'Esfahan nesf-e jahan', the old saying goes. Esfahan is half the world. Strolling around the city's central square it's difficult to argue with that. I sit down for a moment to take it all in. Then I open my guidebook and read: 'This central square (originally known as Naqsh-e Jahan or Pattern of the World) was first built as a garden (1602 AD) and is the largest enclosed square in the world (Tiananmen Square is larger but it is open)'. Tiananmen Square. It seems a world away, though I know I've already covered fifteen thousand kilometres of an estimated thirty thousand to Beijing.
The largest enclosed square at the centre of a journey to the largest open square; a city that is half the world; a square in that city that is the pattern of the world... My mind starts to spin like a globe. I look up and try to focus on the clear lines of the domes and porches that surround me. Minutes pass. When I'm sure no grand insights are about to materialise, I get up, take a few snapshots and give in to a more basic urge. It's time to check out the restaurants in this half of the world.
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| The sixteenth-century Ali Qapu Palace |
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| The dome of Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque |
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| Six o'clock: time for some tea and qalyan (water pipe) |
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| Blue mosaics everywhere |
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| Fun on the Zayandeh River |
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| Bazaar bizarre |
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