Back in Kashan, we do not stay long, but make our way south to get to the legendary city of Esfahan. Ali convinces us to make a stop on the way in the small village of Abyaneh, which is on the way. We agree to his offer to drive us to there and find again a fascinating place out of surprise.

I did not know about Kashan in the beginning, only from the invitation of Mariam in Couchsurfing I heard of this city. Now I am surprised about the beauty of Abyaneh, a village that is made of red clay.

The city is a very popular destination for local tourists. It is crowded with people from Tehran and Esfahan. We are the only Western tourists, as always, and therefore an attraction ourselves for them. We have some dried fruits and a famous dish of Persia, called Ghome Sabzi.

In this dish you have meat with beans in a green sauce of herbs. A typical drink is Dough, which is a blend of water and jogurt with gas and sometimes herbs. Usually it is very sour. Iranians love sour!

Abyaneh is not the end, Ali has another location prepared for us. Next to the village is a ruined castle with a fascinating view over the valley.

I wonder how it looks like, when the trees are green. We are still early in the year, winter just left and trees are without leaves.

While we drive in the car we have the opportunity to share music and language with Ali. He is fascinated from the songs that I play from my MP3 list and we enjoy to learn Persian swearwords.

Ali drives us to the town of Natanz. There lives his friend Reza, who will take us to Esfahan.