Kermanshah and Takht-e Soleiman at dusk

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In the morning, the bazaar faction won the day, so we visited the bazaar in Kermanshah, there we found Kurdish sparkling clothes galore as well as sweets and cakes. It was great seeing everyone with the bright hats and scarves that they had found in the bazaar all waiting on the pavement for the bus to start. Iranian bazaars are fantastic, proper working places, the large ones are cities within cities.

We drove to Sanandaj, the capital of Iranian Kurdistan, where we had lunch. Unfortunately we had no time to see more of it, as I would have liked. The women in the group were impressed with the locals’ fashionable dress and the general air of well being and order in the city.

We arrived at Takht-e Soleiman late in the afternoon, as the sun was setting. In a lonely bowl of high rolling hills, the landscape setting was spectacular, creating a truly magical site. It was called Azergoshnasb by the Sassanians, who built a Zoroastrian Fire Temple there. The name means fire stallion and connects to Shabdiz, Khusroe’s horse. This was the main fire temple for the royal family and the warriors. I learnt that in Sassanian times the country was divided into three castes, the rulers and warriors, the priests and the workers. Iran got rid of its Aryan caste system in the mid twentieth century.

There are also Ilkhanid remains here; archaeologists have uncovered a Mongol Palace.

The ruins are ancient and enigmatic, they keep their secrets. The tallest structure is supported by a forest of scaffolding, clear cracks in the walls can be seen. The buildings are set round a circular lake fed by a spring in the crater. The lake is deep and dense, reaching into the bowls of the volcano. The story is that the Zoroastrian priests threw gold and jewels into the lake to slow down the invading Arabs, playing to their greed. More than one archaeology team has searched for the treasure. One scuba diver even lost his life here. The site feels calm and eternal; when we are gone the crater will still be there, reflecting the sky in the bowl of hills.

Later that night there was much laughter and merriment on the bus. Iranian students are little different from young people all over the world. All were smiles as we found where we were sleeping, in a house near the site. The women slept on the floor in one room, the men in the other. There was no food for supper, and not much for breakfast. Lucky I had the teabags and biscuits that F gave me, which came in very useful for everyone.

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