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Towers of Silence
Me on the top of the mens tower, womens in the backgound - No vultures though Mr Medhi took me to the bus station first thing and got me a ticket to Yadz, 5 boring hours later I checked into my 'hotel', flea pit is a more apt description, but at $7 a night who am I to complain.
I dumped my bags in my cubicle and started the walk described in the Lonely Planet, visiting the Water Museum which describes the creation of the thirty thousand underground canals criss crossing the Iranian desert, similar to those Ruthie and I saw in Turpan, in the Gobi Desert.
After that the Jamah (Friday) Mosque via an icecream store they are everywhere here, to the old city, I followed the directions for a while to little avail as I was totally lost in the maze. Eventually I found Alexanders Prison (I doubt he ever laid eyes on the place) and then proceded to get totally lost again, although I did find a traditional bakery making flat bread in clay ovens, I just love that bread. I finally emerged miles from my hotel and was rescued by an English student wishing to chat who showed me back to my 'hotel'.
There is an internet cafe next door,
the owner of which is also a tour guide and was taking a couple of lads from Belgium out to the major sites around Yazd the next morning so I got the last seat. The tour was pretty much a full day affair and cost me $13USD. The tour began at Kharanaq an old deserted village on a hill about 85km from Yazd. It has a restored caravanaserai which was impressive if a little over restored and a 17th century minaret that sways when you are at the top. Hassan is a good guide and knowledgable he also has keys to just about every place and his English is excellent. We had to be careful clambering around because a few rooves have collapsed tourists with them.
It was then onto one of the main Zaroastrian pilgrimage sites at Chak Chak which means drip drip, apparently at the time of the arab invasion in the 6th century an escaping Sassanian princess fled there, she had no water so she threw her staff at the cliff and bingo a spring, it still drips today. It was a bit of a climb up the hill to the Temple (Pir - e Sab),
Baghirs - Yadz
Ancient Aircon the doors of which were very attractive as they have an embedded image of Zoroaster. Inside burned the eternal flame which has been going for 1600 years or so, the inside was kind of tacky though.
Meybod was the next place on the list it has a very large icehouse where ice in the winter was cut and stored for warmer months, it was very big and had great accoustics. After that it was on to the Pigeon House, never seen anything like this place it used to hold 4000 birds now there are about 2 dozen stuffed ones.
We got back to Yazd around 3, nothing is open between 1 and 4 so I vegged in my room until 5.30 when Hassan returned to take me, Kuen & Morte to the Towers of Silence on the edge of the city where I climbed to the top of the mens tower. Up until about 40 years ago the Zoroastians carried their dead up here as they believed burial and cremation contaminated the planet, they would tie the corpse to a ladder and lay it over a pit where they were eaten by vultures. A priest would watch to
see which eye the vulture plucked out first, the right and they went to heaven, the left and they went to hell. The practice has been banned in Iran but is still common practice in India, now days the 5000 or so Zoroastrians left here bury their dead in concrete lined graves.
On the way back to the hotel we were nearly hit by a motorbike the two clowns on it were changing places while they drove along.
Hassan was telling me about a Russian girl who he drove all over the place for 50 Euros so I figured I would get him to take me to Persepolis and then on to Shiraz (500 plus miles).
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Geoff
non-member comment
Colours
Looking at your pictures there doesnt seem to be much colours used in the buildings. Kinda look like big sancastles. Is it true that It is Illegal to sell or make alcohol in Iran???