Day 11 (5/5) Nishapur

Today our taxis and drivers came back and we took another long trip – this time to Nishapur, a very old city along the Silk Road. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of historical sites to see. Many have been destroyed, or simply forgoten with time. Sometimes from the side of the road, one catches a glimpse of what looks to be the remains of a very old structure, but it’s hard to tell whether the ruins are 2000 years old or 200, since until recently, building materials and designs did not change a whole lot in rural areas. But we did visit some interesting sites.

First we stopped at a spring where it is said Imam Reza stepped off his horse, and where his foot touched the ground, it is said a spring started to bubble forth. There is indeed a spring, and there is naturally a small shrine. People gather water from the spring to drink or take with them.
Next, we visit a very small mosque dedicated to a lesser Imam along the road. It was a good break from the long drive and mom and dad stopped to pray and rest. There are many of these small shrines throughout the country.
After that, we headed towards Nishapur to have lunch. Mom called her good friend in Tehran who runs a restaurant and her friend directed us to a restaurant in Nishapur that they either own or which was owned by friends. It was a good lunch, though other people in the restaurant were very curious about me.

I have to admit there are days when it sometimes takes all my patience to endure being stared at so blatantly, but I also understand how different I look. When possible and appropriate, I try to overcome the discomfort by saying hello or talking with people, which is sometimes all people want - to know more about me. This is especially true of groups of children – they’ll sometime venture a shy, barely audible “hello” when they come near to me. If I say hello back, they get very excited and start to whisper and talk amongst themselves. It’s quite endearing when it comes from them. When it's adults just staring at me, I find it somewhat more trying.

After lunch, we visited a wooden mosque. While this might not sound unusual to those of us who are used to wood as a building material, one has to understand that wood is not commonly used in building in Iran. In fact, I think this is probably the only wood building I've seen in Iran. Most buildings are brick - either bare or covered in stone such as marble or granite. But this mosque and its adjoining library and house was built by a former UC Berkeley engineering student who, once he graduated, moved back to Iran and built this mosque. Everything is made of wood – kind of like a slightly refined log cabin with minarets.
We also went to an archeological site where they have uncovered a 1200 year old city, including skeletons. Unfortunately, we could not take any pictures.

Lastly, we visited the tomb of Omar Khayyam – poet, philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician. At the tomb, we met a group of tourists from Holland. There were also lots of school groups everywhere, some of whom we'd seen at the other sites along the way as well. I learned that once a month, each class has a budget to take kids on field trips to historical or other interesting sites.
We returned to the hotel at 6:30 – it was a long day, but very interesting. Unfortunately, I seem to have finally caught whatever dreaded illness I usually come down with. I guess it was just a matter of time!