Salmiya

In November 2006, I attended a conference in Shiraz. I met also my Esfahanian colleagues and friends there, and quickly the question arose, which city was actually nicer, Esfahan or Shiraz. Well, Esfahan is known as “ nesf-e jahan ”, literally “Half of the World”. I have featured the grandeur of the Safavid capital’s main square, the Naqsh-e Jahan , the parks and palaces , and the mysterious remains of the Seljuq capital , now Esfahan’s Old City, many times. Indeed, Esfahan is one of my favorite cities where I could imagine even to live for some time. It was of course a typical taroof , when I answered that anxious question: “If Esfahan is nesf-e jahan then Shiraz is certainly the other Half!” The former capital of the Zand dynasty with its surprisingly enlightened vakil (ruler) Karim Khan (d. 1779). The city of the great poets Sa’adi (b. 1184 CE) and Hafez (b. 1310 or 1337), who in fact inspired Goethe for his Westöstlicher Diwan . The city of nightingales and roses, paradise garden...

Temperatures in Yazd may rise in summer way beyond 40 centigrades, I was advised by my Iranian friend Shahram, our computer engineer at the Faculty, when I told him that I was planning to visit the city. Same as in Kuwait, but no air-condition! Well, there is even a stunning skyline in Yazd comprising hundreds of wind towers , or badgirs . As a typical desert city, air-conditioning has been essential since ancient times, and Yazd is, with its more than 3000 years of history according to UNESCO, one of the oldest cities in the world. The towers are made in a way that even the slightest breeze of air will be cooled down and directed to the living rooms below. Badgirs can be seen in all cities of the Persian Gulf coast, on both sides, Persian and Arabic. Even Kuwait sports some nice examples. In Sharq Market, stylized wind towers comprise an interesting element of its beautiful architecture. In a badgir , air is cooled down above a pool of water while the hot air is redirected upwards th...

The picture above was taken last year from the terrace of the new Dental School. This year, there is a lot more snow and mainly overcast. Winter has a strong and grim grip on the country. On the picture below (yesterday, 10 am) you may see that, on top of the mountains (about 1000 meters above sea level) the sun is still shining. The center of the picture is occupied by the University Hospital, the northernmost, of course.