Persepolis

The hotel buffet breakfast was similar to those we’ve had so far on this trip, plus crispy dried cake-bread and biscuits.

Last night, we had organised with the hotel receptionist Hussein for a driver to take us to Persepolis. He said he knew a good driver which he had known for 34 years that had a good car. Sounds good. This morning we realised he was talking about himself! We included Swedish Daniel into our plans.

In Hussein’s car, I noticed a pendant hanging from the inside rear-view mirror. It looked like a picture of a revered holy man, a Jesus-like character. I asked him about it. One side is actually Imam Ali and the other … shock, horror … Prophet Mohammad. For Shias depiction is permitted supposedly.

We chatted lots on the one hour drive to Persepolis. We learnt his Paykan (Hillman Hunter) cost USD8000. A locally-assembled Peugeot 406 is more expensive but is cheaper when sold to neighbouring countries.

Persepolis is the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (ca 550-330 BC). It is built on a walled platform with steps up on both sides. On the platforms were five palaces or halls of varying sizes.

The Gate of All Nations gave us an impressive welcome into the complex. The Apadana Palace, the greatest within Persepolis, had nice bas reliefs of people. The mythical Homa, logo of Iran Air, adorned some pillars around the site.  A tomb was nearby but information on who is buried in the Persepolis and nearby tombs are conflicting.

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From the main Persepolis site, we hopped back in the Paykan and drove to another rock cliff-face nearby with three holes.  These are further tombs but again, information on who is buried in them are conflicting.

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We spent about 2h30 at Persepolis in total. The museum was useless as the lights were being replaced. It was so dark we couldn’t see much.

Back in Shiraz, we got dropped off at the Bazaar where we walked around and had lunch at the Hammam Vakil restaurant, another one converted from a historic bathhouse.  We enjoyed abgusht (literally meat-water) which was a stew of meat and chickpeas in a rich tomatoey gravy. We are supposed to pound it into a mash after dishing up from the small pot that it was served in.

We also had a chicken kebab with rice and bread. Both dishes together only cost a little more than NZD3 pp shared.

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Being a Thursday afternoon, it was already the weekend. The streets were deserted. We rested back at the hotel before going to the internet café to check on emails as I was looking for a job to follow on after the trip.

We had dinner at the hotel with the French couple and was joined later by Daniel. Kim and I shared a chicken kebab and a buffet dinner, including a cream caramel. It was another late night chatting with fellow-travellers till 2300.

[Edit: Having been to “strange” destinations more and more in later life, I realise that the more “strange” a destination, the more I have in common with other travellers and a lot more to talk about!]