glorious esfahan

Esfahan is a beautiful place - or I should be a little more specific - the small part of Esfahan that I moved around in was a beautiful place! It is after all a very big city. And the outer suburbs like a lot of old cities, are not that attractive.

Fortunately most of Esfahan's historic and scenic spots are within walking distance from one another.

Probably the most important of these areas are around the Naqsh-e Jahan Square ( constructed between 1598 and 1629):



It contains the Shah Mosque:







the Sheikh Lotf Allah Mosque:











and the Ali Qapu Palace:






But there is a veritable cornucopia of mosques, hammams, palaces and other decorative and tiled monuments and buildings to fill up your time here.



caravanserai in the bazaar:








hammam:






















our favourite restaurant:




To the south of the old city lies the river which unfortunately now runs dry. The water has been siphoned off for use, we are told, by other towns and cities but was hinted by a local that it is being used to cool nuclear reactors!

Across it spans several old bridges, this one being the most elaborate and photogenic:





And near these bridges lies the old Armenian quarter which unfortunately has not survived the government's modernisation influence, but does contain several beautiful old Orthodox Christian churches.

The best of these is the Vank Cathedral: