I walked into town via the splendid Jameh Mosque. It's probably second in terms of beauty to the Imam mosque but with its blue tiles and carvings is certainly an impressive sight. Just near the mosque is an amusing bird bazaar where sqwarking birds, pigeons,chickens and geese were cooped up in exceedingly harsh conditions. I had also found the probably result of the bird flu epidemic in a series of multicoloured chicks that were also for sale (picture to follow).

After a cup of tea and some lunch on the bazaar roof, overlooking Imam square, I went off to meet Ali who had agreed to visit the Armenian quarter of Esfahan where some 20,000 Armenians currently live. It was a somewhat improvised tour as we hopped on and off buses and peered into churches and walked through squares. For the first time in Iran, Orthodox churches outnumbered mosques. Apparently the Armenians had been welcomed here by the revered Shah Abbas I when they fled the encroaching Ottoman Empire. With Esfahan being an important city on the Silk Road, their crafts skills were usefully employed in an ever growing city.

We strolled along the river and back to the main bazaar where Ali showed me the locations of two almost hidden caravanserais (there are many more). Sadly these are now little more than parking lots around a central garden of sorts. These were functional rather than decorative and so looked a little bleak but the sheer size and number of them in and around the bazaar attests to Esfahan's importance as a trading centre. We also passed a converted minaret which before being incorporated into a near mosque was used as an early navigation system for approaching caravans. Standing at some 50 metres tall the minaret would have been lit in the evening so that the fire could be seen frommiles away in the desert. Several other such minarets are also seen in the city and Ali managed to provide me with a copy of his research into their importance.

We ate supper in a small kebab shop (which I finally managed to pay for) before we headed to the Zou Khaneh ("The House of Strength"). Here we watched a sport dating back to pre-mongol times and of Sufi origin. Basically a group of 10 men (this is a men-only sport and no women can watch) do a fascinating and strenuous series of exercises with bizarre wooden tools in a lowered pit, thereby proving their strength and manliness. All of this is done to the beating of drums, the reading of Hafez and Sadi poetry and with the audience participating in praising Allah for Mohammed at various points.