Sunday bird blogging

Another homely bird, a white-throated sparrow, perched on a log in the Ramble.

More photos of Rayen

Geometries

One more place I didn't quite get around to -- Rayen, an old citadel in the desert near Kerman.

Parts of it are over 1000 years old, but it was still inhabited until about 150 years ago. (There was a much larger citadel at Bam, but it was destroyed in the massive earthquake of 2003.) Some of it is obviously reconstruction, but there are alleys between old mud brick walls that are hundreds of years old.

Urban poetry

An abstraction of scaffolding around the terra-cotta lump of a dome at the bazaar in Kerman.

Astronomy Tuesday

Comet ISON, as seen by Hubble in 2013. When the comet was first discovered, there were reports that it might be brighter than the full moon. Sadly, the comet broke up as it approached the sun and it was never visible with the naked eye.

Sic transit gloria stellarum.

Welcome to the working week

A baker in the old town in Yazd.

Yes, his hands were moving that fast. He makes 160 loaves of bread an hour, seven hours a day. His sons have a bakery as well, in one of the big cities, but they have machines. He does everything by hand.

We got to taste some of his handiwork -- the best bread we had in Iran.

Whole-ish Foods

This shop in Yazd made me laugh, and not just because it's called Whole Foods -- because, sure, why not? -- but because the guy standing inside, with the leather messenger bag and his hand cocked on his hip, would look perfectly at home in the store of the same name in Brooklyn or Portland.

And yes, they have Cheetos.

Random things I saw in Yazd

Yarn in soft colors, waiting to be woven into carpets; shoes made from the traditional Yazdi cloth in a store window; an old wavy window in the Lariha House complex reflecting the pomegranate trees in the garden; looking up, up, up at a squinch at the mosque.

Interior

The dome in the Jameh Mosque.

Yazd Mosque

The Jameh mosque in Yazd has the tallest portal in Iran, and some of the highest minarets.

I love the design on the underside of the balconies (click to see better) -- it's even more elaborate than the decoration in areas more likely to be noticed. I don't think anyone uses the balconies much anymore -- the call to prayer is usually a recording -- but it's appropriate that if a believer should cast his or her eyes up, every detail would be beautiful.

Collection: Doors in the old town

Iran Flashback: The Old Town in Yazd

The old town is a warren of mud brick lined alleys. Arched tunnels provide some relief from the sun, but these open arches may be buttresses. Or just decoration.

Click for a closer look.