I was starting my day differently from the other ones. I wasn’t hanging out with Arian or Amir, I was going to meet someone from Couchsurfing and meeting at the grand bazaar of Tehran. The excitement for Chaharshanbe was quite high and jumping over fire.
Tehran Bazaar
There was a bus going in the direction to the bazaar and I was waiting quite a while for it to come. Due to that I was getting quite late to the meetup.
At the bazaar I was meeting a local girl from Couchsurfing who wanted to go with me to a palace. We went there and she booked two local tickets for us, but the security control directly catched us and wanted me to buy the foreign ticket. It was more than 10 times as much and I refused to pay as much. It was just a rip off, I think it disappointed her, but we continued to spend time.
I had the vision of finding some specific handcraft things on the bazaar. It was just huge, thousands of people were running around and making it impossible for a claustrophobic person to survive there. We were running around kilometers in order to find it, which sadly wasn’t working out.
We ended up getting falafel and went back to the first place we started that meetup. While standing there and talking a bit, many street sellers were selling fireworks. There were many of them. Also the police walked through the streets and the sellers tried to get away from them while selling fireworks to the people.
The fireworks were for the upcoming celebration a week before the Persian new year.
I wrote something in her book and then she was going to meet a friend, while I walked back home.
Another attempt finding the handcraft things
It was weird, always someone wanted to meet with me. I was never really alone, so I chose to just walk back home, which was around five kilometers of distance, so not as bad.
While on the walk I was calling with some locals who wanted to hang out, I was just quite exhausted from meeting many people, so I tried to get Arian, Amir and myself at a party for the celebration and it actually worked. A local girl was inviting us to a little party. First she just wanted me to be there, but I convinced her that it’s fine to bring my friends as well.
I was hanging out with Arian after I reached home, cause he was done with work as well. We were having good conversations like always. Arian had a fun idea, to get to a metro station. At the metro station there was an underground bazaar. They actually had quite cool things to purchase, sadly nothing which would be good for transportation to Germany.
I was still hoping to find the handcraft thing, but it seems to be impossible to find it again. In my mind, the new learned rule was “when you find something unique on your travels which you really want, get it” and that is weird for me because I am a really careful person when it comes to spending unnecessary money.
Preparation
After a while it was rainy and getting dark. We were meeting Amir again and with him we were getting some food. Before actually getting something I was getting for myself, another falafel, I got it at a shop where the owner knew me already. A day before I was getting there and ordered a falafel as well. The owner was amazed by me and took a video for Instagram. The falafel was honestly very decent and good when looking at the price!
It was time again for some pizza, but this one wasn’t as good as the other even though it was from one of the most popular chains. We were getting some carrot ice-cream juice, a weird combination but somehow it was good.
We were walking home and on the way I really wanted to get some fireworks for the celebration. Arian asked for the prices and they were not even close to what I expected. The first time something was actually pricey in Iran. I was getting at the end some firecrackers in the form of a handgranate and some smoke bombs.
Also Amir was getting some little firecrackers which were way louder than they looked. He was burning some down while walking home.
Both Amir and Arian were quite afraid of the celebration. They said it would be like a literal war zone. I was actually quite excited to see it and I was hoping to get them motivated as well.
Let’s have a party!!!
It’s the last Tuesday of the Persian New Year, also called Nowruz, so it’s time for Chaharshanbe Suri. Chaharshanbe Suri also could be named as “fire festival”, read more about it, if interested. Traditionally people were jumping over an uneven number of fires, usually seven. The way it is being celebrated today, in big cities like Tehran, is more like burning down fireworks. Also just enjoying time with your friends and family.
We were invited to a party in a good neighborhood of the city. At first we started by talking a bit, but not as much was going on. Here and there you would be able to hear some fireworks, but not as much.
As the night was arriving people were putting two fires up in front of the house and it was getting more crowded. A buffet was opened and the music started. People were getting more and we were jumping several times over the fire. It was getting a lot of fun and it was very crowded.
The buffet was nice and surprisingly there was alcohol served, something really illegal in the country, but nobody cared. I was even playing some German music for the people and they enjoyed it. I was still hoping for the war zone, but it wouldn’t happen as I expected. In Germany during the new year, we are basically having a war zone in some regions. It wasn’t feeling worse than that.
Being on the streets
The party was about to finish and we wanted to drive to a viewpoint, like a huge amount of others. Our plan was to light up some of these balloons, to put them in the air.
We took more than an hour to drive a distance of less than two kilometers. The streets were crowded and people were dancing on it, even the driver. They were burning down fireworks and having a lot of fun. For myself it would have been more fun, if they could drive instead of dance, but that’s the German coming out basically.
Once we arrived it was a lot of fun. We were trying to light up the balloons, which sadly didn’t work out at all. I was trying to get fired somewhere else, so I found a group of young people, who were speaking English as well. They offered me homemade beer which tasted quite good. I liked their energy a lot, but my friends wanted me to be with them, so I left. In the distance you could have heard “we want Nico back”, weird and fun at the same time. We left quite after that anyway, so it made sense.
When we drove home the streets were quite empty, maybe because it was two in the morning, such a contrast to before.
My issue was that I had to get up the next day very early for the guided tour in Tehran, which was offered to me for free.
I had a lot of fun, especially spending some time with my friends. It was just lovely.
What’s up next?
Next week it will be basically about the guided tour and also my time in the other city of Iran, so stay tuned.
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