In the morning, we made a brief coffee stop before setting out for sightseeing. Just down from the coffee shop was an antique store. In the front window of this shop Tim spotted several painted tiles which had Hebrew letters on them. Suzan went inside and found several Jewish items, including a brass seder plate, a menorah, and Shabbat candles. With Vahid’s assistance she was able to purchase a tile depicting a dove and bearing the Hebrew letters שלום, which means Shalom or Peace.

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When we left, Suzan asked Vahid if the shopkeeper was Jewish. He said he wasn’t, but because he has some Jewish customers, he keeps merchandise that might appeal to them.

Shortly after that we visited the Sultan Amir Ahmad bath house, which was constructed during the Safavid era, in the 16th century, and then reconstructed after suffering major earthquake damage in 1778. It has two main parts: the sarbineh (dressing hall) and garmkhaneh (hot bathing hall). The sarbineh is a large octagonal hall and has an octagonal pool in the middle, separated by eight pillars from the outer section. We also climbed to the roof of this bath house in order to look at the natural light and ventilation system.

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Near the bathhouse we met a woman who was passing by. She wanted to chat. Though she didn’t speak much English, she generously offered us some pomegranate seeds from a basket she was carrying.

Just down the street from the bath house is the Tabatabaee Historical House. It covers nearly 5,000 square meters (equivalent to about 54,000 square feet, or around one and a quarter acres) and includes 40 rooms, four courtyards, four basements, three windcatchers, and gardens. The wind catchers circulate breezes down into an area well below ground where the air is cooled, thus providing a low-tech type of air conditioning that is ideally suited for desert environments.

An interesting feature of the doors here, and elsewhere in traditional houses, is the presence of two door knockers, which made different sounds. The one on the left in the photo below is the one women used; the one on the right was for men. This allowed the lady of the house know whether to expect a male or female visitor, so she could cover her hair if the visitor was a male.

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Leaving Kashan we headed for the ancient village of Abyaneh. On the way there we passed by the controversial Natanz nuclear facility, where the Iranians are working towards the development of nuclear energy. Taking photos was suggested only if we relished the idea of spending time in an Iranian prison. We passed on that opportunity.

Abyaneh itself is way up in the foothills of the mountains. The village itself is at least 1500 years old–perhaps much older, since archaeologists have found remnants of much older inhabitation of the area. Even though it is something of a tourist destination for both foreigners and Iranians, it did not seem overly “touristy” — we were able to get a good idea of what a traditional Iranian village looks like.

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For Suzan the highlight of the visit to Abyaneh was donkey ride down several lanes to the river bed at the  bottom of the village. We learned that the donkey’s name in English would be something like Clever.

Tim and a few others crossed the riverbed and hiked up a hill on the opposite side, from which they had a great view of the village (see the third photo in the gallery above).

By the time we reached Esfahan, it was well after dark. After settling into our rooms at the Hasht Behesht (Eighth Paradise) Hotel we walked to Naqsh-e Jahan Square, another UNESCO-listed site. There we all enjoyed falafel sandwiches, long-promised by Nate, with the moon shining on us as we sat at one end of the square. We made a much longer visit to this impressive site the next day.