Home > Notebook > Tea and Loafing In Esfahan

Esfahan must be the best place in Iran for drinking tea and hanging out. At the main square there is even a teahouse with a view. Tea is not good there, is expensive and the service could be better. But the view! Square used to be called Image of the World but after revolution they renamed it to Imam's Square. It is the second largest in the world, just after Tiananmen Square ^[WIKI] in Beijing. There few mosqued around it, a palace and a bazaar. In the middle lawns and fountains in which children splash in the evenings a ride bikes in them (is there is no Islamic bearded guardian with whistle around).

The city itself has yet more mosques and palaces and parks and mauselums sprinkled all over and in the suburbs there is a mosque with shaking minarets. You climb one and lean hard and the minaret starts to shake – and the other one follows with the same phase. Public is forbiden to do it. But the minarets are shaken every hour by one of the guards.

To the south of historic center flows the river. With park around and few mediavel bridges over it. In the evening they are all lit up and locals secretly drink and dance under the arches.