The Glamor of Desert (part 2)

Being an octogenarian, my grandparents can't function like they did in their youth and since we are here to provide my grandparents and my aunt's parents with an enjoyable holiday, things are a bit different!

We spent the last night at hotel, watching television, crunching chips and drinking soda instead of going out and I don't think we can stay out of hotel for more than two hours.
Today, we are going to visit Jame mosque of Yazd one of the most famous ancient monuments in Iran. In comparison with Jame mosque of Isfahan, constructing Jame mosque of Yazd took a longer period of time mostly because this mosque was founded by people; on the contrary, Jame mosque of Isfahan was founded by Shah Abbas the Great.
As we step into the mosque, Hadi, starts enlightening us about the building! Although this is not my first visit, there are still new things to learn. This time, having an architect as a tour guide, we try to focus on the building itself, rather than receiving some historical information like other tourists.
One of the most important parts of each mosque is the dome, or in Persian architecture, Gonbad. “Jame mosque of Yazd is famed for its double layered brick dome” says Hadi. “the proportion of radius to hight is more then usual and it makes this Gonbad, especially the lower layer, unique in the world”. The distance between the two domes is two meters which means you can walk upright between them!
The very first question comes to your mind is why they built it double layered? “It has lots of aesthetics reasons” Hadi answers. “the outer dome has civic scale; however, the inner dome has human scale”. Besides that, it makes it adiabatic. Just imagine how horrible it would be if it was only one big or one small dome.As we are strolling about, discussing different aspects of building, people, who couldn't find a tour guide for themselves, gather round us to listen to what Hadi is saying. As more people come, my old friend, being fond of having audience, talks with more fervor and it seems unlikely that he is going to give up so easily!

The Glamor of Desert (part 1)

Although this is my third time traveling to Yazd, this time, flying to the city, I can see a large picture of Yazd for the first time, which is nothing but “a city in the heart of desert!”

It has just turned midday. we are landing in Yazd Shahid Sadooghi Airport after almost one hour flight, departed from Tehran. Naturally, The weather is hot and not likely to change in the near future, which can be easily understood by looking at the clear sky. however, the night predictably will be freezing cold. Going on lots of journeys to south of Iran , these features of desert is not strange to me but for my grandparents, not having so many traveling experience, these are far beyond their belief.

Lifting our luggage from the conveyor belt, I call my friend Hadi, who is recently graduated in architecture from Yazd University. Luckily, he still lives here with his wife although he has been planning to go back to Tehran since he finished university. By the time we step out of the airport's hall, I see him parking his car and coming towards us, having a big smile on his face; “I missed you a lot” he says, giving me a big hug. I introduce him to my grandparents and aunt, as he helps me carry our luggage into his car.

In order to get to our hotel, we should pass through the city to the other side. Hadi, who is usually forthcoming about history especially when he is in his own home town, is talking about different places in the city as we pass by and my grandmother, being very keen on history, is listening to him attentively while I am trying to figure out what we are going to do next.

Approaching Safaiyeh Hotel, he is carefully explaining hotel's history to his only listener, my grandma; “It used to have only one ancient building until they built a new one to improve hotel accommodation three years ago”. As it is the low season, the old building is unavailable and besides, we have already reserved the rooms before leaving Tehran.

I am unloading the luggage from his car's trunk while my aunt is checking in and he is still talking to my grandma, Hoping we don't face any problem with my talkative friend in the next few days.

(To be continued . . .)