shah mosque is nice to have a look. Aliqapu palace is more for those who are more interested in architecture or if you just want to have a photo from the whole Imam square. Also Chehel Sotoun did not impress us, but for a little walk in the park, why not.

Esfahan bazaar was the best for good shopping. In other cities it was more to have a look on architecture and local people. Quality and variety of handicraft is better then in other bazaars. Choice of carpets (woollen and silk) was way better then in other cities. I bought medium size good quality silk carpet from Magic of Persia II shop. Shop keeper was professional and as it was not anymore high season, gave us very good price. We visited more than 10 different shops before making decision. I bought also 2 nice tablecloth's. Wife was very happy at home. You can find also great variety of natural perfume and scents. Prices were very reasonable.

Vank church and Armenian quarter was nice experience. Church is itself very nice and also museum is worth to visit, as there was lot of christian history there and much information about Armenian genocide. We had great lamb in Khangostar restaurant and the owner was a great guy as well. Former professional football player trying to offer good quality food for locals and foreigners.

We decided to visit famous Khaju bridge at evening (we saw it from taxi window when we entered the city). Si-e-She and Chubi bridges we visited walking around. We took taxi as it was too long to walk. It was very memorable walk. It was full of local people  (all age groups) "chilling" around. Probably popular among locals as it is free of charge and you can also dip your feet in the water if you want to.
Setareh hotel and restaurant were very good and comfortable. The main plus - good location. The other dinner we had in Abbasi hotel. It was occupied mostly by tourists. I took a local meatballs what were surprisingly good. But it was a bit expensive. All in all Esfahan has also highest average food quality, but the prices are higher as well.

If you have time only to visit one city in Iran, then we would recommend Esfahan.

Trip to Yazd

We planned to take a buss from Kerman to Yazd. We met one local tour guide who offered off-road trip for 55 eur. We decided to take it.  Rocky village of Meymand and SarYazd where worth of it.

Meymand village in rocks was really impressing. Many nomad families are still living there part of the year, but at that moment they were out in desert areas where they are growing animals. There is also farming area where they grow crops and have orchards, where they spend 1/3 of the year as well. We saw mostly local tourists (several of them having famous local picnic).  It was very difficult to imagine someone is still living there (only toilet we saw there was a public and built for tourists). Inside of the caves houses were what you could expect, quite dark and cool with mostly one or two rooms, at the moment they were totally empty, only some trash lying around. But still definitely worth of visit when you are around.

We got lost in old mud brick castle SarYazd. It is only partly renovated and could be dangerous. So, be careful. It was nice example how people lived many centuries ago and stored their valuables and crops. As it was quite like a labyrinth it was perfect place to live through a siege or attack even when enemies got inside.

In Yazd it took hours to walk in old mud brick city (in fact the main attraction), but it is lovely. On our way we saw several coffees, some house museums. There are many wind towers around, some of them pretty high, these were used old days for cooling and preserving food in the room under them. It took effort to find Zorastian museum and it was not worth of it, took time to find someone to open the doors and there wasn´t that much to see. Bazaar was also not what we expected. If you arrive at noon, half a day is enough to spend in it. Jameh mosque is worth to visit when you are around. It is rather average but it was nice walking. Amir Chakhmagh is better to visit evening hours when lights are on. Most of the things worth seeing are near each other. There is also a park which is recommended to visit, but by the time we got there, it was already closed and it is bit out of the center, so you should take that into account when you want to go there.

Kerman and Shahdad Kalut

As we were two, we decided to take taxi instead of the bus. Only reason was to get a dinner in Kerman before going to sleep. It took around 7 hours and 70 eur. On our way we did not see too much, as the nature in most parts of Iran we were in, is nothing special, mostly desert looking with tufts of grass/bushes then and there. We passed our first total police check. Iran is trying to minimize drugs trafficking. Apparently it is pretty easy to buy them and it is becoming big issue for Iran. Usually police checks are friendly with tourists. We were really questioned only once during our 2 weeks trip.


If you plan to buy wool carpet, it is the place. For silk carpets (but in reality also for woollen) the best is Isfahan. As we were basically out of the high season, we got the best price there.

City itself is not so interesting (it is more interesting outside of it). You need less than one day to see what is worth to see. Masjed-e Jameh mosque and bazaar are the highlights. We spent quite a time walking on bazaar. When you are there, look also into Imam Mosque. There are not so many places to eat. We had a dinner in Akhavan hotel traditional restaurant. It had a fixed local menu but it was good. It might be also one of the best options for sleep. Hotel owner could make you several good deal going around. It is worth to ask him.

Finding good places to eat in Iran is a challenge, but in Kerman we found it most difficult. In our experience the Akhavan hotel restaurant turned out to be the easiest and probably the best option. We spent couple of hours trying to find restaurants from TripAdvisor, walking around the city, but with no luck. Then we were asking from people on the streets and in the end one local family drove us to a restaurant bit out of the centre which was quite new. It was an adventure, but in the end we managed to get our bellies filled, enjoyed live music and shishka. This is something you need to take into consideration when trying to find restaurants in some cities.

The highlight of the visit to Kerman was Kalut (Kaloot) desert (Shahdad). We took a guide with the car to visit Rayen, Mashan and the desert (1 day). Rayen is a one of the best so called mud castles. It was really interesting to see it. On our way back we looked into Bagh-e Shahzde. In fact it was the best Persian garden we saw. It is about 1,5 hours nice walk. We had nice lunch in Mashan, food was good and interestingly they were using some kind of sprinkler system in the restaurant. At first it was strange but in the end we realised it made the climate in the restaurant much cooler.

We decided not to sleep in Shahdad. It is always possible to stay there till sunset and shoot your pictures, but we did not have luck. Previous day there was a sandstorm - heavy clouds above us. The good side was it was not so hot, but the heat was still insane. Phones and cameras started lagging already a minute or two after taking them out. But the desert itself was one of out highlights of our trip. You can see nepka park (sand hills around local trees). Very strange symbiosis of trees and the desert. We looked on (that time) tiny very salty river. It was really salty. You can see further down the spring salt lakes. We shot many pictures from the top of sand towers (mountains). Very different and interesting view. The guide showed us also underground water channels (qanat) from mountains (around 17 km long) (old traditional way of irrigation and getting drinking water). Amazing. Some of  the shafts could be 400 m deep. Complex system with lot of handwork. There are many of such systems in Iran. You should pay a visit to one of them, if possible. On our way we had a look on 900 years old cyprus tree. And it was not the oldest one. In May we could still see some snow on top of their 4000 and plus mountains.


We were quite lucky with our guide as well, he spoke really good English and was able to explain some things about Iranian culture and give insight to way of life of the youth of Iran. He explained how lots of young people are struggling to find their purpose. Which makes them turn more to drugs and alcohol or the opposite, they shut themselves off the world, by getting stuck in digital world. There aren´t so many things kids can do on their free time and if there are, those things are way too expensive for most. Also he explained the universities are overproducing students in many areas, so the ones who have their degrees have no chance of finding jobs on their field of study and end up with empty pockets, living off their parents. But then again you can see similar problems in some western countries as well.

It takes time to get to Kerman but it was worth to go there to see Kalut and a way to there.