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The main porch
the Zoroastrian temple near Yazd An apology to those buggers (I admit I used to be one) whose egos notch up fifty levels (with the addition of a Mario star) when they're walking about the Roman Forum with their travel buddies giving an unofficial tour...to find that after 15 minutes of ranting the group's multiplied to accompany stingy strangers who're keen to find out what those slabs of marble are too:
BUGGER: 'And over there is the Forum of Augustus built to commemorate the Emperor's victory over the assassins of Julius Caesar - the temple was for Mars the Avenger and etc etc'
MATE: 'Whoooaaaa, awwwwwesome. Photo op, bitches!'
BUGGER: 'And by the time of Augustus' death in 14AD-'
MATE2:'Yo, screw the pile of rocks. Look over there, is that an imperial palace?? It's in one piece!'
BUGGER: 'That's because it was built in 1911 by Victor Emmanuel II, not the Romans, dumbass.'
An excellent motive to visit Iran is that it's a playground for history buffs. One cannot possibly lecture accurately about all the sites in the country - for one, you'd have to spill dates, names and cultural insights of so many contrasting worlds spread through hundreds and thousands of years.
Zoroastrian Temple
near Yazd, here burns a sacred fire transported from 3 great fire temples over 1500 years ago. Usually I am the bastard lecturer type too, but I decided to just look and stare at the sites in complete awe to let my brain (and redonculously arrogant pride) on holiday. I felt like I had more fun actually, being a little sponge absorbing info. The Elamite period, Achaemenids Persians, Parthians, Sassanians, intro of Islam, Mongol invasion...Safavids...Islamic revolution...the present.... and I probably missed a few. Sorry.
That day, we arrived the Zoroastrian Temple at Pir-e-naraki. Here, we saw flames which have been continuously burning since 1500AD, and even non-Zoroastrians were allowed to enter from the main entrance. At the top of the building was the famous symbol of the bearded Zoroaster with wings instead of legs. The meanings behind the image is as follows:
- Beard: wisdom
- Hand raised to the skies: Those wishing to go up to the heavens should follow a straight path
- Ring: Pact
- Circle amongst feathers: The world is a cycle of lives
- Tail: Good doings
- Right Wing: Good thoughts
- Left Wing: Good words
We also learned that for Zoroastrians, it is forbidden to lie and thus they don't do too well as merchants. But if you
The Flames
the Zoroastrian temple near Yazd do come across a Zoroastrian vendor, it's your lucky day as you definitely can get a good deal.
Hopping on the bus again, we passed field after field of beautiful yellow flowers beside the mountains. Blue skies, empty roads, snow up in the mountains, farms...helicopters....?!
12 or so huge choppers, armed guards and masses of people gathered together causing sudden traffic. We stared out in curiosity, when we were told to redo our headscarves. It is the Iranian guide who gets the blame for a messy bunch of foreign tourists (even those passed out on the bus). As guards stared into our bus, we sat stiff in our seats and waited for the road check was over. Driving away, Seyed explained that the president was coming into town. In pronounced the president's name as 'Hafuumadi Nejatto', but obviously the ladies didnt know a wink about politics and tried to remember the name...forgetting all of it two seconds later.
Hm. I sat around, a little confused to have never heard the name before. President Nejato? Alas, it didn't ring a bell at all and I didnt turn an inch as we drove past the commotion. It was a
Remains of A Caravansaraye
Dev-Shir village, where people flocked at us and a dude asked for two cigarettes. day later when I figured out that it really was President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad himself. Very dumb mistake of me.
President Ahmadinejad was on his way to visit the tomb of Cyrus the Great, exactly where we were headed to that afternoon in Pasargad. This was the first city founded by Cyrus back in 550BCE. There were still ruins of palaces and Fire Temples (remnants of broken pillars, Assyrian reliefs etc), although the Arab invaders back in the the 7th century tried to destroy everything as they could not believe such grand monuments could ever be built by fellow humans. Seeing the site as a threat to their great God, they almost succeeded in its destruction but were stopped by local peoples. Ah, but before you feel like praising them, let me add that generation after generation, they took away bits and pieces of materials from pasargad to use in their homes. Imagine using a massive decorated column as a new addition to your living room, nice right? (No, not 30m pillars soaring seven times higher than your little mud hut).
We missed the crowds luckily, when we got to Cyrus' tomb. It is somewhat a six-step pyramid shape
Pasargad
Pole-dancing!!! Wooot! of stone that avoided utter destruction. Alexander the Great is said to have paid his respects here too, as amongst the all-time heroes Cyrus was up high in his books too.
And off to Shiraz before the hoard of helicopters turn our way....
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Robin
non-member comment
Good blog
I have read it for a while,it is good.but meanwhile my blog was ignoring by nearly everyone....what a sorrow.you will say it is not your business,but,as here you have such a space for leave some message,I choose it to blurt,I am really sorry,but I have to...you know