Travel to a city on the coastline of the Persian Gulf. Visit spectacular mansions, eat delicious cuisine, meet friendly locals and take a rest under the moderate, agreeable sunshine.
On the coastline of the Persian Gulf, in the middle of pine trees and in the calm streets, there lies a white, two-story mansion made of woods and with tall columns. The main yard is surrounded by rooms and on the east side there are stairs for reaching the roof. Go up the stairs, pass the teak-made windows and exquisite decorated doors to see the roof. Now watch the left side: is not the scene with the sea in the landscape haunting? Enjoy watching the beautiful scene. You are on the roof of a building once used as the city hall of the city of Bushehr. On your east, there is Arabs quarter, on your north the Jewish quarter and on the south the Kooti quarter. The used-to-be city hall is now turned into the building of the Museum of Anthropology.
Once upon a time, in the time of the Qajar dynasty, there lived an oil merchant in the south region of Iran. One day the wealthy merchant decided to build the most beautiful mansion in the area in the old part of the city. Most of the houses at that time were two or three stories, so he ordered a four-story structure mansion to be built of plaster and stucco with coral rocks and teak wood for decorations. But the most exquisite, haunting decoration was applied to the most important room of the mansion: a room with stained glasses and a mirror-work ceiling. He commanded for paintings to be used in the ceiling of the main hall. And today, if you go to this mansion you will see a combination of a European painting with Persian architectural style. The mansion is named after its owner, Dehdashti, and since he was an oil merchant, the building is known as the “oil mansion.”
In the old times, people of Bushehr were wondering how to build houses to lower the severe hot weather. After a long time of thinking and consulting and discussing a lot of suggestions, they ultimately came to the conclusion to use the wind power as a natural air conditioner system. The locals realized that when they stood on the roof of their houses, a cool wind flows and lowers the temperature. This was the reason that they started to build multi-stories houses and used a lot of windows and doors for wind flows. One of the best examples of this creative engineering can be seen in the Kazerouni Mansion in Bushehr. The building dates back to the Qajar dynasty and is the first nationally-recognized mansion of Bushehr.
If you were asked to name some of the most famous churches in the world, you would remember which names? The Notre-Dame of Paris may be the first name to come to your mind. Or you may think of that beautiful, red church in the Florence you cannot remember the name, or even you may ask your friend about that famous church located in Moscow. Apart from these well-known places, how many of the churches of Iran do you know? The Vank Cathedral in Isfahan or the Catholic church in Tabriz. But have you ever heard about local, small churches in different cities of Iran? Have you ever heard the name of the Armenian church in Bushehr? Or had you ever thought that there is a famous church in this city just like there are many in the Paris? The St. Gregory church in Bushehr is built in the Qajar dynasty and it is so significant that has earned a place in the Iran list of national heritages.
Any travel to a new country or city would not be complete without meeting locals and getting to know the culture of the destination. Bushehr is not definitely of exception. Marketplaces and Bazaars are always best places for greeting people and experiencing a local life. In Bushehr there is a traditional, calm and colorful Bazaar that can be a highlight of your travel. The Bazaar is located in a quarter known as Dehdashti. You can meet sellers and buy a vast variety of goods from sweets to fish and copper dishes. There is also a plenty of traditional coffee houses in the Bazaar that are the best places for drinking tea and greeting with locals.
