Gulls over the Caspian Sea - Beautiful Iran 10

The Caspian Sea

We left Ardabil for Bandar-e Anzali, a harbor town of the Caspian Sea. It was the first time for me to visit that sea. I was nearly excited. The sea has a surface area of 371,000 ㎢, nearly the same size of Japan’s territory, and yet it is classed the world’s largest lake (to be exact, a closed drainage basin). The Caspian Sea was one of the top destinations on my “bucket list.”

It was a 230 km bus tour, taking almost 5 hours including lunch time. It was cloudy. Wind blew. We had to be ready for sudden changes of weather. Going through the passes of the mountainous area, we met a thick fog, but when we got down to the plain, the fog was over. Clouds were flying on the wind. Getting closer to the Caspian Sea, we saw fresh green of trees and unexpectedly paddy fields filled with water. 

Our tour guide Mr. Musa said, “This coastal area is famous for rice production.” And he explained the recent situation of the Caspian Sea: “The water level is recently 28 m below sea-level without outflows. It solely depends on the inflows from the rivers around the sea.”

In other words, it depends on the relation between the rainfall of the area and the evaporation from the sea. I went to Uzbekistan in 2010 and heard of the shrinking of the Aral Sea, some 500 km east of the Caspian Sea. Formerly the one of the four largest lakes in the world with an area of 68,000 ㎢ has been steadily shrinking since the 1960s to 10% of its original size, splitting into four lakes.... The people there said, “That was environmental disaster.”

The Caspian Sea was still full of water although it was getting polluted. Mr. Musa added, “When I was a child, I came with my family for swimming in summer. Certainly, it is one of the best resorts in this area.”

Bandar-e Anzali is a seaport in northern Iran. It is said that the area has a humid climate somehow similar to that of Japan’s coast along the Sea of Japan, which I knew well. It is hot and humid in summer, on the other hand, cold with much snowfall in winter. It lacks sunshine throughout the year. 

We finally arrived at a landing place of the Anzali Lagoon. It was already past 5 in the afternoon. The dark sky with thick clouds over the lagoon and beyond reminded me of that over the Sea of Japan. It looked like rain. Wearing a life-jacket, we divided and got in three motorboats.

At the landing place of the Anzali Lagoon

The Anzali Lagoon 

The lagoon divides into two parts; the Selke Wildlife Refuge and the Siahkesheem Marsh. Caspian lotus (Nelumbo caspicum) grow, and the red flowers, similar to Indian lotus, would come out two months later. However, we only imagined their beauty on the dark water surface at that time.

A boatman started the engine and set out our motorboat into the lagoon. A wind died down. The water surface was calm. The boat traveled fast through a narrow waterway leaving the wake, and then suddenly appeared the broad marsh dotted with many reed beds. Our boat turned and disturbed the water. The waves were spreading and lapping against the reed grasses.

The marsh

A flock of gulls were flying over the marsh. A big bird, probably Pelican, was resting his wings on a reed bed. Mr. Musa spoke loudly against the engine sounds, “This is a popular place for bird watching. Many kinds of birds live there.”

Our motorboat went into the harbor of Bandar-e Anzali where ships anchored. Mr. Musa warned us, “The harbor is also the Iranian military port. Please don’t take pictures.” We obeyed him and passed quietly by a big warship dressed with colorful flags. It may have been the Iranian new destroyer Jamaran 2, which was launched in March. 

The harbor of Bandar-e Anzali

The Caspian Sea is bounded to the north by Russia, to the south by Iran, western Azerbaijan, and eastern Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. It has been geopolitically an important water area since the ancient times. 

The ancient people believed the Caspian Sea as an ocean, for it is salty as well as it appears boundless. We stayed at a seaside hotel. In the evening I got out on the hotel beach. I tasted its water. It was slightly salty and less than most seawater.

The beach of the Caspian Sea

My wife and I walked on the shore and enjoyed watching gulls skimming over the water surface. It was a magnificent view. 

The Caspian Gulls

As for dinner came out a dish of grilled sturgeon with caviar as a garnish. They were the famous products of the Caspian Sea. 

The Silk Road that bridged the path between the West and East went through the north and south sides of the Caspian Sea. However, it was said that the travelers often took a shortcut by crossing that sea. I wonder whether they would eat sturgeon or caviar. Caviar has been considered a luxury delicacy, probably because the merchants on the Silk Road might have acquired its taste. For me it was the luxurious dinner once in a lifetime. 

Blue-and-white in Ardabil - Beautiful Iran 9

The blue-and-white porcelains in Ardabil

We stayed at a hotel in Sareyn 200 km east of Tabriz. Sareyn, meaning “spring’s outlet” in Persian, is actually famous for its hot springs on the foot of an inactive volcano, Mount Sabalan (4,811 m). Unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to soak in the spring bath. Zoroaster reputedly wrote the Avesta near there. He must have had lots of time for bathing. 

The next morning, on April 23, we visited Ardabil in northwestern Iran. This town sits on the highland of 1,263 m above sea-level. The name is said to mean “holy place” in Zoroastrianism.The Muslim conquered the Sassanid Empire (224-651), and the Mongol invasions destroyed the Khwarezemian Empire (1077-1256). Each time Ardabil was ruined but reconstructed. There appeared a mysterious figure of Sufi, Sheikh Safi al-Din (1252-1334). His successor, Shah Ismail founded the Safavid Dynasty and declared Shi’a Islam the state religion. 

Our tour destination was the sanctuary and mausoleum of Sheikh Safi al-Din, which was listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010. Just before entering the site, I saw a pair of black triangle flags in the street. The flags indicated a small altar built into the external wall. Local people stopped, lit candles, and prayed toward the altar.

The altar in the street 

Our tour guide Mr. Musa explained us, “They write their wishes on papers and put them by the altar. If their wishes are fulfilled, they return to offer their thanks.” 

We entered the gate, walked along an alley in the long and narrow garden, and got out in the courtyard. There was a domed tall cylindrical tower decorated with blue mosaic tiles. That was the mausoleum of Sheikh Safi al-Din. The walls of the buildings surrounding the courtyard were decorated with various kinds of mosaic arabesque. Very impressive blue!

 The courtyard of the mausoleum  

The mausoleum of Sheikh Safi al-Din

However, I was more impressed by a vast collection of Chinese porcelain exhibited in the Porcelain House of the site.  It is said that they were collected by Shah Abbas I (1571-1629) of the Safavid and used for the sanctuary’s ceremonies. 

 I am an art lover, especially fond of ceramic art. Porcelain was invented in the Han Dynasty of ancient China. The Chinese discovered the clay called “Kaolin” that is full of silicate mineral, and fired it in a kiln at the high temperature of 1,300 ℃. That was the birth of porcelain, which the westerners call “Chinaware” or “fine China.” No other nations except Japan and Korea could not reproduce it by the 18th century. Therefore, porcelain was Chinese popular export from the 16th to 20th century.

The Porcelain House

In the exhibition I found many blue-and-white porcelains (simply “blue-and-white”). They appeared hard, white, and translucent with vivid blue paintings. According to the explanation, they were made in Jingdezhen, northeastern Jiangxi province in the 17th century. 

This “blue” is glazed with a blue pigment of cobalt oxide. Interestingly, it was called “Islamic blue” because cobalt oxide was exported from Iran to China by the Muslim traders.

Blue-and-white 

“Mr. Blue & White” Takatoshi Misugi, a Japanese scholar of ceramics, says, “I think [the technique of] blue-and-white originated in Persia. There were blue-and-white ceramics in Persia in the 9th or 10th century. But they were pottery, not porcelain fired at 1,300 ℃ like in China.” 

In Iran, there appeared the ceramics called “lajvardina” in the Ilkhanid period in the 13th century. Lajvardina is the gilded blue grazed pottery. The word “lajvard” means blue pigment in Persian, actually indicating “lapis lazuli.” Obviously, lapis lazuli was a precious gem, too expensive to be used as pigment for ceramics. Potters substituted cobalt blue for lapis lazuli. The lajvardina technique seems to have been handed over to tile producers in Central Asia as well as in Iran. Today we can see beautiful buildings covered with ultramarine or turquoise blue tiles in Iran, Uzbekistan and other Islamic countries.

Let us return to the Porcelain House. I found plain-colored porcelains, too, in the exhibition. They were “celadon,” from blue-green or olive-green to yellow, made in China in the same century. The term celadon was coined by Europeans for the pale jade-green glaze, which was one of the most favorite colors for the Chinese. 

Celadon

Chinese people originally preferred white porcelain and celadon to blue-and-white. In fact, the blue-and-white was in mass production for export, especially to the Islamic countries.

However, there is a crucial question: how were these fragile ceramics transported from Jingdezhen in China to Ardabil? Were they carried by caravans on the Silk Road? 

Tsugio Mikami (1907-87), a Japanese orientalist and archaeologist, proposed the “Ceramic Road” as seaborne trade comparing to the Silk Road as land trade. The “Ceramic Road” is also called the “Silk Road on the sea.” The main route started at Canton (Guangzhou) in China, passed through Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, and then reached Alexandria.

The blue-and-white made in China was shipped from Canton by the Muslim traders. The ship made its way toward the Persian Gulf and arrived in Hormoz Island. There was such a port city as Minab in the ancient times or Bandar Abbas that was established in the 17th century by Shah Abbas I. From the port the heavy boxes containing fragile porcelains were loaded on camels and were carried by caravans through the Royal Road to Ardabil. What a tough journey of 2,000 km it was, from the mouth of the Persian Gulf to the highland of some 1,300 m above sea-level! 

Beautiful mosaic

After looking around inside, we returned to the gate. There was a large crowd of school girls. A few girls noticed us, and then a crowd gathered around us. They asked one question and another in English: “Where are you from?” “Are you Chinese? Oh, Japanese!” “Woud you please write your name here?” (holding out a notebook) ... I didn’t understand what happened, but obviously, they welcomed us. “Welcome to Iran!” “Welcome to Ardabil!” they shouted. We ran away to our tour bus, waving hands to our pretty friends.