Travelling to Iran #3

I have no words to describe the beauty of Iran; every day is a new discovery. We are seeing lots of ancient mosques, as can be expected, and they are all quite different in their apparent uniformity, in the same way that churches in Europe are also quite unique, even though they are fundamentally alike.
Like elsewhere, the practice of taking over a sacred site already used by local people is fairly common. When the Muslims arrived in Iran they converted several  Fire temples of the Zoroastrians into mosques and every ruling dynasty added to an existing mosque as a way to reaffirm its power and glory. One of such mosques is in Isfahan (Esfahan) where the Jamie Mosque encapsulates 800 years of Muslim architecture.
The food here is delicious and I am eating a lot more than usual. Because of the ban on alcohol, I find myself developing a sweet tooth; at home, I never eat anything sweet but I do habitually drink wine with my evening meal which means I take much of my sugar from it.
Travelling with a group is nice but you do not get many opportunities to explore on your own. I am an independent traveller and like doing my own thing.
Today I opted out a museum visit to go swimming in my hotel - it was ladies day. It was an interesting experience.
After Esfahan, we will drive to Tehran stopping at various places on the way including Kashan where one can get the locally made rose water. I bought a few souvenirs already but I need to be careful, I do not know how to handle cash, I am not used to it and I am overspending. But who can resist the saffron and the beautiful lapis lazuli stones? I saw some magnificent earrings...

I am still struggling with the Farsi script but am making slow progress. Yesterday I bought myself a book of poems by Hafez, in the hope of being able to read them at some point in the original Farsi - but there is a translation in English too so I will start with that.
It's Ramadan and officially the whole country is not eating nor drinking during the day, thus only a few restaurants are open. But my guide tells me that in fact many people do not observe Ramadan at all and eat privately, without being seen. Our driver is a case in point, he joined us for lunch, together with our guide.
Today we visited an Armenian church. There is a considerable Armenian settlement in Esfahan. They are allowed to worship as Orthodox Christians and have been here for centuries. Some more Armenians moved to Isfahan when the Ottomans implemented their ethnic cleansing policy. The Turks never admit this was the case, so, according to our guide, they never visit the Armenian quarters in Isfahan, though there is plenty of Turkish tourists in Iran.
Iran seems to be keen to develop its tourist industry. Obviously, the sanctions do not help. This is now a cash economy and for many tourists, it is a drawback. Expensive purchases such as enamel, miniatures and carpets can be made by using a credit card as the galleries often have branches in Turkey or in Dubai. But otherwise, it is just cash.

Last night I was in a beautiful five-star hotel with an elegant and overpriced shopping arcade - goods always are overpriced in such establishments. I wandered in to have a coffee in the beautiful grounds and browse the galleries. There was a bookshop which sold a pre-revolution magazine in which you could see an Iranian woman on a beach in a bikini, side by side a woman wearing a traditional dress. Next to me, a beautiful Iranian girl with clear blue eyes struck up a conversation with me. She pointed to the photo in the magazine and said "See? You could choose. That's what we want, we do not have much of that at the moment." I did not know what to reply. She added that it's only now that women are allowed to wear colourful rusari and fashionable manto, and it is merely tolerated, rather than approved "We had to fight for that freedom. You take it for granted, you can wear a scarf if you want and take it off whenever you do not want it. We do not have that freedom".  I could have told her that much of our freedom, as women,  is quite relative, it has to be seen in context and some would like to take it away from us but I did not wish to get involved in this kind of conversation. I am a tourist and as such, I need to keep well off political comments.
I find it quite extraordinary, however, that people should be so open about their views with total strangers. The morality police are still active but much more lax, these days, so I am told.
The internet is controlled but everyone seems to have access to a VPN. There is, as I noted before, a total separation of private and public, true schizophrenia. How Iran will resolve all this is a question mark. Children are encouraged to learn English and foreign languages from a very young age in the hope they might be able to go overseas. Travel and knowledge of the world outside Iran makes people here either desirous or afraid of change.
I will write again from Tehran. My holiday is ending rather fast, time flies.