Traffic and Driving

We didn't consider renting a car in Iran for two main reasons:
Firstly, credit cards don't work here because of US banking sanctions which means that there is no developed car-rental business.
Secondly, local transport is incredibly inexpensive - the 8.5 hour bus journey from Kerman to Shiraz cost less than a fiver. And taxis are also quite cheap - the most we have paid is US$5, and that was for a half-hour journey across town.

However, we have found that there is a third reason, and probably the best, which we were totally unaware of.

The driving is the worst I have seen anywhere.
Ever.

Firstly there seems to be no MOT equivalent, so incredibly ancient vehicles are happily cruising around looking as if they will fall apart any minute.
Secondly there seem to be no rules - or at least none that anyone pays any attention to. So, driving at night without lights seems to be acceptable, obeying traffic lights seems to be optional, and ignoring pedestrian crossings seems to be compulsory.

Virtually all Iranians we have had any contact with seem to be friendly and generous, but something seems to change when they get in a car. There is absolutely zero routine courtesy or generosity. The main attitude seems to be to never give an inch and to take whatever you can.
So if there is nothing actually blocking the way a car will turn right at a T-junction without bothering about what might be coming along the road he is turning into - he has the space and it is up to the car not yet in the space to take evasive action. Similarly in traffic - a car will take any space it can get to edge its way forward - regardless of the consequences for other vehicles. They have forcing down to a fine art.
And this applies to women as well as men.
And the attitude is the same towards pedestrians - there is zero consideration given to anyone trying to cross the road - whether on a pedestrian crossing or not. So the only way to cross is to step out and force vehicles to stop because their only alternative is to hit you. If they have an alternative, such as veering to pass just in front of you - they will take it. We are getting used to it now but still do it with care. We have noticed that locals simply step out more or less without looking - trusting that cars will make the effort not to hit them.

This disregard for pedestrians continues on the pavement - motor cyclists consider that it is also their space and will sound their horns to get pedestrians to make way. They also park their bikes on the pavement.
And the only reason cars are also not on the pavement is that there are usually bollards to prevent them. Where there are no bollards, there are cars on the pavement.

Having said all that, this situation seems to be perfectly acceptable to everyone. We have not seen a single instance of people getting irritated or irate - either drivers or pedestrians. So I guess it works for them.

I'd love to see their accident statistics though.

Persepolis

We arranged for a car and driver for the day so that we could visit several other sights as well as the main Persepolis site. It just wouldn't be possible to do it all in one day using public transport.
We were up early so not at our brightest. As we were likely to be out in the sun all day I went to put suncream on before we left and was on my second dollop when I realised that I was using travelwash and not suncream. So, it would have been double jeopardy - a hot sunny day and I would have been burned, or another thunderstorm and I would have been covered in bubbles.

First stop was Pasagardae - a vast site, of a city from over 2,500 years ago and built for the persian emperor Cyrus. There is not terribly much to see - although it looks like there may be much of the site still to be excavated - but Cyrus's impressive tomb is there and the remains of a couple of formal buildings.

Cyrus the Great, and his descendant Darius (also the Great ) are names I've known since I was a kid so it was very special to see these places where they'd lived.

Next we went to a site where 4 huge tombs had been cut out of a cliff-face - same sort of thing as Petra or Mount Rushmore. These were for my man Darius the Great, and also his successors Darius II, Xerxes I and Ataxerxes I - is this too much information ? If it is, sorry - just skip it - but I did find it quite exciting.
Whatever turns you on, right ?
The tombs were cut about 10 feet back into the rock and covered in bas-reliefs celebrating various triumphs etc. - the whole things maybe 100 ft high, with the tomb openings themselves about halfway up.

After that it was Persepolis itself - another enormous site where a large rocky area had been levelled and built up with great stone blocks to form a sort of plinth base to build the city on. So access is via a wide ceremonial double stairway up to a huge entrance portal. The whole purpose was to overawe vistors with the wealth and power of the persian empire. And it must have been hugely effective.

There are many old graffiti on the entrance portal, some of them must have been done very carefully with hammer and chisel because they are actually in fonts. My favourite was one which read " Lt Col Malcolm J Meade, HM Consul General 1898".
And below, almost apologetically, " Mrs Meade".
You couldn't make it up.
I assume his aide de camp or whatever wielded the chisel.

Overall, though, I have mixed feelings about Persepolis. There were some wonderful things to see - marvellous reliefs depicting visitors from various parts of his empire bringing gifts as tribute to Darius (Persepolis was his) and a clear impression of the scale and grandeur of the place.

But much of what has been excavated has been re-covered - encased in mud walls with a mud/straw cap - presumably for protection, and so cannot be seen. Many of the staircases have been overlaid with wooden steps - again for protection, but it means that you can't see the originals. And many of the pedestals and columns looked suspiciously unweathered so it was hard to be sure exactly what one was looking at.

After we had seen most of it we climbed a hill at the rear of the site and had a spectacular view over the whole place.

At the top I got talking to 3 local guys who were just hanging around up there. After the usual pleasantries one asked me what I thought of President Ahmadinejad. We have developed a policy of being non-commital so I said I didn't know much about him. And after a brief silence I asked him what his opinion was. He said he thought the president was very good - the first time we have heard that. And then a couple of minutes later he said " I am policeman".
We will stick to our policy.

Shiraz

I mentioned we were off in search of dinner - we passed a tiny unobtrusive entrance with a guy standing outside who said "restaurant ?" pointing inside - so we went in for a look and found a large subterranean traditional place with high ceilings and a gallery around. We took a table in the gallery and were able to look down on the band - a very good evening.

Next day we visited a variety of places in the city centre. Firstly an old fortress-type building which has been beautifully restored - apart from one huge tower which leans at a remarkable angle.

Later, as we were wandering idly along a side street I saw a workman come out of a huge set of very old doors leaving one open. I couln't resist slipping inside for a quick look and came face to face with an old man who turned out to be some sort of caretaker. He gestured for us to come in and have a look - the place was a former madrasa which was in the process of being renovated. It was a series of rooms on two stories around a large central courtyard with shade provided by orange trees and palms, and a large pool - no water in it though as they were still working on it. The buildings were covered in lovely tiling and when finished it will be a marvellous place.

After we had had a good look around the caretaker came over and, by gesture, indicated that we could go up to the roof. The view over central Shiraz was terrific and we spent quite some time up there. We tipped the guy on the way out - as he no doubt intended.
As an aside - it came to mind because of stairs up to the roof - we have found that many doorways in the old buildings have been quite low, implying that the people were perhaps shorter. No problem there -that's often seen in Europe. But what has surprised us is that almost always the stairs are very deep so that it's quite jarring to descend and quite an effort to ascend. So - shorter people, and presumably shorter legs, and deeper stairs ? We think they may have used pogo sticks but there has been no evidence for that in the paintings we have seen.

After that we visited a major islamic shrine - something to do with the brothers of Imam Reza who is one of the Twelve Imams - google Shi'a theology if you're interested.
This place is a huge deal - the busiest islamic site we have seen. We were not allowed to take bags in and we were frisked on entry. A beautifully tiled entrance led into a large courtyard with pool and fountains. We were not permitted, as non-muslims, into the main shrine - but there was a subsidiary shrine in a far corner of the courtyard which we could enter. Inside it was the size of a very large church, separted into various side rooms etc and every square inch was covered in tiny mirror tiles in a huge variety of  shapes and patterns. Mainly plain but some colour at various points. There were chandeliers and other lights and also the mausoleum itself was lit in a neon green so the reflected effect was overwhelming. The entire floor was covered in persian carpets, so we found ourselves a quiet corner and sat and looked at it all for quite a while.
The complexity of the patterns and designs - some 3D not just flat - was remarkable.
It's very hard to describe really - it's not at all to a european taste - but spectacular to see. Steve summed it up best when he said it was like being at Cinderella's ball.
I thought it was just like being in a parallel universe. But a memorable experience.
After that we visited a museum on the other side of the courtyard - some lovely pieces but not very well curated, a complete mixture of items with no theme. Fairly recent items were alongside items marked as being from the 3rd millenium BC. I particularly liked some ancient Qurans with exquisite miniature illuminations.
Steve found a cabinet full of coins marked as being "from the Qajar period " which was 1795-1925 and was highly entertained to see that the collection contained a twelve-sided threepenny bit, a two-shilling piece, and a current one pound coin.
Which for us cast a little doubt on the provenance of some of the other items.

Overall, a very enjoyable and varied day.

Kerman

Kerman is another town on the route east. Not terribly inspiring, but a base for several trips out to places of interest nearby - which we will do tomorrow.
Last evening in the hotel we got talking to a man in the lobby - he was watching football on the TV (Iran 3 Bahrain 0 since you ask) and when I expressed some interest he started chatting. When he found we were english (it's easier than trying to explain welsh - they just don't understand) he said " Ah - I love Gulliver's Travels". You really couldn't make it up.............
Turns out he grew up in a small village and his english is self-taught - and he has probably the widest vocabulary we have come across - and he worked as a translator/interpreter for various US companies before the revolution. He turned down the offer to relocate to US and later worked teaching english.
He also gave the name and number of a friend of his in Shiraz who could act as a guide for us when we visit Persepolis next week.
The main reason for coming to Kerman is a part of the nearby desert called Kaluts. We arranged for a car and driver for the day and went there via a place called Mahan where there is a huge garden with tiered pools and waterfalls etc - all fed via the qanats I mentioned in a previous post. The garden is surrounded by fruit orchards and the whole is enclosed by a high mud-brick wall probably about a mile in circumference. And beyond that is arid desert. Quite something to see.

Outside..........

.................and inside

The driver was helpful - stopping to show us various other items of interest - mainly water-related - vast cisterns etc.
But the Kaluts was the main event - a huge area of desert containing wierd natural sandstone structures. A bit like Monument Valley only with structures on a smaller scale. We left the driver and went for a long walk across the desert - there was no-one else around and the sense of isolation/solitude was striking.
Spectacular, and well worth the journey to get there.

The driver also stopped at a nearby caravanserai - an unused one that has simply been abandoned, probably a very long time ago. It was a vast place - probably around 200yds x 200 yds enclosed by a high mud-brick wall with watchtowers at each corner - beautifully made with decorative brickwork. There were rooms along one side - I counted 10 groups each of 7 rooms - and a huge space outside for the animals. And down the middle of the whole thing was the qanat water supply - still flowing with clean fresh water. Again, we were the only people there  - which helps in imagining how it must have been in its heyday.

That evening we went for a wander through the bazaar and came upon a teahouse which was located in the premises of a former hammam - a wonderful old place with beautiful domes and tiling. And there was a band playing traditional music which gave a great atmosphere to the place. We only popped in for a cup of tea and stayed about an hour and a half.

We got talking to a man who had been taught english in recent years by his daughter. He was a pistachio farmer - he said looking after the trees and harvesting takes about 6 months of the year and the other 6 months he takes off. Nice. He volunteered that he is only a nominal muslim and never bothers with prayers or mosque - and has brought up his children the same. However, his wife is very devout and does the prayers several times a day. He was most happy to tell us that he goes abroad on holiday most years - his favourite destination is Bangkok - we asked him what he liked about Thailand and he said it was the drinking and the dancing. We asked how his wife enjoyed that - he gleefully replied that she stays at home and prays or goes to Mecca.

Today we moved on to Shiraz - a bus journey of eight and a half hours. The scenery en route was again spectacular - enormous deserts and several high mountain ranges to cross.
Just before writing this I googled to see how big Iran is compared with UK - turns out Iran is nearly 7 times as big, but with a population about the same.

We arrived in Shiraz just as a thunderstorm was threatening - and for the first time we had a bit of difficulty finding a hotel. Our first choice turned out to be a bit unsavoury so we went in search of others. Fortunately there are several very close so we dodged the raindrops and now we are the proud occupiers of a two bedroomed apartment in downtown Shiraz. This seems to be the most like a european city we have visited but we haven't seen much yet - it was getting dark as we arrived and we waited for the storm to pass before venturing out. It turned out to be a brief but violent thunder/lightning affair with heavy rain.
And now we are off in search of dinner.
More of Shiraz next time.

Food

I haven't mentioned much, if anything, about food so far. I've been waiting until I can give a considered overview.
Frankly, it's been a bit of a disppointment.
I had heard before that the best Iranian food is found in the home and that has certainly been our experience. The best meals we have had have been in Garmeh and Zein-od-Din which were much more like domestic situations.
Restaurants, or at least the ones we have visited, seem to have fairly unadventurous and broadly similar menus. Various types of kebab - lamb, beef, chicken and occasionally fish - invariably flat on flat skewers and served with rice and/or flatbread.
Salads have been good and fresh but unexciting - usually lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes and grated carrot with a fairly bland dressing on the side. And there is usually a bowl of yoghurt - good and fresh. One interesting thing is the bowl of herb leaves often served with the kebab. Some we recognise - mint, flatleaf parsley, tarragon - but others are new to us and have some lovely flavours. One - called Rehan - we have enjoyed very much. Steve thinks it might be "russian basil" and plans to find some seeds to grow next year.
Apart from the kebabs there has been little - a sauce made from pomegranate and walnut which is served with chicken or lamb - called Fesenjan. It sounds good and it should/could be - but in the restaurants we have visted it seems to have been made without skill or care.
Soups have been good, one with barley and barberries seems to be common and a spicy vegetable soup with some kind of pasta was also good.
In Garmeh we had wonderful food. One dish in particular stood out - slices of aubergine cooked in something called "kashk" which is apparently made by reducing yogurt. I'll need to google that.
Rice dishes have been interesting, flavoured with various herbs and spices and cooked with nuts and fruits. It's also quite common to have rice sprinkled with dried barberries. These are a red fruit about the size of a grape - we bought some fresh in the bazaar, they have a sharp and juicy taste - a bit like a sour cherry.
Desserts are mainly fruit and dates - the latter are very common and there are many different types. Also pomegrantes and watermelon. We've been snacking on pistachios, walnuts and various other fruits all of which are plentiful.
So. all in all - mixed on the food front.

But the bazaars are full of produce - beautiful looking fruit, nuts, herbs (dried and fresh), spices, vegetables etc so the "home-cooking is best" may well be true.
One slightly different thing we notice is the butchers. They are generally very small stalls or shops and have very little stock. They seem to have one carcass hanging there which they cut from until it is gone. And, so that the punters know what the meat is, they display the head of the unfortunate animal at the front. This may be sheep, goat or even camel.
I suppose this may also be an indication of the freshness - a recently killed animal may still have a surprised look on its face.
Produce is in vast quantities - such that it is often hard to see how they can possibly sell it all. There are mountains of deep red tomatoes, aubergines - round and elongated, onions, vast piles of fresh herbs, huge sacks of nuts, dried herbs, spices, dried fruits, seeds - sunflower, watermelon , and many other things we don't recognise. The quantities are overwhelming.
The condition is not always as you would see in Tesco - there are blemishes and distortions and nothing is pre-packed - but most things looks to be ripe and good quality. It makes us want to buy a load of stuff and get cooking.

Zein-od-Din

In order to stimulate and facilitate trade, Shah Abbas - mentioned previously re Isfahan - arranged for the building of around 1,000 caravanserais along the various trade routes. Each was to be approximately 1 days camel ride from the next, and they provided food and shelter for both people and their animals.
About 70km south-east of Yazd, on the route to Afghanistan and Pakistan, is caravanserai Zein-od-Din standing in isolation in the desert. It is one of only two made in a circular shape - the other is a ruin in Isfahan - and it presents high blank walls unbroken except for a massive wooden door.

It was restored a few years ago - the job took over 2 years to complete - and is now once again providing food and shelter, although now only for people.
Inside is an entrance courtyard with a sort of wide curved corridor leading off it. This has high alcoves on either side which are used as bedrooms, separated from the corridor only by heavy curtains.

Beyond the entrance courtyard is a much bigger main courtyard, open to the sky, with plants and shady alcoves all around the outside with cushions and carpets.

The whole place has been restored with care and style so it was a very special place to spend time. In the evening, the lighting was carefully arranged to give the place a very atmospheric feel as we lounged on our cushions with glasses of tea.

The roof is accessible too and I spent some time up there with a book in the cool of the early morning - the view was 360 degrees across immense desert and distant mountains. That's something I will remember for a long time.

As it is so remote, access is not easy. Two of the staff from the caravanserai drove us to the main road and we simply waited until a bus came along. We flagged it down and the guys explained to the bus crew where we were going and they made room for us.

We wanted to go to Kerman but the bus was going on to Zahedan in Baluchistan near the Afghan/Pakistan border. I got the impression that its home was there because the crew and many of the passengers were dressed quite differently from what we have seen so far. Iranian men generaly wear shirt and trousers but these guys were wearing a sort of shalwar kameez, with incredibly baggy trousers.
And the crew had a slightly more cavalier attitude to things. I have heard before of bus crews changing driver without bothering to stop the bus - now I've seen it happen.
At about 100kph.
In the outside lane.

But, in any event we arrived safely in Kerman, which is the easternmost point of our trip.

Yazd

First of all, thanks Mary for the comment about Leonard Skinner. Funnily enough they did report it on Radio Esfahan - right after the commercials for Spearmint Rhino and Smirnoff.
As I mentioned before, Yazd is a seriously ancient town and in recent years there has been a move to restore many of the wonderful old houses - some have been converted into hotels and some into museums. They all have a similar layout - an open central courtyard, sometimes two, with a central pool and fountain and shady alcoves and rooms around the central area.. Much of the detail of paintwork and decorative features has been restored and trees and plants installed so there is a lovely tranquil atmosphere created.

In one of these was the Yazd Water Museum. This is a very arid area so the provision of water to the city has been a continuous problem over the centuries. They resolve it by a series of underground channels - called Qanats - which are constructed to conduct water by gravity from sources outside the city. The museum showed how these are made - there are still very skilled and experienced qanat-builders working. The channels are tiny - not much more that the minimum needed for a man to move along on his hands and knees. And they feed both reservoirs and individual homes. Many houses have steep steps down to the qanat as it passes beneath - and they generally have dug out quite a large space around it - enough for seating areas as it is many degrees cooler down there. The qanat builders wear an all white costume and hat - apparently because it can symbolise a shroud for them if there is a cave-in while they are working underground........

The surface part of an underground water cistern with its windtowers

Yazd is one of the main remaining centres of Zoroastrianism and there are two principal sites to see in the city. One, which is visted by Zoroastrians from all over the world, is a "sacred eternal flame' which is housed behind a large glass screen in a special building. We were expecting some kind of small symbolic flame, but it turned out to be a large log fire. It is claimed that the fire has been burning continuously since at least the 5th century but we were, I'm afraid, a little sceptical. We decided that probably the most important piece of equipment for the man on night duty is a box of matches............
The other site is a little way out of town. It was the Z's custom, until as recently as the 1960's, not to bury their dead but to expose the bodies in a high, remote place to be disposed of by vultures. They built structures called "Towers of Silence" - these were circular walls within which the bodies were left on raised platforms. Outside Yazd there are two - one for men and one for women - on adjacent rocky hills. It is a desolate, barren spot and it was difficult enough for us to scramble up - carrying a body up there must have been quite a task. The views back over the city from the top though were welll worth the effort.

That evening we visted a Zurkaneh - literally a "House of Strength". This was a seriously alien experience.
The entrance was a small unmarked door in a dark alley not too far from our hotel.Inside was a large room with a huge dome and in the centre was a pit about a metre deep and 5/6 metres across - all tiled.
Around this were set out chairs for spectators and a large pulpit affair in which sat a man with a big hand drum and various bells and a microphone.
In the pit were a motley assortment of participants who went through various synchronised exercise routines while the man in the pulpit set the tempo with complex drumming, punctuated by bell notes, and loud singing - which sounded very traditional - and possibly semi-religious. As I said - very wierd.
There was close co-ordination betwen the drummer and the exercise leader in the pit - and it all seemed to be ritualised, with various call and responses between the leader and the rest of the participants. And the cognoscenti among the spectators also joined in with this.

The exercises began with complicated pressup routines - all sychronised - and went on to individual whirling in the centre with each man whirling for as long as he could. Each one performed some kind of skipping routine around the edge as a kind of build up to his turn. They then went on to a routine involving twirling very heavy clubs and some of them manipulated some kind of heavy metal apparatus with chains and cymbal bells attached.
As I said, very strange - but fascinating to watch.
I read somewhere that there are quite a few of these places in Teheran and, because of their decidedly traditional and conservative nature, they were ideal sources of reliable hard men whenever any unpleasantness was required during the Islamic Revolution.
So - that's Yazd. Very different and very interesting.

Garmeh and Yazd

After a wonderful few days visiting the glories of Isfahan we moved on to Garmeh. The journey by public transport would have been long and awkward and we wouldn't have arrived until late evening so we decided to get a car to take us. It was still long - about 5 hours - and as we went further and further into the desert the driver became more incredulous about us wanting to go there. We got the impression that he was a city boy and had never been out that way before. The scenery on the way was spectacular - huge expanses of stony desert mixed with dramatic mountain ranges.
Garmeh is a small oasis village - about 300 miles from nowhere. The place we stayed is a private house which was renovated by a family from Teheran. The grandparents now run it as a guest house letting out half a dozen rooms.
I have tried uploading images but the internet cafe equipment is not the best and it would take forever.  think I will wait untl I get home and then upload a number at the same time.
The main "public" area was a large open area on different levels with a central table for laying out food and then various sitting areas off that - carpets and cushions only.

Our bedroom was just a large room with carpets and then an alcove contain thin matresses and various bedding.
When we arrived the daughter of the family - probably late 40's - was there on a holiday with her family, staying in another house in the village owned by the family. She took us out for a walk around.  The oasis was about a square mile - mainly date palms, pistachios, pomegranates etc. She told us that about three years ago there had been a snowfall - about 60 cm and the worst for 3 generations, combined with temperatures of - 20 degrees C. It killed an awful lot of trees and it will take another 3 generations to recover. We saw a photo of how it had been before and it was markedly different.

She also took us to their other house for a cold drink - her two daughters were there together with a friend of theirs - all also on holiday from Teheran. All aged about 20. As they were at home they were casually dressed although the two daughters still wore headscarves. The friend didn't and she was the one who spoke most english. A bright and lively girl and very interested in talking to us.
I mention this because later they all showed up at the guest house for dinner - now all three fully covered up and, with their grandfather present, presented a very different demeanour. They barely acknowledged us and sat separately to eat, talking quietly together. I noticed that when their grandfather was speaking they fell silent.
The next evening though they were there again and their grandfather wasn't there. It was chalk and cheese - they sat with us and talked for a long time - although their mother made sure she was always positioned so she could see and hear.
There was music playing and I asked them what they listened to - mainly Iranian, a mixture of classical and pop. I had heard a sort of Iranian rap (yes - really) on one of the buses and so I asked them if they liked that. They did, so I went on to ask if they knew much about western rap and other western music - I was surprised to hear that they didn't, although the friend said she liked Pink Floyd. I was a bit sceptical about that.
Anyway, eager to get my own back on the mullah for trying to convert me I tried to do a bit of proselytising for good old rock 'n roll. I got my ipod and started playing them some selected tracks. Started with Eminem as they said they liked rap - that went down well, so moved swiftly on to some downhome southern boogie with Lynyrd Skynyrd. Toes definitely tapping under the chadors there. Then asked them if they had ever heard american country music - blank looks, so I played them an upbeat Garth Brooks song and they loved it. They got me to write his name for them so they could investigate on youtube or wherever.
Rock 'n roll 3 - Mullah 0.   Allright !!!

Earlier in the day we had had another walk around the oasis and followed the water course back up to the source - just a spring coming out of the rock where a porous layer of rock meets an impervious layer. But it flows continuously and there is a system of channels which are blocked or opened depending on requirements.

The source of the spring

The guesthouse at Garmeh

An unrenovated "castle" next door

Part of the oasis

We also spent a lot of time just lazing about - we had done a lot of walking and rushing about previously so it was good to relax for a couple of days.

The food at Garmeh was the best we've had - more of a home cooking style and seriously good. I haven't written anything about food yet - I've been waiting until we've had a chance to try various things in different places. I'll try to come to that soon.

Some of the readers are probably wondering how Steve and I are managing to be without a drink for so long. Well, to be honest, we are doing just fine. Admittedy there are times of day when our thoughts move in that direction. For example, in the afternoon of another hot day we may think briefly of a cold glass of beer with beads of condensation glistening on the sides and that sharp bite of the first long pull at it, and then in the early evening we may briefly mention a long gin and tonic, ice tinkling in the glass and the sharpness of the lime blending perfectly with the glycerol texture of the gin. And then later, with dinner, we sometimes think how nice it would be to have a taste of a chilled, fresh sauvignon blanc or to savour the full fruity aromatic flavours of a good red.
But no, we don't miss it at all.

After 2 nights at Garmeh we travelled on to Yazd - again by car. Another good journey scenery-wise - the desert is vast.
Yazd has claims to be the oldest continuously inhabited place in the world - it goes back 7,000 years.
It's a remote desert city and the old town is a maze of lanes and alleys. The houses are built in a courtyard style so all that is presented to the outside is a high wall with a door in it. The building material is mud mixed with straw which dries to form a hard shell. Many of the older doors have two different knockers, each with a different sound - one was/is for men and one for women so that the occupants would know and send someone of the same gender to answer the door. There is an absoute maze of the lane and alleys between the houses and they are maintained very well - clean and tidy. The other main feature of many older houses is windtowers - large chimney-type structures designed to capture any breeze and divert it through the house - often passing it over water to cool it. An ancient desert form of air-conditioning and apparently very effective.
My time is up for today - more about Yazd next time.

Isfahan

We booked ahead into the Isfahan Traditional Hotel - a lovely old building still in the process of being renovated. Rooms on two levels around a courtyard with a pool in the middle. There were raised platforms with rugs and cushions for relaxing on - it was cool and shady most of the day.A separate courtyard housed the restaurant.

The main feature of the city is the Imam Square which is vast - over 500m by 160m. Thre is a huge historic mosque at one end and the entrance to the bazaar at the opposite end - and then facing each other along the sides are another spectacular mosque and a former royal palace. And all around the square is a sort of colonnade with shops etc.

The whole thing was designed in the 17th century when Shah Abbas (subject of a major exhibition at the British Museum recently ) moved the capital to Isfahan from Qazvin
The centre of the square was originally used for polo - the goalposts still stand at each end - but is now laid out with gardens pools and fountains.

The main features of the mosques are the architecture - domes. minarets etc - and the astonishing tiling in a mixture of patterns - floral, geometric calligraphy. Mainly in blues, greens and yellows. Many of the half domes have a "stalactite" moulding which is then tiled to remarkable effect, and the full domes are often tiled with a gradually reducing pattern which seems to draw the eye upwards and accentuates the size.

Overall they are wonderful places and everything I was expecting.

And Steve developed an unorthodox technique for photographing the domes, which caused some entertainment for the locals......

A little way from the square is the river where there are several ancient bridges.
We did a long walk along the river crossing backwards and forwards. It was the weekend so there were lots of people out in the gardens along the river. Many were large family groups having picnics - picnics is a separate topic I'll come back to later.
One of the bridges is on two levels and in the cool of the lower arches groups of men gathered to sing - it sounded like traditional stuff - a bit like declaiming poetry. In any event it was highly appreciated - many people gathered to listen - probably over 100 - and there was much applause and encouragement after each song.

 We saw a similar group on the riverbank later and this time they had a flat stringed instrument which was played by tapping with what looked like metal claws - it made a tinkling sound and was played mainly as a sort of call and response with the singer. They weren't busking - it was purely for their own enjoyment and the entertainment of anyone who cared to listen. For us it was a real treat.
On the Friday night there was a wedding in our hotel - very interesting because it seems that a private function in a hotel doesn't count as public, so many of the women were dressed in very colourful clothes and wore no head coverings Also their demeanour was much more like what would be normal in Europe. At the end of the evening though they all put back on the chador etc to go home. To us it seemed rather sad - a bit like butterflies having to go back into the cocoons.

A little way west of the city is a huge rock outcrop on top of which stands a ruined Zoroastrian fire temple. Not much to see really but the views back over the city were worth the climb up.

And south of the river is a large Armenian population - again a legacy of Shah Abbas. He forcibly removed a whole townful of people from the north to provide skills and expertise in Isfahan. Because of this there is a cathedral and many Orthodox churches. The cathedral has a number of remarkable frescoes, but to be honest many of them were rather gruesome for my taste - seemed to be there mainly to frighten children.

Traffic in central Isfahan, as in the other cities, has been horrendous at certain times of day. There is no consideration given to pedestrians and crossing the road basically comes down to a game of chicken with drivers to see who yields first. Steve very nearly got knocked over when he lost concentration for a minute. Then we saw that the occupants of the car were two mullahs and we figured that getting run over by them would almost certainly constitute martyrdom and he would have gone straight to paradise. Then of course we couldn't decide whether we should be happy that he was safe or sad because of the crushing disappointment currently being felt by his 72 virgins because of their missed opportunity.
And talking about mullahs - one approached us in the main mosque and started to chat. A fairly young guy - around late twenties/ early thirties.After the initial, brief, pleasantries, he indicated that he assumed we were christians. When we told him we weren't he was a little confused and asked what our beliefs were. We mumbled something about physics and Darwin and that set him off - he spent the next 15 minutes trying to turn us into believers. Without success, so he asked for my email address so he can continue to try.............
I quite fancy the idea of email correspondence with a mullah in Isfahan.

We still haven't seen many foreigners - and so we stand out a bit. We are getting an understanding of what it must be like to be famous - people recognise us wherever we go, not as individuals but as European visitors.
And we get greeted all the time - people fall in to walk alongside us and chat - one guy leaned out of his car window and shouted across three lanes of traffic to ask where we were from.
We've been approached by students who want to speak some english, by many people who just wanted to say hello and to assure us that Iranian people are not really like the bad press they get in the west, We even had a long chat with a refugee from Afghanistan who said he really appreciated the British involvement there because his (minority) ethnic group had been persecuted by the Taliban.

Picnicking
As I mentioned before, we have seen many large groups picnicking - along the river bank and every evening in the main square. It seems to be a national pastime. But it's not just a few bits of bean salad and a few scotch eggs bought from M&S. Firstly they have several large rugs - persian carpet type of pattern -  which they spread out to establish their patch. Then they have a large gas burner with gas bottle on which they make tea - and we saw one group about to cook carrots and potatoes - and they bring huge amounts of food which looks like it has been prepared at home - mountains of rice, meats, bread, salads. And sometimes they barbecue.
The family groups are often 12-15 people including 3 generations
And of course, passing foreigners are frequently invited to join in.................

We stayed 4 nights in Isfahan amd then headed off north west to the desert - to a tiny oasis village called Garmeh. Next time.........................

As an aside - apologies for any typos etc above. I've been writing this in an internet cafe in Yazd where the mouse doesn't click properly and the keyboard is so worn that it's not easy to pick out letters - I don't touchtype. It's made it very slow and really interrupted my flow. Off now to meet Steve - we're going for dinner to a restaurant in a coverted old hammam - the traditional bath house.

Qazvin

The bus journey fromTabriz to Qazvin was quite entertaining. The team comprised two drivers and a guy whose job it was to usher new passengers on board, stow their luggage etc. He was a young guy with a big greasy hairdo which he regularly brushed back carefully into a DA style. The image was completed by a black T-shirt and jeans together with a studded belt. Steve and I dubbed him the Fonz.
The other passengers were a mixed bag of all ages - a few young women travelling alone.
The bus was going to Teheran, so at a rest stop about a couple of hours before Qazvin we reminded the Fonz of our destination so that he could tell us when we needed to get off.
Two hours later I see us sailing past the Qazvin exit on the motorway - the Fonz was at the back of the bus getting his head down for a while..................
We told the driver who claimed ignorance but pulled up on the hard shoulder at the next exit so we could get off. By a happy chance there were some taxis there so we made it back OK - I have no idea what we would have done otherwise.
Nobody seemed particularly bothered.............

After we checked into the hotel we wandered around for a while - the city was very quiet with little traffic and few people about - this was around 4pm.
We made a start in a communications office on sorting out my phone problems - I won't bore you with them anymore - and when we re-emerged about 90 minutes later the place was transformed. Enormous numbers of people out shopping and just promenading and traffic at a standstill - a real buzz about the place. This went on until about 10 pm.

We organised a car and driver today to take us to the Alamut valley - about 50 miles away.
I had never heard of it until a few weeks ago but it was extraordinary. It reminded me of the Grand Canyon in some ways. Totally different geology but the sheer scale and grandeur of the place is comparable.

There is a long and interesting history to the area. There are many ruined castles scattered through the main and side valleys. These were built as fortesses by the Assassins in the 12th/13th centuries. I won't go into much detail on them but here's a link if you're interested.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alamut

We climbed up to two of the castles - the driver dropping us off on each occasion at the start of paths leading up. They were both long hot climbs but the views from the top were worth it. There was little left of the first but it was clear that it had covered an extensive area with watchtowers at various strategic points.

The second was much more substantial with renovation work going on to preserve what is left. Three elderly guys from the nearest village were there working - we later saw them again in the village so presumably they climb up and down each day.

Before the second climb we had a drink at a house near the start of the path and were asked what we wanted to eat when we got back. So we had lunch in their dining room - empty apart from persian rugs and cushions, a TV and a stereo system - both about 20 years old.

Our days of eating comfortably cross-legged are well behind us but it was an enjoyable experience.
There were no other people at the first castle and it was great to have it to ourselves. There we a few at the second and once again just about everyone we passed wanted to say hello to the foreigners.
When we got back to the bottom one young guy was waiting to have his photo taken with us.

Back in Qazvin we went to a local highpoint - a shrine to Imam Hossein. A truly remarkable place which is difficult to describe - the inside is pretty much entirely covered in small mirror tiles in various patterns - many 3D. Imagine this accompanied by coloured lighting and you might start to get the idea - garish doesn't come close.

It is surrounded by a large courtyard with beautifully tiled and half-domed alcoves where people were sitting - talking, drinking tea etc. We were wandering about looking at it all when I turned and tripped over a little boy of about two - knocking him flat. I set him on his feet quickly and thankfully he didn't cry. His mum - full black monty - came over quickly and I don't know whether she saw what had actually happened. I was afraid of causing an "incident" in the shrine. You can see the headlines - "Infidel attacks child in holy place".
In the event she was OK about it - so I made a fulsome apology and we left sharpish.

We have booked tickets to leave tomorrow on a bus to Esfahan - which I think may be the highlight of the trip.

Some observations about the money here.
The currency is the Iranian Rial of which there are about 15,000 to the pound and about 10,000 to the US dollar. Straightforward ?  You'd think so. But because a rial is worth so little the Iranians express amounts in Toman. A toman is 10 rials. But they don't do this consistently. It seems to me that you are expected to know if the amount mentioned is Rial or toman from the context. We are very slowly getting the hang of this.
I tried to buy a cheap phone and was asked for 105,000 which is about $10 which was fine - turned out the guy meant 105,000 toman which is over $100 which was most definitely not fine. By the time the misunderstanding was discovered my new Iranian simcard was already in the phone and I was trying to send a test text.
A taxi driver will say 4 - or hold up four fingers - by which he means 40,000 rials.

The other thing is that the largest banknote is 50,000 rials - about $5. So when we changed $1,000 we got a very large pile of notes. We split them between us and put them in bodybelts etc but they create a bit of a bulge. We imagined one of the chador-clad ladies approaching us to say "Hello big boy . Have you changed a lot of money or are you just pleased to see me ?" As I said before - schoolboys on a jolly.

More from Esfahan.