Iran: Esfahan, Day 1

This morning we made our first stop at the 40-column palace, which actually only has 20 columns, but when viewed from the far side of the pool in front of the palace, the reflection counts for another 20 columns. Unfortunately for us, the pool in front was under construction, so there was no water in it, so for us it truly was only a 20-column palace...

After visiting the palace and admiring the large murals on the inside walls, we wandered around the large garden surrounding the palace. The flower of Iran is the rose, and there was no shortage of roses in the garden. Of course, we stopped to smell the roses and some were so sweet smelling!

After the palace, we crossed the street and entered the main square of Esfahan. On one side of the square is a 16th century palace, the Ali Qapu Palace. Across from the palace is the Ladies' Mosque, and at one side of the square is the Shah Mosque, or King's Mosque.

After walking around a bit and enjoying some quality people watching, we visited the Ladies's Mosque, which was small but richly adorned with gorgeous mosaic and tile work.

We then walked across the square to the palace, and climbed to the sixth (top) floor, which was made into a music hall. I loved the ceilings and walls, which had holes shaped like dulcimers to help with the acoustics. We then went down to the top of the second floor to enjoy the balcony and view of the entire square.

After the palace walked through the bazaar which makes up the rest of the square, and stopped at a master artist's shop, who specialized in miniatures. His work was incredible, but expensive...

After browsing a bit in the market, we went for lunch at a restaurant also located in the square. After yet another delicious meal, we visited the King's Mosque. It was a gorgeous structure, but there were tons of scaffolding in the square in front of the impressive done and minarets where they were setting up a big tent for Ashura (a Muslim holiday), which unfortunately spoiled the view...

After visiting the mosque, we walked a bit more around the square (it's a large square with tons of handicraft shops all throughout), and then made our way back to the van which took us to a carpet market where we looked at more Persian carpets. After drinking so much tea we thought we'd burst, we went to another carpet shop (these carpets are absolutely beautiful and are works of art). After even more tea, I did eventually but some particularly gorgeous carpets. By now it was way past dark, so we head back to the hotel for dinner. We are all very anxious about the result of the US Presidential election, and we should know when we wake up tomorrow, unless the results are contested... We shall see tomorrow, as well as continue our exploration of this city of art!