Athens and Iran (OZ, TK and QR business)

[RooFlyer]

Day 2, and we are off to a small village in the mountains, Abyaneh, with a stop evey two hours, including lunch and some sights this day, like most driving days, would take about 8 hours. We are 11 pax (plus tour guide and 'assistant') in a full size coach, so it was pretty comfortable on the road (except when you took notice of what others were doing around us )



First sight of the day was between the city and the airport - the tomb and mosque of Ayatollah Khomeini (yes, him).



We passed Qom (usually referred to "The Holy City of Qom) - you can visit the city, but the historic mosque is closed to non Muslims - one of the few sites that were mentioned that were.

We stopped at a 'roadhouse' for lunch, which was not bad. interestingly, the ladies of another tour group shed their scarves. We were told by our guide that when we were 'private' - such as dinners amongst ourselves, or say visiting some-one's house etc, scarves off was OK. Our group thought these ladies were being a bit racy, as the restaurant was 'public'. But nothing happened



First site to visit was the town of Kashan. There we visited the house of a rich 19th century merchant. The most striking feature was that the 'ground floor' and courtyard was set a story below ground (cooler), but you'd never know when inside:



For summer there was a basement, lower again and quite cool:



This place had been partly restored as they were filming a TV series here - and this resulted in the only time we got shouted at in Iran - when they called for QUIET! for filming

 

[RooFlyer]

Next stop is a 'Persian Garden' (the 'Fin Garden'), a UNESCO World heritage site. Its been in existence since 1590 and gained notoriety in the mid 1800s when the Persian Prime Minister was murdered here on order of the then Shah.

We're at the foot of some mountains here, so the water has been plentiful for most of the time. Unfortunately there has been a drought in Iran for the past 8 years and we are into Autumn, so water flows here, and at most water-featured monuments we visited, are limited. Also, being Autumn, the flower displays weren't much. Nice and cool walking down the paths.



There is a hamum:



and a pavilion with JohnM admiring the view:



This is what most of Iran looked like - totally barren hills or, more usually, mountains with the latter often obscured by the ever-present dust:





We eventually turned off the highway to take a road up into the mountians. Regrettably, this would be our only time off the desert plains.

First encounter with a mud-brick citadel, a bit the worse for wear:





After a very winding road up, we eventually made it to the village of Abyaneh, 1,500 years old, at an altitude of 2,200m and the hotel was much more substantial than we were expecting:

 

[RooFlyer]

The hotel was above basic but in line with the locale. The reception area was gorgeous:



Its a family hotel and this was mama:



We were offered tea (and check out the chunky sugar!!)



The tea was delicious and we investigated further. Two components. About 4/5 regular leaf tea, and about 1/5 from this pot which was a steeping stew of all sorts of things including ginger and a bunch of spices:



My single room was typical:



The loo was a challenge!!



Dinner in the hotel restaurant was tasty, as you can see from the aftermath:



This was my first brush with heat treated, non carbonated doogh (homoginisied) (basically tinned, mint flavoured yoghurt drink - its an acquired taste

 

[LadyC]

Thanks for posting - it is very interesting to see this part of the world.

 

[RooFlyer]

Abyaneh is one of the oldest villages in Iran - over 1,500 years. It rose to fame at some point in the past 100 years when a retiring Prime Minister asked what would be the most peaceful town for him to retire in. Of course when Abyaneh was named, that put paid to that and its been a tourist destination ever since!

Some interesting winding lanes







The red is from the local rock, which when ground p is made into an adobe. Traditional dress still exists here - wide bottom trousers for the guys and white headscarf with roses for the ladies:



Walking on, we came across a "oops" moment (lopped tree came down on power lines):



Across the valley, an ancient citadel:



Then to a mausoleum. In Iran, these are for the descendants of the Imams; Imam here has a different meaning from most of the rest of Islam. There were 12 Imams, the 12 descendants of the prophet Muhammad. Descendants of these people are venerated in mausoleums which are dotted across the country.



Here the 'martyrs' of the Iran-Iraq war are also venerated.



A couple of last views of the town.

 

[RooFlyer]

The next day was a long driving day, Abyaneh to Yazd.




All of the drives from now on are along the desert between mountain ranges. Except for a small section, the highways are all two lanes each way, and usually substantially divided.





After a stop in




A stop in Naein to see a couple of things, including this old reservoir with two cooling wind towers:



It got dark as we approached Yazd, with some factories along the road:



In Yazd we had a 4 star hotel, the International Arg, which was welcome:





Dinner in the restaurant was a 'Royal kebab' plus a mojito (lemon/lime/mint).

 

[RooFlyer]

Yazd (pop. 500,000) turned out to be an unexpected highlight of the trip.

Our first site were the Zoroastrian 'Towers of Silence'.

Zoroastrianism ("fire worship") was the religion of Iran from its founding until the arab conquest in about 650 AD. The religion was founded by Zoroaster, also known as Zarathustra. There are still about 25,000 Zoroastrians in Iran, and a number of these are in Yazd. They are also found in India and Azerbaijan.

Amongst other things, Zoroastrians believed that a dead body would pollute the soil, which they held sacred. So, when some-one died, their body would be carried to a hill which had a rock-only top and an enclosure built around it. The body would be left there to be dispursed by birds etc and when the skeleton was picked clean, the bones would be cast into a pit at the top of the hill (never let it be said that you don't get a broad education on AFF )

So, here are two such hills, or Towers of Silence - note the conical enclosures at the top:





Not much to see at the top - but that's the pit the bones used to go into (now filled up with rocks etc):



At least there's a view ...

 

[tgh]

super tr..enjoying it muchly...

 

[JohnM]

This was my first brush with heat treated, non carbonated doogh (homoginisied) (basically tinned, mint flavoured yoghurt drink - its an acquired taste

I could not bring myself to try that stuff....

 

[RooFlyer]

Next was a Zoroastrian fire temple:



The Zoroastrian symbol or Faravahar we'll see all over the place later in the ancient monuments. Its use survived the Arab conquest and is still a popularly worn pendant today. When the State symbols of the Lion and the Sun were banned after the Revolution, the Faravahar took their place in many cases.


Inside the temple there is, sure enough an eternal flame. We were a bit surprised to discover it was a fire of wood, and not (say) natural gas (like they used in Azerbaijan). Its behind a glass screen and with the crowd inside, that made photos impracticable.

A sign(s) of emerging western tourist culture in Iran:



I don't think I mentioned before about the prevalence of English signs in Iran. They are everywhere. In Tehran and the other big cities, almost all businesses have their name in English as well as Farsi, even when you'd doubt that the business would ever get a 'western' customer. Street names are in both languages. The highways always have English and Farsi names and distances. You would have very little trouble in finding your way around here.



I was trying to think why the hell I took this pic:



Ah! It was the first time we had a squinch pointed out. Islamic (oops ) Persian architecture is based on squares and cubes, and often have a dome on top. How do you go from a square to a circular dome? With a squinch of course! It was probably invented in Iram.

In the pic above, its the white painted area above where the two walls meet. Essentially, its an arch across the corner, allowing the building to continue up with a circular/dome form.

A few more wind-catch towers. They can work either by simply catching the wind and directing it into te house, thereby cooling bu circulation, or it can act like a chimney and draw hot air out of the house.

 

[RooFlyer]

Yazd dates from about 400 AD and has been designated a UNESCO World heritage site, with the wind-catch towers and Zoroastrian heritage, already mentioned, part of its lustre. In addition it is known for its silk carpet making and its mosque; many Persian cities are serviced by qanats - networks of underground water channels and Yazd's is one of the most extensive. Marco Polo visited in 1272.

The most striking feature of Yazd is the front of the Jame Mosque, first built in the 12th century but extensively re-built around 1350. The minarets are the highest in Iran (52m)







As usual, the tile-work was fantastic.

In the evening we visited the Amir Chakhmaq square, which has a spectacular façade facing it:





The shops were getting ready to cook the kebabs (chicken, liver, heart, beef):



For us, however, it was 'beer and pizza' night. Great Italian restaurant (sans Chianti). One of the ladies had a pint (or close to) - reported that it wasn't bad; there are essentially two types of non alcoholic beer in Iran - just malted (and sometimes with fruit flavours) and malted with hops. The latter was usually pretty good (considering).



Me, I kept it safe with a mojito:



I'm not sure what this dish was called - maybe Tahchin - and is rice with is baked in a pan to produce that rich brown shell.



Half of us went the pizza:

 

[Major]

Is the call to prayer music played from any of those minarets or is it fairly subdued ?

 

[RooFlyer]

They would be, but the whole 'call to prayer' thing is pretty laid back, it seemed to me. About 3 days into the tour I suddenly realised that I hadn't head it at all, even in Tehran while we were walking around. I asked the guide about that and he just shrugged and said that the centre of Tehran was just commercial (mind you, he says he hadn't prayed in 20 years! ). Did hear it from time to time of course, but hardly intrusive.

 

[RooFlyer]

A few pics left out of the last set. Amir Chakhmaq square under a full moon





We visited another Persian Garden, with a wind-catch tower.



Anyone who has visited an Islamic country will know about the steep steps. For all its virtue, Iran is not excepted!



Finally in Yazd we found sin! In the form of Iranian baklava - very sinful. The Iranians claim to have 'invented' baklava There was one major shop - and I regret that I didn't get any more pics (too bloody busy sampling ) and many varieties, types and sizes of tins/boxes. I got two 0.5kg tins - very cheap - one got shared during the trip, this one is coming out on Christmas Day!

 

[JohnM]

By the time I get to Iran in my TR - will be lucky to be by Xmas at the rate I'm going - I'll be able to start again....

 

[RooFlyer]

Day 5 was another long one in the saddle, driving from Yazd to Kerman, with only one significant stop.



Coming out of Yazd, we made an unscheduled stop at an ancient caravanserai just outside the city. There were traditionally the overnight 'hotels' of travellers and merchants travelling trade routes. This one has been restored to be a hotel.

From the outside, it looks a bit defensive, but the architecture is focussed on keeping the inside cool:



Today, the outer ring, which would originally been stables, provides some basic accommodation (the beds would be really hard!)





The inner ring would have originally been the accommodation, and today might be regarded as the posh rooms:



Then back in the bus and some usual landscape:



Then, suddenly, a rise in the road!!



and in fact some pretty stunning topography (this would be over 4,000m peak):



Of course our driver always need to be vigilant. This still a divided highway, so both these lanes are going in the same direction - unfortunately not all drivers saw it that way



Some more of the mountains:

 

[RooFlyer]

Our only other stop of note during the day was the 'troglodyte' village of Meymand, which was a bit off the main road, up a shallow valley.



Where we saw (gasp!) roadside trees!!



Meymand is undoubtedly an ancient settlement, dating back over 10,000 years, they say. Its a 'troglodyte' village - that is, dwellings are excavated into the hillside, within the softer volcanic ash layers. Wouldn't want to contest them on age, but Coober Pedy is a lot more extensive underground (ditto Cappadocia in turkey, also very old)! In spite of my interest in things historical and indeed underground, the place didn't do that much for me. Might have been the 'local guide' we were obliged to take on, who rabbited on in immense detail in several sites, much of which got lost in translation by our guide (we suspect on purpose!).

This is about 1/4 of it (about 500 people live here today):



Our guide in full voice:



The underground mosque (relatively new):



Another view of the village:



Driving back onto the plain and onto Kerman, we passed this copper SX-EW plant (a type of copper smelter). I had already noticed that many heavy industrial sites in Iran seem to be plonked out in the middle of no-where, requiring raw materials and power to be brought in, and processed product shipped out. In western economies, mining infrastructure is usually at the mine-site, or near a port or similar. There is a copper mine in the area, but some way off. This thing should have been built there. I wonder if the spreading out of infrastructure is some form of national defence policy?


Onto Kerman, which is the centre of the large Iranian pistachio industry - very big! This year's harvest was made only a couple of weeks earlier, so when we stopped to look at an orchard it was pretty slim pickings.



Like walnuts, the pistachio nut has a fleshy outer casing - pink in this case. The flesh is mashed and the pink colour extracted for material dyes, especially for carpets.





Lots of pistachios everywhere. Mostly they are sold roasted in their shells. In Yazd they had a yummy pistachio cake on the breakfast buffet. It was highly sought after and I'll leave it to JohnM to tell his sad tale about the Phantom Pistachio Cake Snatcher

 

[JohnM]

Lots of pistachios everywhere. Mostly they are sold roasted in their shells. In Yazd they had a yummy pistachio cake on the breakfast buffet. It was highly sought after and I'll leave it to JohnM to tell his sad tale about the Phantom Pistachio Cake Snatcher

I snared the last two pieces of pistachio cake at breakfast, put the plate where I'd been sitting and went to get a coffee. The enthusiastic table-clearer had removed the plate by the time I returned moments later .

 

[RooFlyer]

Next two nights at the Akhavan Hotel in the city of Kerman, population about 800,000. The hotel was about 2.5 stars; hard beds again and slightly run-down.





On the other side of the coin is a trip highlight - the Citadel at Rayan (Arg-e-Rayen), located about an hours drive out of town. Since 2003 it has substituted on tours for the Bam citadel, a bit further away which is much larger but was destroyed that year in an earthquake.



Iran in general and especially around here reminds me so much of Nevada - the Basin and Range. Without the gambling, though.

And other things.

Anyway, we arrive Rayan and marvel at the lack of other tourists. its late in the 'season' and every site we go to is blessedly uncrowded.



The citadel may have been begun about 1,000 years ago and was occupied up to 150 years ago. Built of mud bricks and adobe, its been constantly re-built and re-furbished. A lot of it is ruinous today, but restoration is under-way.

Another reminder of how steep the bloody stairs are here:



The view is worth it. The Haraz mountains behind rise to 4,500m



The King's area is the high-walled area behind, through the gate. Its fully restored, (but undecorated) and uninteresting to me.

 

[RooFlyer]

Down amongst the buildings, we were able to see more clearly how the citadel was built:



Basically, mud bricks with adobe plaster :






Finally saw some wildlife beyond birds:



Passed this statue leaving the town. He was a mountaineer, but you might have seen a lot of flags draped across signs and other stuff in the TR so far. I mentioned that the Imams were the 12 descendants of Muhammad. The deaths of the Imams are commemorated, but also (and I'm not sure if they all get this), the 40th day after the death anniversary of the third Imam is also a national day. That 40th day after was coming up, and the flags and banners were in preparation for this. Usually green or black.