Persepolis, I Presume?
Location: Aryo Barzan Hotel, Shiraz, Iran
Date: 3rd May, 2008
Today was a day that belonged to the long-dead Achaemenid Kings. After stopping in Aberkouh to see something that pre-dates Cyrus the Great, a 4000 year old Cypress tree, we made our way to Pasargadae.
Pasargadae is mostly in ruins now and sees far fewer visitors than the later, and better preserved Persepolis. However, Cyrus left his mark here and it was great to see both the remains of his quite modest private palace. His tomb is also in great shape, thanks to Alexander leaving it well alone – the story goes that Cyrus had carved inside “I know one day you will come, begrudge me not this small amount of land on which I lie”. I’ll have to remember that one.
Next up, Naqsh-e Rostam, and the tombs of 4 Achaemenid Kings, including Darius the Great and his son, Xerxes.
Finally onto the highlight of the day, Persepolis. Wonderfully preserved and looking wonderful after almost 2500 years in the evening light, the city which is believed to have been used only once a year for the Spring festival is worth a visit. We even saw Stanleys signature (no Livingstone though) – carved into one of the great pillars on the main gate, bloody vandal!
A Family Dinner
Location: Buali Hotel, Hamedan, Iran
Date: 25th April, 2008
We drove about 180km to Kermanshah today, to see a couple of sights. Firstly we stopped at Bisotoum to see the ancient carving of Hercules that Darius the Great ordered carved – he’s a smaller bloke than I thought. We also saw (from a distance) a bas-relif of Darius and the 9 slaves.
Then onwards to Taghebestan and a very pleasant site of two more carvings and then a lunch where we were serenaded by a kamanchech player!
That evening (and being Friday evening everyone was out and about and the traffic was terrible), we stopped at a charming little family restaurant (in fact, the family were all eating there) where we got into an interesting discussion of life in the USA and politics with a man, Mr A, who works for the Iranian Government. He had some interesting views (that’s all I’ll say here), and he invited us back to his house to meet all his family. He was intelligent, progressive and reasonable despite being a dead-ringer for President Ahmadinejad! It seems that Iran is full of people like this, which can only be a good thing.
Are you listening Fox “News”? Iranians are nice folks!
