Feb. 20-21, 1978 - Iran

We got to the bus station in plenty of time to leave at 9.  Breakfast at the hotel included Iranian flat bread baked in flat oval loaves about 2 feet long.  Tasty!

The bus was comfortable with big windows.

After 7 hours of driving mostly through scrub desert bordered by snow covered mountains, we arrived in Isfahan.  Very good roads.

Through the tourist office we found a clean, pleasant hotel – Jahra – 900 reals/night double ($12.85).  We walked across a lovely old bridge to Kurosh luxury hotel for a shiny Denny’s type coffee shop hamburger, returned to the hotel and slept well.

The next morning we explored Isfahan on foot. You have to see a Persian mosque to really appreciate the beauty of the detail.  Pictures don’t show it.

In the courtyard of the Shah Mosque a young man asked if we wanted to see rugs being made.  We said yes and he took us through some back alleys to a compound and we entered.  It wasn’t marked so we never could have found it.  In the room were 2 older women and 3 young girls at two looms – back-to-back with about 3 feet between.  The light was natural.

Here I am getting very patient instruction in tying little tiny knots in a $14,000 carpet.

The women did the complex design and the girls did the easier part with fast fingers.  The rug they were working on was silk and in 5 months they had done about one foot on each rug – both were the same design.  Our guide said it would take 4 years to complete and sell for about $14,000.  The women work for a company which supplies them with the silk and loom and gives them housing in the same compound.  The girls attend school ½ day.

They were quite interested in whether Bryan and I were married and if we had children.  Their English vocabulary consisted of “baby.”  Our guide was a pleasant young man who just wanted to practice his English.  He had a technician’s job in a hospital and said that he gets called in to speak English and German to foreign patients even though he doesn’t have a certificate so it is good experience.

He explained to us that the women and young girls all wear “chadri” because this is a more Muslim area than Tehran.  The religious police, or “mullahs” enforce it.  Chardi is a large cloth covering the body and clutched together; not very practical although the women hold it in their teeth sometimes.  Many are black but more and more there are small flower prints with dark background.  The small print cloth represents the Persian love the miniature design, whereas the Somali like big colorful cloth prints and you can’t find a small print cloth anywhere there.

We walked some more, ate lunch at a Persian hotel and walked again – oh my aching knees.

We considered buying a rug for a few seconds and rejected the thought and bought instead a beautiful Persian ivory miniature of a girl and an old man; fantastic detail when seen with a magnifying glass.  The shop asked 12,500 reals and settled for $100 in traveler’s checks (7,000 reals)  Exquisite.  Also bought a small one with huntsmen on horses ($12).

This is a beautiful inlaid and painted “marriage mirror.” The bride first sees her husband reflected here.    Isfahan is the center for miniature painting.