Chapter 66 Silk Road Hotel

Driving on the Iranian plateau every morning, the sights I see are indescribable. The first eye-catching is Shayuan Mingyue.There is such a clear moon at dawn, which I have never seen in other places.What's even more strange is that the morning sun and the bright moon are bright at the same time, one side is red vigorously, and the other side is white enough, neither covering nor denuding each other, until the whole sky is full of brilliance.It is a pity that this beautiful scene of the sun and the moon appearing quietly while people are still sleeping soundly. Just thinking about it, the traffic on the road is dense.Take a closer look, a car and a family are beckoning to us.The morning light and the moonlight shone on their faces at the same time, making them look particularly bright.This may be a unique scenery in the Islamic world. The whole family just finished their morning prayers, and they had a complete morning together.

Why the whole family had to travel early in the morning in the sandy plain far away from the city is not clear, but this kind of scene is enviable anyway. Then dawn began to make public.From red to golden, he has done his best in the clouds and mist.When we usually watch the sunrise in the city, we are always narrow and hurried. How can there be such a wide sky and wide land, and slowly let it spread the colors?After waiting for a long time, the edge of the rising sun seemed to be coming out, but a group of sand dunes rushed over, like the protagonist in an old play covering his face with his sleeves.When the sand dunes finally moved away, there was a full sun in front of us.

Turning around to look at the moon at this time, it has turned into a round of fog trails that are lighter than Chenmeng, and you can't find it if you are not careful.I look at my watch, it's exactly seven o'clock. Mercedes-Benz all the way, arrived in Isfahan after noon.This city makes people have to go to just one sentence, that is: Isfahan, half of the world. For those of us who have just traveled through so many countries and our own country is so vast and rich, this sentence is obviously unacceptable.I told my companions that this is an artistic language, just like the ancient Chinese said about the first building in the world, the second spring, etc., or how much the moon is under the sky, and how much Yangzhou occupies, etc. Don’t be too serious.But in any case, Isfahan should have some confidence, enough to bear this sentence for hundreds of years, right?

The confidence of Isfahan mainly comes from King Abbas of the Safavid Dynasty in the seventeenth century.This date is too late for the long history of Persian civilization, so my interest has not been great.But when I got here, I found that because of the proximity, all the relics are still alive, strongly showing Abbas's personal charm, and it is difficult to avoid. He is very good at governing the country and diplomacy. I will not show it here. Judging from the relics alone, he is very secular and has the ability to be close to the people. For example, there are two bridges built by him on the Sayandro River across the urban area, which are beautiful whether viewed from a classical or modern perspective.Especially the Hajiu Bridge, which is actually a water storage project.There is a long corridor between the bridge deck and the bridge hole. Walking in the corridor, you can see water on the left and right, water under your feet, and shade on the top, which is very cool.It is said that in the midsummer season, King Abbas once splashed water with the common people in this corridor.Now this corridor still retains a very secular atmosphere and has become a tea gallery.Drinking tea is the second time, mainly smoking hookah.There are pinches of white smoke soil for sale when you enter the door. The more you go in, the stronger the aroma of the smoke, and the hookah pipes are stuffed straight into your mouth.

In addition to worldly taste, he also has elegance, evidenced by his Forty-Pillar Hall of the Li Palace.Although it was destroyed by foreign invaders, today it still looks like the Palace of Fontainebleau in the suburbs of Paris, only smaller than Fontainebleau.When I got here, I finally saw the brilliant red leaves and the thick autumn colors.All the way here is either a desert or a busy city. Where have you experienced such a pure seasonal signal? Of course, what is more noticeable is the promotion of Islam.The oldest mosque in Isfahan is called the Friday Mosque. We went to see it, and it was a bit old. The King's Square built in the Abbas era fully concentrated the advantages of Islamic culture.

The square is very large, it is said that it is seven times bigger than St. Mark's Square in Venice. I recalled that St. Mark's Square was less than seven times, maybe four or five times, anyway, it is big enough.There are two mosques on the edge of the square, and the second-floor balconies of the surrounding buildings are all viewing platforms. In the center of the square are large pools, grass and stone roads. Horse-drawn carriages slowly pass by on the stone roads.On religious festivals, many people gather in the square, combining religion and secularity, court and civilians, worship and joy.King Abbas' own viewing stand is still there, with a carved wooden structure, like an old Chinese theater stage.The protagonist who just sits here and laughs loudly has been out for a long time.

The hotel we stayed in was named after King Abbas. There are copies of Western painters sketching here several centuries ago hanging in the corridor. It can be seen that the current architectural style is basically the same as that at that time, but it has been renovated.A little earlier, this was an important inn on the Silk Road. Most of the Chinese merchants stopped here, and the Persian merchants went to the west to do business.There are also those who continue to walk, so here is a resting place. It is said that the inn was full of camels at that time, and the scene of merchants gathering from east and west was very lively. What has not changed so far is the blue dome of the mosque next door.

Tonight, I also fell asleep listening to the sound of worship coming from the blue dome, dreaming of the hometown dream similar to that of ancient Chinese businessmen. November 25, 1999, Isfahan, overnight at Abbasi Hotel