What to do in Esfahan?

nose to nose.

8.

Surely a lot, according to its 16th century tagline Esfahan is half the world.

Yet, perhaps I saw less than half of Esfahan- so did I see a quarter of the world? Not likely. But I managed to not see a quarter of the world, or half of half the world, with a trio of international friends I met in Imam Square.

This is one of the famous, go-to travel images of Esfahan; a vast quadrangle boasting some of the finest mosque domes in the Islamic world, full of worshippers and it was beautiful today under the high, winter skies.

Friday prayers commenced just after I arrived, so I wasn't allowed to visit the mosque itself. Instead we stood and listened to the recitals of the Quran echoing from wall to wall.

This is before we were asked to move on- perhaps we were interfering?

We headed down to the famous Pol-e Si-o-She bridge (C16th), it would surely be swell to feel the cool breeze of the river. Unfortunately the river was no more- held up by a damn I suppose- so the no swimming signs were somewhat amusing. Crossing the bridge you come to Jolfa, the Armenian quarter, home to some of Iran’s most famous churches. These were closed, too.

You get the gist. We tried and tried and tried again to be good tourists, but Esfahan was having none of it. Even the bazaar wasn’t on offer, as it was a Friday.

Perhaps I’ll see Esfahan in a new light, though, when I return in a week or so to head west. I don’t want to be one of those people who go to Barcelona for three days and come back and say it was ‘okay’. But so far my favourite Esfahan experience was meeting those fellow travellers.

But that’s always nice when you travel alone.

In the words of Arnold Schwarzenneger, Esfahan, I’ll see you again soon.