Started the day with a delicious cooked breakfast at the hotel before meeting our guide for the day, the lovely Samieh, a local language teacher. We then drove to Masouleh in our car with Sami directing us. Masouleh is a beautiful little mountain village built into the side of the mountain and where the roof of one house forms the courtyard of the house above. Shortly after arriving and starting to climb the narrow streets and staircases of this village we were attracted to an area above us by the sound of music and singing. As we walked toward the festivities we were accompanied by a young lady named Arezou who spoke excellent English and was delightful company also. For the next 45 minutes or so we were entertained by a traditional band with singer Naser Vahdati and also ladies and gents in traditional dress who also danced toward the end. We then wandered about the village taste testing various sweets before taking chai in an open air teahouse. More photographs and more wandering before Arezou took us to a local traditional restaurant where we stopped for lunch. A simple but delicious meal consumed we then wound up the day and headed back to our new hotel, in Rasht this time, the hotel Kadus which was undergoing a major external renovation and hence looks a little like a construction site. Despite this it is a very comfortable 4 star hotel. I then went for a short wander into town for some pharmacy meds and also managed to score some coffee creamer which has made Sue very happy. Back to the hotel for dinner we met a 70 year old British gentleman and his friends and got talking. Turned out all the fuss at Masouleh (the music and dancing) were in his honour and he was feeling quite chuffed albeit a little nonplussed at the attention. He is a businessman on his first trip to Iran to negotiate a deal and clearly the locals were pleased to have him amongst them.
Sounds great
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