yazd - Katty Piazza

A stroll around Yazd

da | Lug 19, 2020 | Iran

February 16, 2015

13h33

This morning we visited the Zoroastrian temple Ateshkadeh here in Yazd, one of the most important in Iran. A part from the garden and a room with a fire continuously on since 460 AD, there’s not much to see.

On a bench of the garden we took a couple of pictures with some local ladies… or so we thought! The husband in reality was able to zoom the mobile phone camera and only captured Luca and me, leaving out the two ladies. Shame. I thought he wouldn’t mind because he was the one who asked to take pictures of the four of us. But he kept the good ones for himself.

Amir Chakmaq Square

Later we went to Amir Chakmaq Square and its complex: a mosque, the Hosseinieh (so are called the buildings that commemorate an Imam), a small swimming pool with no water and a qanat (a well of the particular Iranian water system) that is now a gym (there are also some shows with bodybuilders from time to time).

Below the Hosseinieh there are some small shops. Among them a kebab restaurant, specialized in sheep heart and liver. Here we had lunch with the above mentioned skewers and dazi (but the one we had in Kashan was much better), later on a stop at a pastry shop and then quickly to the hotel because I needed the toilet.

This morning I bought a hejab, that scarf that covers your forehead and goes below the chin, covering the ears too,because the scarf that I was using to cover my hair keeps falling down and I have to check it all the time. Because I don’t know how people could react if my scarf fell in the middle of the crowd. Probably they wouldn’t be shocked, but annoyed yes. Better not to run the risk.

Yazd Old Town

After a coffee we walked around the old town of Yazd, made of clay and straw. The base of the walls is clay bricks, that are covered with a mixture of clay and straw instead of mortar.

Walking around these little alleys is magical. They are very narrow and still you can find a car sometimes; I don’t know how they can drive here, I would rather walk all the time.

All houses are surrounded by walls about 2-3 meters high, so you walk this alleys between walls.

We visited a traditional house (pretty, but after what we saw in Kashan, we weren’t really impressed), Alexander prisons (and we drank a tea in the well where worst prisoners were kept), we got lost, we paid one euro to go up to a roof where there’s a small café and an art gallery selling two cups and a bowl, just to take two (horrible) pictures. Then a tour of the bazaar and dinner at the Hosseinieh again, with chicken and more skewers because Luca didn’t want to have dinner again at the guesthouse (here many hotels are also good restaurants with local cuisine).

Incredible little town this Yazd.

A ride to Yazd

da | Lug 18, 2020 | Iran

February 15, 2015

9.30am. We are along the highway, waiting for a bus from Tehran to Yazd. There aren’t many, unfortunately. Probably the first one will be around 11am, we’ve been told. There are many buses, but they all go to Isfahan. How silly, I should have checked last night, we could have taken the 8am train to Yazd; we’re going to waste the whole day traveling (it’s 4 and half hours to Yazd from here). In Tehran we got a bus so quickly, we didn’t even enter the E-Jonub bus station, they picked us up on the road, so I thought it would be equally easy to go to Yazd. No, all buses go to Isfahan. The guidebook advised me about this. I should have listened.

1pm. We are at a gas station for a break. Our bus arrived at about 11.30am, luckily! A bit old, compared to the one we took to Kashan. And always really hot.

Toilets are clean, I wasn’t expecting it. There’s a blanket hiding the entrance, so women can take off their chador to go to pee. They wear it to travel or to go to the bazaar. Luca is upset because I drank all the coffee. The nescafé type, super sweet. I forgot to ask if he wanted more, he’s too slow drinking! We’ll be in Yazd at about 4pm, I guess.

7.40pm We are at the Silk Road Hotel in Yazd, waiting for our dinner. The room is not as nice as the Ehsan House in Kashan, but it’s only 30 euro (for 2 people, breakfast included). I used the 500.000 RIL that I found in the street to buy a long dress, because the jacket is too hot.

We’re having ram tonight too (two days ago we saw one on the street that had just been slaughtered, it was still moving and blood was dripping on the sidewalk), chicken curry and banana shake. I love the ceramics they use for cups and bowls.

We are spending about 60 euro per day, much less than the 100 we estimated, good!

A German lady asked me to take her picture. Her friend and she (both about 50 yo), a scarf covering their hair like peasants in the 40s, are really loving their Iranian trip. Apparently they are particularly happy/excited because here they’ve found beer, but maybe they didn’t realize it’s non-alcoholic. There are many Germans traveling, maybe because in Germany there’s not the common (wrong) belief that Iran is dangerous.

We arrived in Yazd at about 5pm and we only managed to see the Masjed-e Jameh, the mosque overlooking Yazd. Beautiful at night too.