De Istambul a Nova Délhi: Uma Aventura pela Rota da Seda by Guilherme Canever

Image taken from http://saiporai.com

Guilherme Canever and his wife Bibi left Curtiba and travelled the Silk Route. He wrote a book,  a beautiful book, about the journey.  I say the book is beautiful because the layout and graphics - maps, images, and text - are colourful and appealing.

Image from http://saiporai.com

After reading travel writing like William Dalyrmple's In Xanadu , I am keen to see how 'third world' travellers view the rest of the world. Mark Jacob's What a friend we have in Jesus about a Guyanese in Haiti;  and Rahul Bhattacharya's Sly Company of People who care about an Indian in Guyana are two of the recent reads, though Bhattacharya's book might not be considered 'travel writing'.

I can read Portuguese with the help of Google Translate.  I am fascinated by Iran and so I choose to read the part about Iran - Christmas morning I started.

Guilherme begins each chapter with a summary of travel information - with comparisons to Brazil. The chapter on Iran gives the modern history of Iran, starting with the coming into Kurdistan.

Guilherme like many of us, have one view of Iran through western media. Guilherme tells of the recent history of Iran. He writes about the Kurds he meets who keep their culture and traditions even if they do not have a country.  He and Bibi enter Iran from the Kurdish part of Iraq.

He is struck by the hospitality of the Iranians - people inviting them to dine and chat even if they do not speak English. Guilherme notes that while they do not like to compare countries and places, he had to pay homage to the Iranians as the best hosts.  The reflection on hospitality is interesting - with a feeling that Muslim Arabs are more hospitable than Christian Arabs because of the Muslim belief that guests are a gift from God.

He describes not only the places, but also the people - art professor, film maker, furniture maker . He talks about Omid who left Iran as a child during the Iran-Iraq war, going as a refugee through several countries and then after 20 years or so , he returns to his home village and establishes a business. He tries to explain taroof and how they managed it.


Guilherme and Bibi are invited to a party in Teheran which has music and alcohol; and he is also invited to join in the Friday prayers at the Masjid al Jameh in Isfahan where non-Muslims are not generally allowed.

He writes honestly about the disappointment when some places like Kashan do not meet expectations.


(This video show some of the clips from the journey )



There are different reasons for travelling. Some persons go to see places as tourists - others go to see places and to also meet people and learn about them and from them.

I do not know if you can judge a book by one chapter, but if the rest of the book is the same as Iran, then it will be  good read.
I will dip into the other countries when I have time to go through the Portuguese or as I become more fluent :)