Iran: Tabriz

Our first stop in Iran was Tabriz, in the North-East of the country. There’s not a great deal by way of sights in the city, but this is easily made up for by the city’s shopping district, featuring the largest covered bazaar in the world. Shopping is a national pastime for Iranians, and wandering through the bazaar was a great way to meet ordinary Iranians and see how they live their lives day-to-day, as well as seeing some of the more unusual shops on offer:

While wandering around, we got speaking to Ahmed, a friendly carpet salesman who invited us into his office to have a look around. After wiring the kettle into the socket on the wall (luckily Dr Matt was on hand in case anything went wrong), he made us some of the best tea we’d tried so far on our trip.

Although tempted by his full-sized carpets of the Mona Lisa, a scene from 18^th Century Vienna and a woman posing with a wolf, I had my heart set on picking up a slightly more traditional carpet from Turkmenistan, so we made our excuses and left. As we carried on exploring,  I had a string of people stop and ask me to take their photo, including this watermelon seller who found Matt (standing to my right at the time) absolutely fascinating:

We made our way to El Goli park on the outskirts of the city, where it was fascinating to see the young couples together on benches around the park, chatting and getting close (but still no kissing). That was until the moral police arrived to ensure that the country’s strict moral code was upheld, prompting the couples to immediately move apart from each other.

There’s a growing trend worldwide toward installing outdoor fintness equipment, and this really is apparent in Iran, with almost every park having its own set of admittedly largely rusting and unmaintained fitness equipment. As we were on an enforced alcohol detox for 19 days while in Iran, Matt and I decided now would be as good a time as ever to start our health kick:

With almost no dining culture in Iran and dinner that night being an all-you-can-eat buffet (or should that be eat-as-much-as-you-can buffet?), we’ll see how long this particular health kick lasts.