Twenty wooden columns hold up the porch of Chehel Sotoun, yet the palace is called Forty Columns, because the pool in front doubles each one. Small surprises like this turn up all over Isfahan. Si-o-se-pol stacks two rows of thirty-three arches across the Zayanderud, and sweet shops near the square sell gaz, a nougat packed with pistachios.
Across the river, the Armenian quarter of New Julfa keeps Vank Cathedral behind a plain brick face, with painted walls waiting inside. The climate is high desert, with hot dry summers, cold winter nights and mild days in spring and autumn. A Local Friend can pull up a chair for you at a family beryani counter you would never have spotted alone.
