My second day in Iran was Saturday 15th April. It was still foggy but warm, around 26°C. We went to a mosque in Tehran and I was allowed to enter it without wearing a chador. I met a Japanese woman there who wore a very interesting dress. People asked her to take a photo with her and I couldn't resist as well.

Mehdi bought me Faloodeh shirazi which is a dessert consisting of rose water with sugar and thin vermicelli noodles made from corn starch, but I didn't like it so he had to finish it by himself. On the other hand, I really liked khakshir made of golab with tiny brown seeds and another golab drink with basil seeds and I drank it every time there was an opportunity.

Then we went to the Golestan palace which is one of the oldest historical monuments in Tehran. There are gardens, royal buildings and collections of Iranian crafts and European presents. The most amazing place is the Mirror hall. 

I had to change money therefore Mehdi took me to a bazaar where they were selling gold. Iranian people express the prices in a very confusing way for a stranger because the prices are in rial but people say prices in toman (10 rial = 1 toman). I usually had to investigate whether the price was correct or they meant 10 times more.

My wish was to visit the Azadi tower (also Freedom tower) and we started heading there in the afternoon. We entered the subway station and while Mehdi was buying tickets I was standing in the line behind him which wasn't a good idea because some guys were pushing their bodies against mine and started touching me. Some of them tried to follow us even to the train car but I was careful enough not to get them close to me. I told to Mehdi what happened and we laughed it off. In Tehran there are also women-only cars where men are not allowed to go, but I think that these guys wouldn't dare touching an Iranian woman even if she travelled with them. 

We got to the Azadi tower which was quite far from the city center and I found out that this tower was rather small and not as interesting as on the photos. We took some photos and we walked there in the park until we decided that we were hungry because it was already around 6pm and we found a local restaurant at a bus station. We ordered Dizi (also called Abgoosht) which is made of lamb and chickpeas. The broth is placed in a large bowl and eaten with bread, while other ingredients including fat are all mashed up together using a meat masher and served with onions, pickles, herbs and yoghurt. I like this food but it is quite heavy and you will feel full soon.

Another dish that we ordered was Khoresh Gheymeh which consisted of rice, lamb, chickpeas and potatoes. It was also tasty but I preferred Dizi. 

We returned home because it was getting late but then I wanted to go for a walk and we went to the same park as the evening before. There was fitness equipment and I did a little exercise while Mehdi recorded a video of us. 

On Sunday morning Tehran was cold and rainy. The temperature was only 15°C. I decided that I had already seen the most important places in Tehran and it was better to leave to Kashan the same day. We stopped at the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery to visit the grave of Neda Agha-Soltan who was killed during the protests in 2009. I bought flowers and I put them on her grave. My friend asked me if I wanted to pray but I told him that I wouldn't find it appropriate to say a Catholic prayer at a Muslim cemetery and we left. We travelled south to the Qom city and the landscape was a desert but there were also mountains and we had a view on the salt lake. We stopped and took photos and we continued travelling to Qom. 

Qom is in the middle of desert and it was quite hot when we got there. It is a holy city and a big majority of women wear a chador while men also wore traditional clothing with turban. We walked in the city center and we saw a mosque, a tomb and also a bazaar. After visiting Qom we travelled to Kashan where I had my host Mohammad, but we couldn't reach him at first and we went to visit a traditional house. Finally Mohammad came and took us to his home, but it was getting late and Mehdi left after drinking one tea. I went out with my host, we bought kebab for dinner and we ate it at home.