As we were driving out of Esfehan I still managed to take some photographs from inside the bus for no particular reason apart from being a sort of farewell souvenir. I strongly believe I was not the only one to have become attached to the beautiful city we had spent our last three days at and although we were moving east towards the desert of Kavir, which we anticipated to be very interesting I felt I was leaving something rather special behind.
Having been used to long rides when I am abroad, which hadn't happened throughout this trip, I sat close to the window so as not to lose anything on the way. After a few hours of looking at deserted areas with colours that ranged from a faded golden-like colour to a permanent greyish one I gave up and fell asleep till we reached Na'in, where we would be spending some time.
We got out of the bus fairly close to the local Friday Mosque, whose colour reflected the overall mud like colour, though it was surrounded by a green garden.
Considered a rather unique mosque because of its 10th century "Arab plan" remains, Masjed-e Jame stood there proudly disclosing its arcades. The moment we walked into its courtyard with the varied brick patterned piers I was mesmerised and a lot more when we got closer to the pillars covered with plaster strap-work framing clusters of small mulberry -like fruits and the deeply in the arches, not to mention the here and there the 14th century tile enlivening the brick- work of the ceilings.
Some of us followed Massoud into the caves, which were used in the past during situations of difficulty and/or as a prayer chamber in hot Summers and cold Winters, once temperatures there were said to always be moderate (10-15ºC). They were undoubtedly worth looking at.
Before heading into the old citadel we walked around a back alley of the mosque to unexpectedly come across a beautifully well carved ayvan, most of us couldn't feel indifferent to, taking into account the beauty of the artistry involved.
No comments:
Post a Comment