Kashan, Iran

Kashan is the first of the large oases along the Qom-Kerman road which runs along the edge of the central deserts of Iran. Its charm is thus mainly due to the contrast between the parched immensities of the deserts and the greenery of the well-tended oasis.  After world known Iranian historical cities such as Isfahan and Shiraz, Kashan is a common destination for foreign tourists due to numerous historical places.

I preferred this small and quilt city much better than Tehran. No traffic jam, no air pollution, much few people staring at me.

Agha Bozorg Mosque is a historical mosque in Kāshān, Iran. The mosque was built in the late 18th century by master-mimar Ustad Haj Sa'ban-ali, the mosque and theological school (madrasah) is located in the center of Kāshān. It was here where Ustad Ali Maryam as a pupil started his career as a brilliant architect.

Kashan Bazaar the bazaar with fantastic its mudbrick architecture is one of the jewels of the city. Pay a small amount to one of the touts hanging around the bazaar and you will be led to the roof of the bazaar, where you can get an idea of the technical marvel of building such large structures from mudbricks and have a wonderful view over the old city.

We found a restaurant inside the bazaar which used to be a bathhouse and had tea and water pipe in it. The owner told us the bathhouse was 300 yrs old and operated by his grand father. We enjoyed the relaxing atmospherese.

We bought the famous rose oil and dry roses at the bazaar as suverneior.

Fin Garden is described as one of the most beautiful historical gardens of the middle-east and the world in the tour book.  It contains Kashan's Fin Bath, where Amir-Kabir a famous vizier of Qajarid was murdered by the King Nasereddin Shah. The garden covers 2.3 hectares with a main yard surrounded by ramparts with four circular towers. In keeping with many of the Persian gardens of this era, the Fin Garden employs a great many water features.

However, many backpackers, including me, believed it totally overrated and can be skipped in view of the high admission fee.  The Iran government raised the foreigner admission of most sites three times or more since 2013.  

After talking to other backpackers, we decide to see at least one historic house in Kashen, Boroujerdi ha Residence. The house of Boroujerdi, belonging to a trading family who migrated to Kashan, was built over a hundred years ago. The construction date can still be seen on the covered inscription of the building, completion of which took 18 years of work by tens of laborers, architects and master painters. Since exceptional attention has been paid to all minute architectural details demanded by the geographical and climatic conditions of the area, the house has attracted considerable attention of architects and recognition from Iranian and foreign scientific and technical teams.

We stayed at Khan-e Ehsan TRADITIONAL HOTEL 

( www.ehsanhouse.com) in a three-people dorm room sharing with a Korean backpacker. It has stars twinkle on the vaulted roof in this simple but atmospheric traditional hotel. 

We ate dinner on a traditional banch insude a pretty courtyard with a large decorative pool and plenty of flower and planets. Lonely planet said that The hotel uses profits to help fund its NGO, which promotes the arts and is based in the house.