Blogs from South, Iran, Middle East - page 5

On Tuesday, 11.10., I was leaving Esfahan in direction of Shiraz. Saeids mother gave me lots of food that I had difficulties to pack all the stuff in my packages :) Thanks a lot to Saeid and his family! I hope I can give something back in the future! It was the season of Pomegranates. I was given so much Pomegranates. And they are heavy! It was a big challenge to eat them faster then getting new ones! But until Shiraz I made it:) I could also recognize that I get into the grape region. I was also given much grapes. But they are not so heavy... The first three days I was quite fast, I made over 400km. On the way to Shiraz I visited some historical sites. I thought a bit history in Persia ... read more

shanbe Jan22Sat Up at the crack of dawn, even earlier, for a 5:00am full-day trip to Persepolis, Naqhsh-e Rostam and Naqhsh-e Rajab, before ending off with Passagardae, which according to LP is a questionable stop for what value there is to see at the site. Let's see! My driver, Ahmed Miere (a Shirazian with no English), arrives a little late and with only a slight detour to pick up his friend, who is along for the ride, we head off for less than an hour or so before getting to Persepolis. I am no history enthusiast, nor am I really particularly knowledgeable about Iranian times around 2 million B.C, but I understand that Persepolis, may be possibly the greatest empire of the Achaemenid period, and will be something to behold; this is what I have really ... read more

panj shanbeJan20R Had earlier considered a day visit to Kashan, before heading south by buses; however, these plans fall apart, so I change itinerary and ask Elham to look into a flight to Shiraz, thinking that the LPIran itinerary would be best to follow and eventually leave me working my way north by some combination of buses, bus tours and taxis. In this way, I would be working my way back to Tehran for my Feb3 departure rather than travelling away from my point of final departure from Iran (this approach was learned in Korea – risky ventures first and early in journey and small short trips last, so you remain close to home prior to final departure). I find this a more suitable plan of attack for travelling to the cities of Shiraz, Persepolis, Yazd, ... read more

Persepolis lies about 40 km outside the city of Shiraz (origin of the wine grape). It’s an amazing archaeological site dating back to 512 BC. It takes some imagination to get a full appreciation for what the place used to look like because it was burned to the ground by Alexander of Macedonia and hasn’t had much reconstruction done since it was rediscovered in the 1930s. It was really neat to see, but we’d recommend visiting at a different time of year when it’s not so hot during the day.It was a bit tough with the group travel thing since it was mid-morning when we arrived at the site and it was already getting pretty hot. The lighting wasn’t very good for photos but our guide was really knowledgeable so we learned a lot about the ... read more

After a day or so of sightseeing and meeting the locals in Yazd I planned to head south again. The next city was Kerman and from there I would venture to the eerie desert sculptures in the desert of Kaluts. I wanted to travel there by train. I was a bit tired of all the buses and wanted to relax for the journey which is what train travel provides. However this is Iran and things aren't really the same here. I arrived at Yazd railway station by taxi at half an hour before the 5.30 departure. I waited in the foyer with everyone else in headscarves, chadors and men with the usual uniform of plain trousers, belt and long sleeved shirt. The train was late by an hour and I'm already yawning. Despite this line having ... read more