2020.2/15 (Sat) Tabriz Purchase Day 3 First Half
Since we only had one day to stay in Tabriz, we gathered early in the morning with great enthusiasm and headed to the bazaar!
I was surprised to see so much snow piled up.
This is Majid, who will be showing us around Tabriz.
However, when we arrived at the bazaar, none of the stores were open yet!
For now, I decided to just walk around in circles.
Tabriz Bazaar
Let me introduce the city of Tabriz.
Tabriz is the capital of East Azerbaijan Province in northwestern Iran.
It's further north than Tehran, so it's extremely cold!
It is the fourth largest city in Iran after Tehran, Mashhad, and Isfahan.
Tabriz is home to a large Azerbaijani population whose native language is Azerbaijani.
The bazaar we visited this morning is actually the oldest bazaar in the world!
It is also said to be the longest bazaar in the world.
It has a history of over 1,000 years and has been visited by Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta, making it an important trading hub since ancient times.
It was also registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010.
Since none of the shops are open, my eyes are inevitably drawn to the walls, doors, and ceilings, all of which are very picturesque and cool.
Personally, I like the photo on the left.
I was thrilled by the contrast between the atmospheric wooden door and the mannequins wearing leggings.
During the day, the bazaar is bustling with modern items, supporting people's modern lives, but once the shops close, silence descends and you can sense the history behind the buildings and doors.
It's rare in Japan to come across a situation where the place you go shopping every day is a building with over 1,000 years of history.
Here and there, steam was rising from pots and samovars, and people were standing and having a quick breakfast or drinking chai.
We also got a glimpse into the daily lives of people working in the morning.
I walked quite a bit, but only a few shops were open yet.
It was so cold that I decided to go to a cafe to warm up!
I happened to walk into a cafe that also sells carpets and has a really nice atmosphere inside.
The rugs had good taste and there were some lovely ones, but they seemed to be aimed at tourists and were extremely expensive...
After warming up with chai or cafe latte, we head out to the bazaar again.
When I headed down the street where there were only carpets, I found a shop that was open!
Finally, the purchasing begins.
I'll find it!
Layout's goal is to purchase smaller sizes of the "Mahi" design, a typical Tabriz rug design.
Mahi means fish in Persian, and it was given this name because the leaf motif resembles a small fish.
I went to several stores but couldn't find any small sizes of this Mahi pattern!
It's a pinch...
I asked around a lot and finally found it. I had heard that there weren't many small sizes, but I didn't expect it to be so difficult. This is the Mahi pattern.
I continued looking, but couldn't find any Mahi patterns, so I headed to a tribal shop near Tabriz.
to be continued