Last year, the Little Mail Carriers went on a trip to a very special place: Tabriz, in Iran! This is where Ingrid (aka ipuenktchen) lives. She was the first person in Iran to ever sign up to Postcrossing over 9 years ago — and remains one of the most active members in the country, so we were thrilled that she hosted the little guys! :)
Here’s what they wrote back after their time there:
Hi everyone! We’re so excited to be in Tabriz, the capital of the East-Azerbaijan province, in Iran's northwest. It’s an industrial city, with around 2 million inhabitants – including Ingrid, who is originally from Germany but has been living here for 38 years! Can you spot it on a map?
Ingrid regularly hosts Toy Voyagers in her home, so we were warmly greeted by her own Playmobil toys Possy & Crossy (nice names!), who poured us a welcome drink! Mr. F.M. Baer was also visiting from the Baltic Coast, so we got to meet him as well.
We took a walk around to the nearby Shahgoli park with our new friends. The park has a big lake in the middle, and walkways all around it, really nice for a stroll or a bike ride! Aaaah… feels good to stretch our legs a little!
Oh! Today is Ingrid’s turn to host her weekly “ladies’ gameboard gathering”. The ladies come together to play all kind of games: memory games (their favorites), card games, Mikado, Halli Galli… or whatever the host proposes to play! They decided to teach us Halli Galli, which is quite fun and fast! We learnt that it is common for the host to offer some snacks, so we helped serve the food:
We had the great opportunity to see the Potters’ house of Tabriz, a live museum. There is also a permanent exhibition of pottery of East-Azerbaijan as well as many classes for pottery and decoration.
On this particular day, it was the anniversary of the Potters’ house and there was a great gathering, with traditional Iranian music, too! The mansion itself was an ancient traditional house of Qajar dinasty.
Then night fell, and it was so nice that we decided to have a stroll. We ended up walking through some of Tabriz’s most famous sightseeing points, like the pilgrimage site Seyed Hamze, next to which there is a large modern mausoleum, called the Poets Tomb. It is very impressive at night, with all the lights turned on! This is where famous personalities such as scholars are laid to rest.
After that, we headed over to Khaqani park, which is named after a poet from Tabriz. It’s just beside the Blue Mosque, but sadly it was closed, because it was quite late already…
One week later, Ingrid had guests over from the Caspian seaside and they went together to Marand, 70 km far from Tabriz, for a mourning gathering. On our way back home we had a break at an ancient caravansary! These are places along the road where travelers can stop to rest and have some water – a bit like a rest area along the highway, but a 1000 times nicer looking! About 500 years ago, a Shah had 999 Caravanserais built all over Iran to make traveling easier. It was a brilliant idea!
The next day, Ingrid showed the Bazaar of Tabriz to her guests and us. It is by far the largest roofed bazar in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2010.
It was really buzzing with activity, and the smells and sounds were so enticing… everything was new and different, and we showered Ingrid with a thousand questions!
But it was almost time for us to leave… before hopping on our envelope once again, Ingrid took us to an old public bath, Nobar Hammam, where her husband used to go with his dad, back when he was a little child!
Aaah… much more relaxed and ready for the trip through the mail! Goodbye Ingrid and lovely friends – we loved Iran!
That was lovely! Thank you so much Ingrid for hosting the little guys and showing them around! :)
35 comments so far
what a lovly post!
happy postcrossing!
Thank you for sharing the story....
thank you, dear ana, didn't got tired... as it was a matter of yeeeears up from your first request untill they reached IR!!! but we got successfull!!! yeaaaah!!! thx for your efforts!
for me it was great fun and I got proud about!!!
happy postcrossing, ipuenktchen
Wow this is a beautiful place. Thanks for the post! I learned a lot.
Hello ipuenktchen, I am sure you were a great host!!! :-)
Very beautiful locations - and greetings from Germany :)
Very nice! Good adventures, little ones!
Thanks for making me dream and smile!
FANTASTIC! Congratulations!!!!! Hugs!
Brings back memories from my stay at Ipuenktchens house back in 2010. :) :) :)
so interesting, thanks a lot!
What? NO group photo with the host? Fun aside... I know the host already,had the pleasure to meet ipuenktchen personally in "MY" corner of the world...so it's nice to see a bit of "HER" corner of the world, too! Thanks for sharing!
A lovely story. The Little Mail Carriers continue to make us all jealous with their wonderful trips. It is great that they keep us up to date with all their adventures. Thank you Ingrid for sharing your time with them.
Interesting post!! Thank you for to share this with all of us!!
Another interesting post. Thanks for hosting the little mail carriers and sharing with us.
Thanx for sharing the Interesting post! Hopefully the Little Mail Carriers would take a trip to my beautiful country someday!!! :)
I am jealous! How I would love to get a card from Iran! I will probably never get one from such a faraway country in spite of me being a member for over 3 years.....but nice to read about it.
How lovely to learn something nice and positive about a country which normally have so much negativity in the news some lovely photos and interesting facts I would not have learnt if not part of Postcrossing thank you
Regards
Yolanda
Seems to be that Iran is a wonderful place with an amazing culture! I felt in love with the pictures
Oh, Iran!! One of the places I really, really wish to visit one day!!! So much culture..even 100 postcards can't present it properly, I suppose! :)
Possy and Crossy,lol!
Funny and beautiful places! Thanks for sharing!
Very Interesting..thanks for sharing the experience
Loved the Iran trip.....so beautiful and informative! Thanks for sharing.
wow thanks for showing us your corner of the planet.
Haven't forgotten you Ingrid! Greetings from potter Anke and thank you for the story! Alles Gute!!
Hello ipuenktchen, it must have been a great adventure for the Little Mail Carriers. Das hast Du wirklich gut gemacht und sehr gut kommentiert! :) Liebe Grüße an alle!
Hallo IPünktchen! Ich freue mich für Dich mit.Liebe Grüße Michael
Thank you, Thank you postcrossing for sharing your story from my country, Iran :)
Another interesting post from The Little Mail Carriers; thank-you :)
Thank you for the lovely post. The photos were wonderful, and it was interesting to learn about Iran through the eyes of the Little Mail Carriers.
The Little Mail Carriers had a most interesting time! I loved seeing their journey through your city and the way they spent their time while visiting you. Postcrossing has opened windows into a beautiful country that most of us will never see. Thank you for hosting the Little Mail Carriers and sharing their story! Loved it!
Lovely post from a very interesting place. The little mail carriers really open up the world... just as Postcrossing does!
And who knows, maybe I will visit Tabriz one day.
Keep traveling, little mail carriers! (and thanks to the human postcrossers who make your trips possible)
What a great choice! Most of us will never visit Iran and I love how these windows into people's lives and places put a more human face onto different cultures that we feel are so foreign!
thank you, dear aberline and others, for your appreciative and understanding posting!!! indeed, sometimes I feel like an ambassador of my 2nd homeland, to pay my part to give normal ppl a face!!!!! they are my friends, my neighbors, my collegues, my siblings... about all of us is often bad spoken in all kind of media...... this is a pity!! and so with each postcard via this peacefull project I try to give a more applicable impression to the ppl and finally let you see this great country by the eyes of the LMC!!!
and sorry - I forget to add a pic of myself......... :-(((
thank you for all your postings!
Wonder where the next stop will be
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