Qazvin is a nice city which was even the medieval capital of the Safavid dynasty for over forty years (1555-1598) and nowadays is known as the calligraphy capital of Iran. Silk Road passed through here and the original main road is still being used here today. 

Most foreign tourists only pass through Qazvin as the starting point for hiking or excursion to Alamut valley or castle of assassins. Due to limited time of my trip, I didn’t manage to visit Alamut this time (ok…another reason to come back). That said, I still like my 1-night-1-day stay in Qazvin to experience this rich history city. I would definitely say i love super much the QAZVIN BAKLAVA that i will explain more in my next post of the same series)

First, It’s definitely worth to spend a bit time to share my accommodation experience in Qazvin :

 I arrived Qazvin in a late rainy afternoon so I went straight to the hotel. No, it’s not a hotel , instead, it’s a lovely hidden gem i.e. a traditional house : Behrouzi Traditional House. It’s definitely a very beautiful traditional place for a real local stay experience . 

When i arrived at the main door, I needed choose the right knob for my knock 🙂 . I picked the one on the left in below photo for an easy knock.  (Information**: In Iran, all traditional houses always have two different door knobs. One is for man to knock with a more solid and louder sound. Another one is for women to knock  with a softer sound like “tic tic” . Do you know why? There’s a very practical reason indeed (please refer to the bottom of this post for the answer) 

The traditional house was not small and it contained two courtyards. Rooms were not very big but quite interesting. Since i walked in from main entrance, i just kept walking downwards through stairs or slopes when i got inner and inner of this traditional house. This is because the traditional house was built by digging down to the earth. Finally I arrived my room which was just facing the courtyard. it’s like a room in a cave. See below photo. It’s definitely a very cute experience to stay here for a night. I ordered a room with private bathroom. I knew there were other rooms with public hamman access (i didn’t pick this option but you can give a try)

Since dinner is not served in the hotel restaurant (Don’t take it as negative, you will understand later why), the hotel receptionist kindly helped me order some delivery. Not bad. While I was waiting the dinner, i walked around the traditional house and located a cafe within the complex, ,i walked inside and found it’s very lovely cafe ran by a couple of young people. The cafe is quite nicely decorated with Persian flavour. I ordered a saffron tea and also blueberry milkshake to enjoy the Persian atmosphere. Since it’s heavy rain ( I was the only customer in the cafe this time).

I was not bored at all since one of the cafe runner was also a singer and he offered voluntarily to sing a few Persian songs with guitar. His voice was just amazing and sweet. He also demonstrated me how to play Ney which is a persian instrument. I had a very happy night here with the nice local companions and sweet music.

Then the next morning, rain finally stopped. The courtyard, with a small pond in the middle surrounded by wood bed chairs, was very good place to stay for a cup of tea. Since breakfast was included in my stay, I then walked towards the restaurant which was just above the reception.

The restaurant was just stunning! I could not believe my eyes when i opened the door. it’s decorated with the stained-glass windows facing the bright courtyard to allow sunlight to pass through the old wooden windows into the dining hall. In the restaurant, there were comfortable sofa and beautiful wooden antique table. I was the only person taking breakfast this time (Not sure why, it’s just 8:30am…). The breakfast was surprisingly good. The tasty bean soup, instantly fried eggs, freshly squeezed carrot juice and tea. Everything they served here was really fresh than those i tried in other hotels. Even the bread here tasted amazingly soft, fresh and warm. So lovely breakfast by facing this pretty decoration in the dining hall.

After having a very enjoyable breakfast in this lovely tradition house. My journey for a day of site seeing in Qazvin started :). I will write more above my day visit in my next post – series II

Answers :

** Two door knobs : This is to allow people inside the house to distinguish who are knocking the door and prepare to enter. Women need to take up their hijabs and dress properly in case men are visiting the house. This has been a tradition for years since Islam customs have been massively practised here.