Last night after class I was talking to Aaron and he made me feel very guilty for up and neglecting the blog. Ok, he didn't really say much (it's Aaron after all.) I just felt guilty.
Did I really stop posting barely into the 2nd day? Dang. So after breakfast we walked to our next adventure. Not far, just to the other end of the longish block (no harrowing street crossings this time). I saw a store signed "Community Cooperative" across the street, but I didn't get a chance to ask about it (with 12 people to one guide it's hard to always get all your annoying questions answered.)
So after almost no time we got to the national Carpet Museum. Check out the exterior -- made to look like a loom! (caption links to museum site) I didn't take any pictures inside because flash is not allowed (as in most museums and mosques --I later found out the uv exposure gradually leaches out the ancient colors), the light was low and I couldn't get an un-blurry shot. But I saw tons of beautiful carpets, silk and wool, nomadic style, curlicue/flowery/medallion style, scenes of people and events. I learned that the "rajt" is one of the measures of fancy-ness -- how many knots there are per square cm. Over 70 is very fancy. Around 30 is more everyday.
Since carpets are fabric and susceptible to rot, there didn't used to be much archeological evidence of the origins of Iranian carpet weaving. But in a 1949 Siberian excavation, Russian archeologists found a 2500 yr old Persian carpet. From how evolved the patterning was, historians dated the art to at least 1000 years before that. Dang.
After the carpet museum, we boarded the bus -- in order to get dropped off at the subway station. The subway is only a couple years old and still developing. It works much like BART. (It wasn't part of the itinerary, but we requested to check it out.) We were such a spectacle that people stared, pointed, took our picture...I guess tourists don't usually take the subway.
riding on the metro-o-o
how bazaar
We got out by Teheran's largest bazaar, which was incredibly crowded, both at the subway exit and the bazaar entrance. But a little ways into the bazaar you start having options to turn off to the left or right, and it thinned out pretty fast. You can find anything for sale in bazaars. Shoes, fabric, scarves, jewelry, hardware store stuff, appliances, dishes, clothes of course, carpets, naturally. Perfume. Dried beans, spices, dried fruit, fresh fruit and I think meats too. I was so overwhelmed that I didn't buy anything besides a carrot juice (fresh carrot and melon juices are as ubiquitous as soft serve over there). I checked out some lovely carpets though.
Then it was back on our bus and to the domestic airport for our flight to Tabriz, which is in the northwestern part of Iran. It's in the Azerbayjan province, unsurprisingly, as it's right next to Azerbaijan (and Armenia).
When you enter an Iranian airport, you go through 2 security checks: one as you enter, luggage and all, and then the regular one by the gates. Both have separate entrances for men and women.
As soon as everyone was seated on the plane, the attendant went around with a basket of fine candies -- Iranian hospitality just doesn't get old. Our row was all people in our group, and I was sitting next to a poli-sci professor who had investigated some CIA activity back in his dissertation days. Really interesting seat-mate to have.
Our whole group, for that matter, was pretty informed and interesting. There were 3 other students, all mid-20's; the guide, who's about my age; and everyone else was in or around their 50s. The majority of the around-50s were professors in varied fields. One woman is a judge, which led to some interesting conversations with Iranian girls and women -- you can be a lawyer but not a judge in Iran, if you're female.
Our hotel in Tabriz is the poshest hotel I have ever stayed in. Very spacious room, beautiful cherry paneling, elevated bathtub -- and stunning views. It is set on a hillside above the city. The view in the less populated direction looked like nothing so much as Tatooine: sandy hillsides, big trucks and things running along a distant stretch of road, landspeeders zooming about. Somehow the photos did not capture this, so you'll just have to believe me.
our fancy hotel in breezy Tabriz
Tabriz-tooine
