Blogs from Iran, Middle East - page 4

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 ... read more

Tuesday 7 November We left Shiraz to travel to Yazd. En route we stopped at the early Achaemenid ruins at Pasargardae. Not too far from Persepolis this was the city built by Cyrus the Great somewhat earlier. There isn't a vast amount to see at this spread out site - but enough to give an impression of what this could have been like 2,500 years ago. Slightly hard to imagine the gardens that were here in the desert but we saw the irrigation channels. We had a lunch break at a small town called Abarkuh - we saw a very impressive ice house here in the desert. The town also has an old Cypress tree and a tall wind tower... We arrived in Yazd as night fell, staying at the lovely Dad hotel, a converted caravanserai. ... read more

Preamble: I can’t really remember when the idea of visiting Iran first made its way into my head. It might have been over ten years ago when I bought a book on Islamic architecture and gazed at photographs of amazing tilework at mosques in Esfahan. In late 2016 we started thinking of where to go for our next sabbatical and Iran had by then made it to the shortlist. When we started looking at the practicalities we realised that this wasn’t as simple as buying a plane ticket and making it up from there. Politics raised its inconvenient head and as Brits we needed to go on an organised trip. Finding that a visa would cost £165 meant that we wanted a trip that would last a few weeks and found the Explore “Iran in depth” ... read more

YOU CAN CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE IT, THEN GO BACK TO THE BLOG OR GO THROUGH THE PHOTOS (79 TOTAL - CLICK ON NEXT OR PREVIOUS) IN THAT ENLARGED FORMAT. I PUT LOTS OF INFORMATION IN THE PHOTO CAPTIONS SO YOU CAN SKIP THE NARRATIVE, JUST LOOK AT THE ENLARGED PHOTOS AND CAPTIONS AND YOU'LL STILL GET MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU EVER WANTED. TO RETURN TO THE BLOG ENTRY, JUST CLICK YOUR BACK BUTTON OR ON THE NAME OF THE BLOG, BELOW THE NUMBERS ON THE LEFT. As you have probably figured out, these travel blogs are a way for Bernard and me to keep track of our adventures. I can't tell you how many times we've referred back to one of our over 60 travel blogs looking for various details, maps, dates, etc. ... read more

Mazandaran, or Tabarestan in old Persian, was the last Persian stronghold to be conquered by the Arab armies who brought Islam to Iran. Unlike the rest of the Iranian Plateau, the residents of Mazandaran were able to defend their land from Arab invaders for centuries thanks to the natural barriers of mountains and a resilient population known for being warriors. The ancient religion of Persia "Zoroastrianism" was able to hold a majority in the region until the 12th century while the rest of Persia fell quickly to Islam in the 7th century. Mazandaran has many beautiful sites. Within mainland Iran, this area is called "shomal" which literally translates to "north". Many Persians today consider it the most beautiful region of Iran. It's a great area for adventure seekers with lots of jungles, mountains, and of course ... read more