Today we had another excursion.
This time we arranged for a car and driver to take us to Firuzabad - a couple of hours south-ish of Shiraz.
The journey was again spectacular, with the road following winding passes throuogh enormous mountain ranges.
Just before Firuzabad a river, dry in this season, has cut a huge gorge and at one point there is a high crag on the inside of a hairpin bend, on top of which sits a ruined castle built in the 3rd century BC.
It was a very long climb up at the hottest time of the day, but there is a very good recently-built path/stairway so we managed it after several rest stops. The view from the top was outstanding and the castle itself was huge. There has evidently been restoration work going on but we were puzzled by the lack of people and materials. Then we saw a huge expanse of scaffolding which had partially collapsed damaging the rest. It looked as if they had simply abandoned the job rather than sort it out.
Must have been O'Reilly.
There were no other people there at all so we had the place entirely to ourselves.
Next was the ruined city of Gur. No, me neither. Also from the same era and another huge site - in the middle of a plain this time. All that was standing was a crumbling tower almost 100 ft high which apparently marked the centre of the city.
Gur was unusual in that it was circular and divided into segments in an early form of town planning.
There was very little else to see although a little archaeological work was going on. But it was clear from the terrain that there is masses there to be unearthed when they finally get around to it.
Again, we had the place to ourselves.
The memorable thing about Gur was that there was a type of plant there which attracted a particular type of butterfly in huge numbers - white with black markings. As we passed they were disturbed and flew up so we were walking amid clouds of butterflies. A lovely experience.
The last big site at Firuzabad was probably the best - a palace from the same era - partially restored, enough to get a clear impression of the scale of the thing. And enough to see how the later dynasties, after Persepolis, had developed different building styles.
On the way back to Shiraz the driver stopped at another of Shah Abbas's caravanserais - you'll remember those if you were paying attention to previous posts. This one was just at the outlet of a mountain gorge where the difficult road would have emerged onto the plain and probably would have been a very welcome to travellers.
It is just a ruin now, no restoration at all, but is still recognisable as fulfilling the function of the one we stayed at near Yazd. Again, very atmospheric in its dramatic setting and with no-one else around.
This time we arranged for a car and driver to take us to Firuzabad - a couple of hours south-ish of Shiraz.
The journey was again spectacular, with the road following winding passes throuogh enormous mountain ranges.
Just before Firuzabad a river, dry in this season, has cut a huge gorge and at one point there is a high crag on the inside of a hairpin bend, on top of which sits a ruined castle built in the 3rd century BC.
It was a very long climb up at the hottest time of the day, but there is a very good recently-built path/stairway so we managed it after several rest stops. The view from the top was outstanding and the castle itself was huge. There has evidently been restoration work going on but we were puzzled by the lack of people and materials. Then we saw a huge expanse of scaffolding which had partially collapsed damaging the rest. It looked as if they had simply abandoned the job rather than sort it out.
Must have been O'Reilly.
There were no other people there at all so we had the place entirely to ourselves.
Next was the ruined city of Gur. No, me neither. Also from the same era and another huge site - in the middle of a plain this time. All that was standing was a crumbling tower almost 100 ft high which apparently marked the centre of the city.
Gur was unusual in that it was circular and divided into segments in an early form of town planning.
There was very little else to see although a little archaeological work was going on. But it was clear from the terrain that there is masses there to be unearthed when they finally get around to it.
Again, we had the place to ourselves.
The memorable thing about Gur was that there was a type of plant there which attracted a particular type of butterfly in huge numbers - white with black markings. As we passed they were disturbed and flew up so we were walking amid clouds of butterflies. A lovely experience.
The last big site at Firuzabad was probably the best - a palace from the same era - partially restored, enough to get a clear impression of the scale of the thing. And enough to see how the later dynasties, after Persepolis, had developed different building styles.
On the way back to Shiraz the driver stopped at another of Shah Abbas's caravanserais - you'll remember those if you were paying attention to previous posts. This one was just at the outlet of a mountain gorge where the difficult road would have emerged onto the plain and probably would have been a very welcome to travellers.
It is just a ruin now, no restoration at all, but is still recognisable as fulfilling the function of the one we stayed at near Yazd. Again, very atmospheric in its dramatic setting and with no-one else around.
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