Travel note in Persia 19 Colorful traditional cloths

Travel note in Persia 19, Colorful traditional cloths

　We had lunch at the uncle's house. Then we said good-by to him and his family. We were going to Sarein village, the hot springs in the mountainous area of Ardebil.

We were planning to stay at a motel of Sarein for 3 or 4 days. We went into the mountain across the prairie by car.

　Sarein is a small village 2,30 km far from Ardebil city, but it was so crowded. There were many small handycraft shops and restaurants on the main street. It has similar atomosphere with the festivals in Japan.

It was very cool compared with Tehran. I felt cold. It was very crowded because of many summer visiters from the city.

Sarein has more than 1 meter snow in winter, so it is very difficult to go there in winter. My husband and other men were looking for the motel. The first one was full, but the second one was OK.

　As soon as we arranged our luggage, we all went to walk around.

The people's appereance were similar to Tehran. Most women wore the coats or Chador but some women wore the traditional cloths of Azerbaijan. They were from the village in the heart of a mountain.

Their skirts were very attractive. Those were long gathered skirts of vivid colored pattern. One woman wore about ten skirts of different color and looked swollen.

They wore some blouses of different patterns. The thick belt of the waist was made by cloth. They twisted the turbans on the heads not headscarves.

Chador or headscarves are Islamic dress. But they have their own traditional way of wearing and living.

　In a sidewalk, people went back and forth continually. Since it was the summer tourist season, there were many family travelers.

The 1,2 kilometer main street has souvenir shops, Chelou-kebab restaurants, Butchers which the sheep meat was hang, toy shops, motels, hotels and so on.

Chelou-kebab

　Today's supper was Chelou-kebab. Chelou-kebab is a long thin strip of barbecued lamb meat with rice and butter. It is the most common dish of Iranian restaurants.

Most of restaurants looked old and rough. We found a good restaurant and went in. There were some long tables. Since we were 20 people, we occupied one long table and sat down.

　My husband and other men were talking with the restaurant staff during eating. They found the restaurant owner is one of their far relative. It is possible because the parents are from Ardebil.

At every restaurant in Iran, the staffs insist on courtesy that the customers do not need to pay for food. But if you really do not pay, they would call you skipping the restaurant bill.

However in this restaurant they regarded us their relatives, so they really did not want to receive the money. It seemed not only courtesy. After all they did not let us pay. I heard the eldest brother went to pay on the next day.

The hot spring resort of Sarein

One of the special dish of Sarein is Ashe-mast (heavy soup of yogurt). It is the stew of yogurt, mutton and herbs. This local dish was born by the prosperous nature of stock farming.

There were many Ashe-mast restaurant everywhere. They cook it in a huge pot well seen at the store. Many people love this, so most of them were so crowded.

When we walked the sidewalk, I saw the bones of the sheeps in the pots in front of the restaurants. It was the rest of the boiled lamb that Iranian people often eat for the breakfast.

The simply boiled lamb seems too strong for the breakfast. People eat them with salt and lime juice. Every time I walk on street, I found full of sheep bones in the pot in front of restaurants.

Moreover, Jigyar (liver) which were barbecued on chacoal in front of us was very delicious. Since we wanted to eat fresh liver and other meats, we ordered the meat just after buchered.

Those were very fresh because the sheep was alive some hours ago. We ate them while they ware hot with Nan.

Breakfast was fresh baked Nan, white cheese, real cream and honey.

Those foods were very popular for the people from the city. My husband or other boys took a line to buy them every early morning. I felt I became really healthy to eat these fresh food.

Walk along a mountain stream

To enjoy the natural ground fully, we went to hill side with the relative's boys. There is a mountain stream under the hill of green. Nobody else was there. The nephews were humming songs.

Although the weather was dry, it is a green prairie thanks for the mountain stream. A big cow was pastured and ate grass in front of us. I was surprised his big face suddenly appeared from the green tree.

We walked slowly on the hill, and went down to the mountain stream. It has no road and bridge. Despite I could go along the stones to cross the stream, the nephews held out my hand.

I think Iranian men are basically gentlemen. I was glad their help to cross the mountain stream.