The Highest Minarets in Dar-es Islam
Location: ITTIC Tourist Inn, Yazd, Iran
Date: 2nd May, 2008
After a late start, we toured the sights of Yazd today, starting with the Zoroastrian Fire Temple. I was a little disappointed as the atmosphere wasn’t overly spiritual, blame the tourists for that and the fact that the flame, the “Ateshkadeh”, was burning behind a piece of glass. The flame has been burning for over 1500 years, which is quite impressive. I imagine the High Priest has many alarm clocks!
Still, it was interesting to see a temple of the worlds oldest monotheistic religion, to which Judaism, Christianity and Islam all owe a debt.
I’ve mentioned before that I’m reading Paul William Roberts book, “The Journey of the Magi“, which is ideal ready for a journey through Iran. It’s particularly interesting if you’d like to know more about the Magi, who were Zoroastrian, and the influence of Zoroastrianism had during the early days of the three major religions.
We also visited the “Highest Minarets in all of Islam”, at the Jameh Mosque. At almost 50m high, and soaring up from the beautiful tiled portal, it does send quite a message – and as it was also built over a Zoroastrian Fire Temple after the Arab invasion, I suppose that was the idea…
After a quick trip to the water museum, which was crawling with tourists and is quite basic, we visited the Amir Chakhmaq, a takieh that you can climb for great views of Yazd, where it’s possible to see dozens of windtowers. I felt a bit like I was in a game of “Assasins Creed“, but I declined to take the “Leap of Faith“, and made my way down the narrowest and steepest staircase I’ve ever climbed.
After a quick bite at the Hamum-e Khan Restaurant, a converted bathhouse, or Hammam, in the bazaar, complete with all the original blue and white tilework, we returned to the hotel for a well deserved siesta.
Shh! In the Tower of Silence
Location: ITTIC Tourist Inn, Yazd, Iran
Date: 1st May, 2008
An easy day today, through the desert from Garmeh to Yazd. We arrived in Yazd just as daylight was fading – a perfect time to visit the Zoroastrian Towers of Silence. Nice light, but anything but silent – a group of very friendly and very noisy Iranians made it more like the Tower of Babel! Still, after they left talking to Kristy with their 5 words of English, I was left alone in the Tower where once upon a time, the Zoroastrians left their dead to be picked over by vultures – and thus not polluting any of the primal elements (earth, fire, water, air).
My messing around taking low-light photos unfortunately got us all locked in to the compound. And the 80-something year old guardian is obviously as deaf as a post! Amir came to the rescue by climbing over the 2.5m wall, and unlocking the gate. Top bloke!
