Shiraz

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Sat 4 November Esfahan to Shiraz

After a fairly straight forward, if long, drive we arrived in Shiraz in late afternoon. Another historic city with plenty to see - and we only touched the surface.

Just enough afternoon daylight for us to walk to the formal gardens near the hotel; these were nice if quite simple and going into the autumn colours. We also visited the Tomb of Hafez as darkness fell. A nice spot and very popular with locals and tourists. We had dinner near the hotel - Susan managed to order a dish of liver, heart and kidney (she loved it), I had a koobiyeh (simple lamb kebab).

Sunday was spent at Persepolis (see separate entry). In the evening we had a walk into town and ended up at the small friendly Café Naqashi for a snack.

Monday 6 November

Sightseeing started with a visit to the Masjed-e Nasir al-Molk, with its lovely stained glass windows. We were at the right time to see the light streaming through the windows (thanks Vahid) at this popular location. I think we all took lots of photos, many with other tourists walking into shot.... photo bombing either by accident or intent. A pretty unmissable place if you ever happen to be in Shiraz.

Just down the street we visited the Narenjestan (orangery) an historic house with gardens - and a stall selling freshly squeezed pomegranate juice. We then went to the important Mausoleum of Shah Cheragh. This was a site where we, as non muslims, couldn't enter the actual shrine but could wander the courtyards. All women have to wear a chador so our group were issued with nylon horrors. Susan struggled with this as it proceeded to frazzle her head and brain....

After Susan had a restorative cheesecake and coffee we went to the citadel, inside the walls there are nice gardens and a bathhouse that is worth a visit. We met some local guys who were keen to have a selfie in the bathhouse. For my lunch we stopped off at an unpromising place on the way back to the hotel (we had seen a queue outside here last night). It turned out to be a place that did falafels and little else. The falafels came out of the fryer into the baguette like bread with loads of herbs and a sort of garlicky mayonnaise. Yummo as Rick Stein might say.

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Photos

"the pink mosque"
it took some patience to wait for the room to clear for this photo

Masjed-e Nasir al-Molk
the stained glassed prayer hall is to the right

Narenjestan - the orangery
lovely peaceful spot

Shah Cheragh shrine
complete with the brain frazzling nylon chador

supper at Cafe Naqashi
never found out what this was called but they were a tasty local speciality