eGlobal Education: from Iran's Caspian Sea to the Safi Mausoleum in Ardabil

GS with young Iranian women at Sheikh Sazfi Mausoleum, Ardabil

We walked on the none too clean beach along the Caspian Sea for a while yesterday morning. People, including women in their chadors thrown over tight pants, were running and walking by the water. The Caspian is huge and shallow along its shores, with small waves. Several of the walkers came up to talk to us to find out where we were from. One took a liking to Don, despite communicating only in Persian, and wanted his photo to keep the moment alive. The dog is one of the many friendless creatures roaming the beaches and towns for food, but, at this moment, at least, it seemed peaceful.

Don with new friend and dog on Caspian Sea beach

In the Anzali fish market later, Don inspected the day's catch. I am not as excited about looking at dead and dying fish. I would prefer that they be quickly put out of their suffering, which doesn't happen, and kept on ice, which also doesn't happen.

fishmonger with GS and fish

One lady came charging out from behind her fish stand (a metal table covered with various kinds of fish warming in the sun), pinched my cheek, delivered a huge kiss on my other cheek, and gave me a big hug. Then she went back to her fish and pulled one out to showcase a photo of the 2 of us. She spoke no English, but her welcome and laughter couldn't have been more clear.

Caspian Sea beach

melons at the Anzali market

There were piles of huge melons in the market, truckloads of onions and tomatoes, giant cauliflowers and 18 inch long celery. I don't know how one chooses her particular shop for the day's shopping, but the women of the town seem to know just where they want to go.
Rice is a major crop along this coast. We stopped at a rice factory to see how the rice is processed. First it is dumped into long bins about a foot deep. These are heated while the rice is stirred to prepare it for the dehusking machines.

rice bins

Next it is run through machines that separate the husk from the kernel of rice. And after that, the kernel goes through a polishing machine to remove the "skin", what makes brown rice brown rice. Finally, it passes over a sieve that separates the smaller kernels, the inferior rice, from the larger kernels, the more desirable and expensive rice. Iranians are just beginning to eat brown rice for its extra mineral and vitamin content.
We drove along the Caspian most of the day, sometimes by the water and sometimes a kilometer or less away.

roadside tea shop in alder forest

At one point, we stopped for "forest" tea, where an enterprising man had set up a little tea stand at a clearing to offer tea to passersby. We decided to walk from there the 3 or 4 kilometers to the next beach, through a beautiful alder forest. Next to a small lake was the perfect billboard (see below), pointing out that destroying the environment was destroying the earth. I wish more Iranians would worry about that. Trash is so pervasive that it just becomes part of the landscape. The counter, however, is the beautiful gardens and parks the Iranians treasure.

enviro billboard

valley between Iran and Azerbaijan

For about 40 kilometers, we drove along the mountainous border with Azerbaijan. The northern part of Iran is populated by Azeris and the area is called Western and Eastern Azerbaijan. There is a barbed wire and razorwire fence demarcating the border, which runs right along the road for part of its length.
In Ardabil, the key attraction is the Sheikh Safi Mausoleum, a beautifully designed and tiled complex of towers, courtyards and graves. Quite a few women came up to us to have photos taken with us. One group of gorgeous young women spoke English, so we chatted about their jobs for a while before taking our photos.
The Sheikh Safi Mausoleum has beautiful tiled facades and arched doorways. Inside, the main dome is painted in gold leaf. The tower where the Sheikh is buried was lovely in the evening light. Two new minarets stood out against the crescent moon.