Quick stop in Kashan and Abyaneh

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Richard and I left Tehran early in the morning and took a bus to Kashan where we wanted to spend the night but then our host from couch surfing couldn’t host us anymore so we ended up just passing through.

As we arrived in Kashan our bus driver dropped us off at a spot where they were a lot of taxi drivers waiting for tourists. On my way I had done some research and I knew some places we wanted to visit and how much it would cost to get there. The first ten minutes of our arrival was pretty much dealing with taxi drivers to get a good deal to take us to a village called Abyaneh. I had read that from kashan you can get a shared taxi round trip for $10 each so we negotiated a taxi driver for $25 for both of us and to drop us off in Natanz where we could get a public bus to Isfahan.

Our taxi tour started by visiting the mosque of Kashan, Agra Bozorg, a beautiful building considered one of the best mosque’s of the 19th century!

We then went to Fin gardens where we had to pay an entrance fee of 200,000Rials ($6.20) that was not worth it at all. I think during spring it is more beautiful as the flowers are blooming but during winter everything is dead and the water fountains are not even turned on.

Our taxi driver then drove like a maniac (why do they all drive this way?) all the way to Abyaneh village.

Abyaneh village is one of the oldest in Iran and the houses all have a red tint in them that make Abyaneh a red city. Richard and I started walking and it seemed like a deserted town; we only found one man walking on the street. We started thinking that maybe because it is winter and it’s so cold that all the people have moved to nicer and warmer weather.

We decided to climb all the way up the rock on top the village. The view from up there was pretty nice, overlooking at the snow covered hills.

Once we got down we went to the main road trying to get to the mosque. Once on the main road we started to see some local people. The first local woman we met was wearing the traditional Abyanaki long white scarf with flowers in it. We talked to her briefly and asked if we could take a picture and she looked at us and said “money.” Right then and there she killed the whole vibe of the city for me; once locals start asking for money the place has become too commercial and has lost its authenticity.

I see the tip of the mosque!

Local Lady enjoying the sun

One of the many beautiful doors around Abyaneh

When we got inside, it didn't look like a mosque anymore.

Richard going up.

After an hour of walking around the town we had to meet with our guide.

He drove like a maniac… right? Well, on the way back he decided that his level of maniactism wasn’t bad enough, he drove so fast that I had to ask him to stop because I was about to puke!!!!!

We finally arrived to Natanz were we wanted to take a bus but instead ended up getting in a shared taxi. The view all the way to Isfanhan was amazing! We were driving on flat dry land surrounded by mountains… pretty impressive.

About Post Author

Andrea

Hi! It's me... Andrea! In 2016 I decided to drop everything and take a year to enrich my life and travel around the world. It turns out the world is just too big for 12 months! Still on the road and sharing my experience as a solo female traveler around the globe!