Intro to Isfahan 101

Source: here 

There was a time that Iranian believed you are not supposed to eat even a grain of wheat that doesn't belong to you. If you eat at some one’s table, you own them for life! A legend says that once people of Isfahan were all great people known for their good deeds and there were no offender among them. As a result all their prayers to God were answered. Since they were free spirited people, anytime a new ruler was appointed to the city, people would pray to get rid of him. This went on and on for a few years and no ruler could last long in Isfahan. Until one ruler who knew the reason for that ordered all people to bring an egg to the main square of the city and leave it there. When a pile of egg was collected, he ordered everyone to take one egg home. Since no one knew which egg was belonged to them, they just took one egg, any egg. After that because people’s belongings were mixed together, their prayers were never answered again and that ruler controlled Isfahan for many years. That square is now known as Toghchi (طوقچی ).

Holidays are the best time to catch up with things you always wondered about but they don't really seem a priority. I realized that it was time to learn about the city that I was born in and I spent the first 5 years of my life in. I needed to learn about those neighborhoods that we traveled once every summer to visit relatives; I needed to have a better picture of the city in my head and a visual description of the streets (I am a visual learner) such as Chahar Bagh Boulevard, Ferdosi, Hasht Behesht etc. I needed to know where was that Sa'adi High School my dad used to study in; or the neighborhood that my grandfather was born and raised in. Thanks to Google Map, we review different parts of Isfahan with my dad. We took a look at the streets I heard their names so many times in conversations. We talked about some of the buildings that have some sort of significance to my family. Now I know how close the house my dad grew up in was from Naghshe Jahan Squre . In addition, I learned some stories (like the one above) about Isfahan as well. Stories are great because you get to learn a lot about the culture.