Abyaneh and Kashan

Photos from around Abyaneh, an old town up in the mountains at 2500 meters altitude. They call it an old ladies town because the young population has decamped for greener pastures. The temperature was around 86 degrees, the coolest we've felt since we've been here. The town reminds me of places in Arizona or New Mexico. 

In Kashan we ate with a family. We arrived about 8:30 and they had been fasting all day..,no food or water from 4:30 in the morning. Dinner was ready and full glasses of water were waiting. They turned on the TV and watched til the Mullah declared the sun had set and the two fasting ladies downed their water. My own throat was scratchy and parched from empathizing with them. They'd worked all day and the outside temperature was 108.

The ladies arranged the meal on serving platters on the floor in the kitchen, which incidentally has carpets. Once arranged everything was moved to a plastic tablecloth on the floor. Everyone drinks Pepsi or Coke with meals. As a starter we had a glass of rose water..very aromatic and incredibly sweet. Almost all the meals we've had have consisted of stewed chicken with tomato or some variation of this, a lamb dish, an eggplant stew, rice and with this meal a very crispy and crunchy rice cooked with the "bath mat" bread. They watched a soap opera while we ate and after the meal everyone got on their iPhones. On the kind of tour we were able to take here in Iran there were no opportunities for great dining experiences...which was what we expected. 

The striking bug was an inch long and flew like a Harrier jet. Aren't the dots and stripes attractive? Hundreds of them were parked or hovering over the lavender flowers.

Richard is crossing the threshold of a lovely old merchant's home, very well restored and resurrected as a hotel, where we stayed the night. 15 or 20 such old homes have been snapped up by investors speculating on large growth in tourism in the near future and the desirability of the homes for conversion into chic, upscale boutique hotels. 

May I be forgiven repeats and typos due to intermittent Internet...and forcing everything through an illegal portal? Once we're home, corrections will be made.