What happened to spell check?

This is the signage on a new upmarket restaurant yet to open. Not sure if I should say something now or will they just think I am a smart arse.....

The moral high ground?

The USA has made much of the trade sanctions against Iran, but curiously enough Coca Cola and its associated brands (Fanta, Sprite etc) are every where in Iran. It appears to morally acceptable to cut medical supplies and aircraft parts and sell Coca Cola at the same time.

Not to be outdone in the hypocrisy stakes, the Islamic Republic of Iran bans the local sale of any alcohol, but curiously allows the production of wine for export and sale to local diplomats.

Mr Pakiri

Mr Pakiri is a respected calligrapher in a city famous for calligrapher with a dedicated museum and several statues and monuments scattered about the city commemorating famous local calligraphers. Exceptional calligraphers even warrant large tombs.

The cheerful Mr Pakiri runs a calligraphy school, though in these times it is a dying art that attracts fewer and fewer students. Who today has the patience, let alone a rock like steady hand to produce such work?. That said calligraphy is every where in Iran and treated like the works of fine art that they are. Especially they are given as gifts and here I received my name from a master.

This is my name in Farsi and yes it does make sense...

Unusually for an Iranian Mr Pakiri has very fair skin and blue eyes.

Even English food is better

Iranian food is relentlessly dull and it not surprising that fat people are few and far between in Iran. In Qazvin a city of one million people, there are just five restaurants and even here I am stretching the definition of restaurant to include a large space with tables and chairs (there are only three hotels in the city as well). To be fair there are many places that sell sandwich/burger type food and often that food is very tasty but restaurants as we know them scarce.

Even more surprisingly, there are even fewer places to drink tea or coffee, and with alcohol completely banned, a bar is just a dream. I am left wondering where Iranians socialise, because it certainly isn't any where public.

Qazvin has just one nice cafe in the old bazaar and I was intrigued to notice one of the staff quietly whisper to a couple who were being over attentive to each other that they should be more circumspect. Not that they were doing anything untoward, apart from the man trying to remove something from the woman's eye and taking a very long time to do it. 

A lack of money is probably the key to a lack of restaurants and I just assuming socialising is done in the home and not in public.

Qazvin

Qazvin, the old Sassanid capital and famous for its historical buildings calligraphy and woolen blankets....

Avaj

Avaj Fort

Avaj lies to the southwest of Tehran in a branch of the Alborz Mountains. Deep snow still covered the mountains but it was fading fast. Of interest in the region is a small Safavid fort and deep in the country two spectacular Seljuk tombs. Inside the fort was punishingly cold - it was warmer outside.

Built around 1100AD, the tombs were showing serious sign of deterioration, though they were propped up to prevent collapse. The appeal lay not only in their intricate brick work, but that they were situated in a wide mountain valley that today is still largely empty. Of course being winter no one else was there which added to the eerie atmosphere that has barely changed since the tombs were built.  

Fort

Catching Up

Well this is my first blog since leaving Kurdistan in December. After a short stay in New Zealand I journeyed back to the Middle East and spent some time in Iran which had just suffered its worst snow storm in 50 years. Lucky for me the weather had cleared and my stay featured crystal clear days, spectacular scenery, but very cold nights, dropping down to -14c.

From Iran it was on to Jordan, my first visit there. Not quite knowing what to expect, Amman was a mixed surprise, but then so again was Jordan. Now for the catching up...