Blogs from South, Iran, Middle East - page 2

YAZD TO SHIRAZ, MARCH 4, 2017 This morning we left Yazd after spending one night in the delightful Garden hotel. We really enjoyed our little room. After breakfast we set off. Our first stop was to view the ganats. There is not much to see above ground just little hillocks in a row coming from the mountain. However, Hadi explained how the ganats worked. They first dug a hole down until they reached the subterranean water. The then connected that by a long tunnel to the village or its destination. All of Yazd at one time receive its water that way. Now about 50% of the town gets its water through the ganat system. We next stopped to see a 4500 year old cypress tree. It was about 3 stories high and looked in very good ... read more

YAZD, MARCH 3, 2017 Today we are in Yazd. This is an ancient city whose origin is uncertain. It is at the confluence of two great deserts. It is at the foot of the the Shir mountains. For centuries water has been brought down to this town by a series of “ganats”. These are series of channels dug to capture the water from the mountain and bring it down to large underground reservoirs. It is the center of Zoroasterism in Iran. This religion is extremely old and has about 10,000 followers today all over the world. It was the first religion to embrace monotheism. It is fairly simplistic and somewhat mystical. One of the unusual elements of their beliefs is that at death, we should not defile the earth with our rotting flesh. So they put ... read more

We had Sadj drop us in an area of Shiraz where the guidebook showed there were a bunch of hotels to choose from. Being our last destination before returning to Tehran we wanted a reasonably decent room so we’d determined to take our time in assessing our options. Marie got left with the bags while Emma did the rounds. As one of the leading tourist destinations in Iran, costs were relatively high and budget places weren’t even clean. There wasn’t much in the mid-range so Emma negotiated with the one with the nicest room relative to cost. What should have been a US$80 room was offered for US$57 but internet was separate and costs were quite high. We managed to get it for US$53 with internet included. After settling in we headed out to explore. This ... read more

To be honest, I was a little nervous about visiting the Islamic Republic of Iran. Aside from the possibility of police detainment, there was also the threat of kidnap. In 2007, Robert Levinson, an American private investigator, disappeared while visiting Kish Island and hasn’t been seen since. Nothing, not a whisker. Even so, I was intrigued by the Middle Eastern nation. Every report I’d read about it, aside from the ones about kidnappings, nuclear weapons and Ayatollahs, was positive, especially about the friendly folk who lived there. I just had to see it for myself. With only one day set aside for visiting Iran before jetting off to South Korea, I knew going to the mainland was out of the question: the visa hurdles were just too cumbersome. No, the only way was to fly to ... read more

Day 36 Tuesday 23rd February 2016 Well our time in Yazd has been great (except for me being half dead) but we now need to move on. The hotel we are staying in has been fabulous but what is weird that there has been hardly anyone else staying here, and on this last morning we were the only ones in the hotel and they made up a special breakfast just for us. The hotel (being an historical home) actually has lots of tours walking through and on this last morning it was no exception. After brekkie we packed our bags, checked out and got a taxi to the bus station. We had to redeem our voucher from yesterday for real tickets and at the bus company counter we encountered perhaps the most apathetic and ... read more