Tabriz

I arrived in Tabriz fairly late in the evening on a Saturday. The centre of town was packed with people, all the parks were filled with picnickers and there seemed to be somewhat of a party atmosphere.

Tabriz is a huge city and I only explored a small part of it. As everywhere in the Middle East, the Bazaar (or Souk) is one of the main attractions. This one is particularly massive, with 7,000 shops under 35 kilometres of covered area. I poked my head in and walked straight through one section just to get a taste. My impression was that the souks in Aleppo (Syria) were still my favourite.

The Blue Mosque is no longer blue. Only a small section of the original remains. It was destroyed in an earthquake and has been rebuilt in brick, which is particularly unappealing. It only goes to show that texture even on a structure as large as this does make a huge difference in "look and feel".

I left Tabriz for Kaleybar the next day to make a loop along the Azerbaijani border to the Caspian Sea.