Ancient Cities with a Shiraz

We had to get up early to get on the road for Ancient Cities as it was about a  6-7 hour drive. Our first stop was Pasargadae, the ancient capital built by Cyrus the Great. As you entered through the gate, directly in front of you was his tomb, with the six stone tiers on which it sat. It was amazingly simple, but it gave the impression that he was a giant. The rest of Pasargadae was for the most part exactly as the word describes, a ruin. There was very little that was recognizable; you'd look at the map and it would read "Cyrus's Private Palace" and looking up, it would be a couple of stones in the middle of a field.

The tomb of Cyrus the Great, Pasargadae

Our next stop was Naqsh-e Rustam, or the four Ancient Rock Tombs hewed out of the rock face. These are the tombs of Darius II, Artaxerxes I, Darius I & Xerxes I. These Persian Kings were a series or rulers that ruled from Eastern Europe all the way to India. It is hard to fathom the intricate detailing that went into the creation of these tombs, and how they've stood up to the elements for centuries.

The Stone Tombs of Darius II & Artaxerxes I, Naqsh-e Rostam

Our final stop on our journey was Persopolis, the ancient capital of Xerxes. History has it that when Alexander the Great captured Persopolis, it took 2000 camels two months to remove all the treasures, and it allowed Alexander to become financially independent from the Greek states. It is unclear why, but Alexander after stealing all the treasure set fire to the palaces and burnt it all to the ground. 

Due to the sheer scale & history of the site we decided to get a guide, & boy was she a hater of Alexander. Everytime she mentioned something about what was there, she'd remind us that Alexander burnt it to the ground, and if you said his name she'd snarl.

Xerxes' Gateway (Gate of all Nations), with the statue of a bull with a head of a wise old man, Persopolis

The two headed griffin (out of focus)

The vast majority of Persopolis was buried until 1935, and when it was excavated they found the most exquisite bas-reliefs (rock carvings). Xerxes was a big one for entertaining, and didn't actually look a thing like he is portrayed in the movie 300 e.g. more head & body hair. He had a gate to Persopolis called the Gate of Nations where he once threw a party for all the heads of state of all the empires he'd conquered. Each group was carved in the hall to minute details so that historians can look at them now and say from the clothes & or gifts they brought, where they came from, and it was far and wide, Ethiopians to Indians.

Bas-relief of one of the kingdoms that were famous for their sheep, Persopolis

Zoroastrian sign on one of the gateways, Persopolis

Detail on the side of the Tripylon, Persopolis

Me posing in front of the northern side of Persopolis due to the sun

What is left of the Gate of all Nations from side on, Persopolis

The next stop was Shiraz, the famous name that you'd associated with wine, and you'd be right, the wine is named after the place, but since the revolution, alcohol is banned. They still grow the grapes, and people often make their own brews in secret, but it is not sold publicly. Shiraz is the artsy capital of Iran, laid back, liberal, and home to the mausoleum of the famous Iranian poet Hafez, the Iranian Shakespeare.

Soap operas & sweet treats in the hotel

The courtyard of Aramgah-e Shah-e Cheragh, the masoleum & mosque of Sayyed Mir Ahmad

Kids playing football outside Arg-e Karim Khan fortress

A tower of the Arg-e Karim Khan that has sunk into the sewer below

Me chilling at a fashionable traditional restaurant, Haft Khan, it it a four storey restaurant with different themes on each floor

We had a few days here which we spent wandering the streets, visiting mosques, visiting mausoleums & chilling at the parks. We truthfully were a little mosque'd out, but the Masjed-e Nasir-al-Molk took our breath away. It was an early morning getting there, we had to tip the caretaker to open the curtains, but boy was it worth it. I tried to take some fancy photos of me amongst the light but they all looked stupid. We also walked up the Allah Akbar Gorge, the walk almost killed Dad, but we got some beautiful shots of Shiraz.

Early morning at the Masjed-e Nasir-al-Molk

The tomb of Hafez, the Iranian Shakespeare

The Irish Gang we ran into five times along the way through Iran; we decided to have dinner together on their last night, (from the left) Dad, Me, Hafiz, Tim, Jenny, Andronikos, & Neil

On our final day, I couldn't help myself and organised another trip skiing. This time in the Zagros Mountains at a ski field called Pooladkaf. The weather was phenomenal, so much so that our driver picked up his skis on the way. His name was Abdoloh, and he's a bit of a celebrity on the mountain. I had asked him if he was any good at skiing and he said he was OK, but turns out he's a ski instructor. He confirmed what my friend Greer had said about my skiing, that I'm all hips and no knees. But I am getting better, especially because I basically had the mountain to myself to practice. When we dropped our ski gear off on the way back home, one of the Iranian girls I had been skiing passed all day said I was very beautiful...... I've still got it.

Moustaches are back in a big way; Dad & Abdoloh on our way skiing, enjoying Faloudeh the famous Shirazi dessert made from frozen vermicelli noodles

My headband & neckwarmer are back, getting ready to ski

Pooladkaf Ski Field, Zagros Mountains, had the mountain basically to myself

Abdoloh & I up the top of the pommer, my hair is a little afro

Anyway, we are off to Jordan next via a night in Dubai at my friend Andrew's apartment. Iran was absolutely fantastic and we are sad to leave. There is so much propaganda against the country and for no good reason. Iran Tourism needs a serious PR team, because it was an absolute pleasure to travel there. If anyone is interested in travelling there (especially for a honeymoon) I am more than happy to help.

Goodbye Iran, it was an absolute pleasure. View from Allah Akbar Gorge over Shiraz

Nick + Tony

xo

Mosques on Mosques on Mosques

We had a young guy called Mostafa drive us to Esfahan, his English was so so, but with a combination of great charades skills, and simplified English I was able to yarn to him about interesting topics for example:

• Treason, selling drugs, murder & rape will get you the death penalty via being "hung out" which meant by hanging.
• If you murder someone, the family of the victim has three choices by law, these are:
• death penalty
• pay equivalent of NZD $833,333 (this value goes up every year due to inflation)
• let them go
• You do not lose your hand if you steal (this happens in Saudi Arabia), but you do go to prison.
• Doing drugs used to get you the death penalty, but now the government provides rehabilitation for addicts.
• Most of the drugs in Iran come from Afghanistan; they include weed, hash, sheesha/meth (not to be confused with the water pipe; although it did explain why we got sideways looks on New Years for asking for it), crack, opium, heroin & a drug made from pigeon poop.
• Iran is just like everywhere when it comes to dating, all the kids have VPNs that allow them to use Facebook, Twitter & Tinder, but it is just more low key. He said my chances were not great with the locals because I was not a local, which is gutting because some of the girls here are stunning, I wish my Tinder worked.
• Mostafa met his wife while crossing the street, he asked for her number, and then arranged to meet her and her family at a restaurant with his family to discuss the wedding etc., he married her two weeks ago, and had known her for 2-3 months beforehand.
• The more traditional way to meet your wife, involves a meeting between families, I've heard different things from different people, I guess it is like anything, it depends on the individuals involved.

Naqsh-e Jahan Imam Square, Esfahan

Esfahan is the Number 1 tourist destination in Iran, and there was a long list of things that we wanted to see here. There was a walking tour that you could do on your own in the bazaar to see all the sites, but we got horribly lost and ended up off the map. That was until a derelict-looking, unshaven, old man came up to us with his hood up; turned out he spoke perfect English and was a retired literature professor. His name was Ali and he took us on a tour around all of the sites that we'd wandered passed. We said we were hungry, so he took us to a local spot that we wouldn't be able to find again even if we tried. It was where all the cool kids hung out and smoked sheesha (the water pipe not meth). However, it was a strict Islamic cafe, and the couple opposite us got too "friendly" and the owner kicked them out.

Quiet lane in Bazaar-e Bozorg, Esfahan

Hip cafe in Bazaar-e Bozorg with the naughty couple in yellow

We went to mosque after mosque, and were just wowed by the intricate, symmetrical patterning on the buildings, especially the Masjed-e Sheikh Lotfollah, which features on the cover of the Lonely Planet. We also visited the Masjed-e Shah, which is the most impressive size-wise of the mosques. In the middle of the great chamber, there is a black tiled square, where the Mullah would stand. There were no microphones in those days, but if you stood in the square and spoke, the echo would reverberate around the whole complex.

Ceiling of the Masjed-e Sheikh Lotfollah

Outside frontage of the Masjed-e Shah

Outside frontage of the Ali Mosque with the tall minaret

That night we went and visited the Vank Cathedral in the Armenian Quarter. The Armenians were brought to Iran because they were amazing stonemasons, and they were allowed to practice their own religion, being Christianity. From the outside you could easily confuse the Vank Cathedral with a mosque, but on the inside were the most elaborate murals depicting events from the bible.

The Vank Cathedral, Armenian Quarter

Ceiling and walls of the Vank Cathedral

Mudbrick roofs & badgirs of the buildings in Yazd

Our next destination was Yazd, the desert city, with its mudbrick old town, winding lanes and badgirs (windcatchers). Again, we decided to take a walk around the city to see all the sites. Dad was hungry, so we stopped to get some fruit from a little fruit seller. He got an assortment of bananas, apples, and one orange which he was looking forward to last. As we were walking passed a construction site, Dad dropped the orange behind a gate and it rolled just out of reach, he spent 10 minutes trying to get it out but to no avail.

The Tony trying unsuccessfully to retrieve his orange

Lovely old man shining Dad's dirty shoes

After that episode we again got horribly lost in the labyrinth of lanes throughout the old mudbrick town, where everything looked the same. We eventually found a little rooftop cafe where we relaxed and had a pomegranate juice and Dad had a non-alcoholic lemon beer until we got our bearings.

Tony and the Old City of Yazd

The Amir Chamakh Complex

Lost selfie down the alleyways in Yazd

Outside our guesthouse, the frontage of the Masjed-e Jameh mosque, Yazd

Later that afternoon we heard about a bodybuilding show that the Iranian men do in a gym that was once a water reservoir. We went along not really knowing what to expect, inside the circular building there were chairs all around what looked like a pit, with a little stage that had the time-clock and a man with a microphone and drum. At 4:30 on the dot they started; the men performed different exercises rhythmically to the man drumming and singing. It was one of the oddest things I've seen, they started with a combination of downward dog & push-ups, then arm & leg waving, then spinning, and finally they each picked up what looked like bowling pins (5, 10, 15 & 20 kgs) and proceeded to spin them around. I think we had a matinee performance with the older guys but they were all jacked and seemed pretty fit. On the way back to the hotel to make us feel better about ourselves we bought a tray of the famous Yazd sweets, and gorged ourselves before bed.

Saheb A Zaman Club Zurkhaneh, men doing a cross between downward dog and a pushup

The following day we arranged a tour to see some of the sites on the outskirts of Yazd. We started with the Towers of Silence, which was where the Zoroastrians used to perform sky burials up until 50 years ago. This was where they took the bodies of their dead, to be eaten by vultures on the top of the towers. Afterwards we went to Meybod, to see Narin Castle and the famous Icehouse, which was like a giant freezer which they filled with ice during the winter, so they could have ice, and non seasonal fruit in the summer.

Top of Narin Castle, Meybod with the Icehouse in the distance

Afterwards we headed to Chak Chak, which is the Mecca equivalent for Zoroastrians today. Chak Chak is a tiny little town which is high up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere, and inside at the top is a Fire Temple where there is a flame that is always lit that they pray to.

Chak Chak hidden amongst the mountains

Inside the Fire Temple at Chak Chak, like Mecca for Zoroastrians

We concluded the tour with a trip to Kharanagh, the virtually deserted crumbling village which is more than 1000 years old. We were able to walk on the rooftop terraces and walk inside the royal chambers freely, before we headed back to Yazd. We had dinner that night at a little falafel restaurant with Marcus & Marianne, an awesome couple on our tour from Norway.

The roofs of the crumbling Kharanaq Village

Next stop is the Ancient Cities of Pasargadae, & Persopolis, home of Xerxes from the movie 300, Darius the Great & Cyrus the Great.

Hope you're all well

Nick + Tony

Ditching the Big Smoke for the Ski Fields then hitting the Desert

After a few days in the big smoke, we were ready to get out. Our plan was to head up to the ski fields three hours north of Tehran. A lot of people don't realise that these ski fields exist, but they have the best ski fields in Central Asia (not sure how many ski fields there are in Central Asia) but it is one of the highest ski fields in the world.

Having coffee at Gol-e Rezaieh one of Tehrans oldest cafes (75 years)

We had to catch a bus north towards the Caspian Sea, and get off at the Dizin turnoff, however no one spoke any english on the bus and we weren't sure anyone would tell us. As we were going through the mountains it started to snow heavily, and as more and more time went by the more it looked like we'd be kicked out on the side of the road. Sure enough at around 8pm in the dark, the bus barely stopped and we were dropped on the side of the road in the snow.

In the taxi to Dizin before we skidded off the road

There wasnt much around, and all we could see was the light of a tv flickering in a shed by the side of the road, while the weather got worse and worse. Thankfully when we knocked on the door the man that answered was a taxi driver, and after a bit of charades we all knew where we were going. Unfortunately it wasn't that simple; the taxi was front wheel drive and as soon as we hit the hills we lost control and ended up in a ditch facing the other way. We tried to put the chains on the normal way, but the car kept skidding, so the driver ended up jacking up the car, and putting them on that way. We collapsed in the hotel around 10pm.

Dad trying to help with the chains

It was all worth it when we got up in the morning. It had been snowing all night so we had around four inches of fresh dry powder snow. We got a shuttle up the mountain after breakfast, hired skis, got our lift passes and we were away. Best days skiing I've ever had, clear blue skies & fresh snow; perfect skiing conditions. As I always overestimate how good i am at skiing, I took the chairlift as high as it could go. I couldnt read any of the signs because they were in Persian, so I just picked the one with the least people and hoped for the best. Turns out powder snow is really soft, thankfully, because I could only pizza & french fries my skis so much before tumbling down the mountain.

Outside our ski hotel

The Alborz Mountain Range from the top of the ski field

Getting myself mentally prepared

Quick selfie at the top

That night we made our way back down south passed Tehran to Kashan. Kashan is an oasis city on the edge of the desert. The city is full of historic 19th century buildings, from bathhouses, to grand palaces but it is also a very religious place. In Tehran the hijab (veil) sits about halfway on the womans head showing off their hairdos, but in Kashan it is right up on the forehead. 

Khan-e Ameriha, the largest & most impressive of the town's mansions, built in the 18th century.

Poster regarding the hijab (islamic veil)

All the grand palaces in Kashan are cut into the desert and sit about 5 to 10 metres below street level, in combination with this they have wind towers which act like a net and catch wind and bring it into the rooms of the palace, like a manual form of air-con. This makes a huge difference when the temperature in summer hits around 40-45 degrees C.

The historic bathhouses, Hamman-e Sultan Mir Ahmad

Roof of the bathhouses

My New Year's Day party with non-alcoholic beer & sheesha. Hanging with Bryan from Australia & Assya from The Netherlands.

Our next stop on the way to Esfahan (Iran's number 1 tourist destination), was Abyaneh. The village was built at least 1500 years ago and is situated at the foot of Mt Karkas. It is a warren of steep, twisting lanes and crumbling red mud-brick houses.

Red mud-brick houses of the ancient village of Abyaneh

Next stop is Esfahan

All the best

Nick + Tony