SAEDNEWS: Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar loved writing and documenting daily life, travels, meetings, and key events of his reign. His third European trip began in Farvardin 1268 (March–April 1889), taking him to Russia, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, England, and France.
According to the history section of Saed News, this memory dates back to Sunday, August 25, 1889 (3 Shahrivar 1268 in the Iranian calendar). At the time, Naser al-Din Shah was in Vienna, Austria, returning from his European tour.
“On both sides, crowds of men and women were standing, yet everyone was calm and composed. Beautiful women, exceptionally lovely girls, all kinds and types… We saw so many stunning women along this path that it almost made one foolish. Not just from the residence to the train station, but from the station to the top of the hill, beautiful women lined both sides of the road. We must have seen as many as twenty thousand beauties today.
From the station to the inn, there was also some distance. Here, we saw four exceptionally beautiful girls. They had been specially chosen and each handed a flower, which they brought to me one by one… One girl, more beautiful and charming than all the others, with hair cascading like silk, a very fair and exquisite girl, gave me a bouquet. I was so mesmerized by her face that I could not walk. I stood there, staring, and people noticed and laughed involuntarily, so that I laughed too…
We slowly walked along this wooded path toward the hotel, and I felt the utmost regret at leaving the side of this girl… We moved so gently that we could not even reach her hand, despite the flower she had offered.”
