2. Traveling from Kashan to Esfahan
Diterbitkan: 22.02.2018
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On my third day, our journey through Iran was supposed to start with Esfahan as the first destination. I was quite skeptical because Amin's travel preparations consisted only of packing a small suitcase and making a few phone calls, all so unstructured 😁.
Hamid, one of Amin's friends, was supposed to accompany us on the trip. Hamid flew in the night before to Tehran, but he couldn't make it to us.
So Amin and I just started driving in the morning. On a highway south of Tehran, a taxi suddenly appeared behind us as if out of nowhere. Hamid was sitting in it.
This invisible way of organizing things was actually typical for the rest of our journey. During the day, we visited sights along our route, and in the evening, Hamid would say, 'Let's go here and there to meet my friends because they want to meet you, and we can also stay there.'
First, we made a stop in Kashan and met two funny Dutch guys there, so carefree and free-spirited.
Amin once said that all you need to do is give Hamid a hookah and sunflower seeds, and he will follow you around the world.
We reached Esfahan around 10 PM and were warmly welcomed and invited by Hamid's sister's husband's brother at his restaurant. To get this free invitation, I had to endure all kinds of jokes. For example, taking selfies with the brother and recording voice messages on WhatsApp for his friends. Well, it was fun on the first evening 😃.
For the following 2 nights, we stayed at a friend of the restaurant owner who knew us even less. Super cool. We were allowed to drink his wine, and Amin and Hamid didn't hesitate to start smoking a hookah there.
The next 2 days, we wandered around Esfahan.
In the Shah Mosque, we met Metin, who spends his 3-year military service guarding this mosque. He accompanied us for about 2 hours and generously shared his extensive knowledge of history, mosaics, and architecture with us.
The highlight was a prayer/song that he started in the grand hall for us (after reprimanding a few other Iranians who wanted to sing non-Islamic songs 😁).
In the video at the following link, Metin sings for the Belgian Parliament President (if our translation of the title from Persian to German is correct 😊).
http://tamasha.com/v/m8661
Gambling is officially forbidden in Iran, and therefore, card games are banned as well. However, in private, it was one of our favorite pastimes whenever we sat down in the evenings. One of the best moments was when our hostess (Hamid's friend's mom) and I (as a team) repeatedly outplayed Amin and Hamid in a traditional Iranian card game called Hogm, which they had just taught me. They were wide-eyed because it takes a lot of experience to play well. However, since Hogm is a mix of Skat and Doppelkopf, I was familiar with it 😁. Interestingly, the mom was very reserved and shy toward unfamiliar men (like me) in her own home, no shaking hands to greet, a 'safe distance' of maybe 2-3 meters, a headscarf, and avoiding eye contact. But during the card game, I felt like we could communicate with each other without words.
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