Dave's Travel Blog

View from the top of Chak Chak

We boarded our bus around 8AM for a couple of hour bus ride outside Yazd first visiting the old abandoned mud city of Kharanaq and then onto the Zoroastrian town of Chak Chak that was built in A.C. 637. Although wandering through the mud houses of Kharanaq was interesting, Chak Chak was a much more compelling and physically challenging site to get to. The Chak Chak walk starts out as a series of fairly steep switchbacks then onto many separate stairways of steep steps. Eventually we reached the very top where Zoroastrian ceremonies occur and where a fire has been kept lit for over 1500 years.

We headed back to Yazd at mid afternoon and stopped at the Silk Road hotel for lunch which consisted of curried camel meat and rice…and non alcoholic Iranian beer of course. We finished with cappuccino and started out again seeing a few more sites and visiting a few shops along the way. I saw a couple very nice silk carpets in the $5000-7000 range but had to settle for a $30 brass candle bowl which I spent 15 minutes trying to negotiate the final price. I don’t think my efforts ever result it any deals but the process is enjoyable.

Camel meat at the Silk Road hotel

Derek, Michael, Nishi, Stella and I went back to the hotel and had tea and hookah and talked for a couple of hours and then headed out for a walk for another few hours and finished the evening at an ice cream shop near Yazd center. Derek and I were confident that we knew the back way through the alleys of the old city back to our hotel. It only took us 10 minutes to become completely lost. With mild panic setting in, we asked two local teenagers the direction. Fortunately one of them spoke perfect English but unfortunately we pronounced the. America of the hotel incorrectly and became even more lost. Derek finally remembered that he had a map of the hotel and that got us back on track. One of the teenagers had a motorbike and pushed it alongside while we walked until we found a place where we could get a cab…which is what we should have done in the first place. We probably walked over a mike and a half and ended up right back close to the ice cream shop where we started…a huge circle. The teenager pushed his motorbike the while way and his friend eventually hailed us a cab and negotiated the fare. We have found Iranians to be the most friendly and honest folks we have ever met.

We are on the bus to Isfahan right now and the tour guide gave us a lecture on maintaining a low profile when out and about in the city. He told us to be smart about what we take photos of and minding our manners. He also told us not to go out in Isfahan until he got the proper approval from the local authorities. Although he was addressing all of the folks on the bus, I think he was speaking to us three Americans on board. Oh well.

Singers at Chak Chak

Persepolis Carving

Day 4 in Iran started out with an 8AM bus ride from Shiraz to Persepolis. Our guide was very happy that we were all on time for once. He secretly confided to Derek and I that he doesn’t like keeping track of a group as large as ours so I have tried to be on my best behavior.  For me, Persepolis the second time around, was much more interesting as I read more about the history and layout of the site.  Highlight of the tour was one of the German tourists arguing with our guide concerning the role Alexander the Great had in burning down Persepolis.  The German steadfastly disagreed that Alexander had any role and our guide held the opposite position.  The German flatly told the guide he was wrong and I watched in semi-amusement as they both tried to work through their disagreements which never really happened. The guide referred to documentation from Herodotus to Mary Clark and the German just shook his head. A standoff that mercifully ended when the guide brushed it off and moved onto the next site. To me, it was a bad diplomatic move by the German…not sure what the motives were behind his sudden outburst…still it was entertaining.   The trip continued on to Naqsh -e Rostam where the burial tombs of Darius the Great and several other Achaemenids were buried; one of my favorite places on the tour for the way the tombs are carved into the hill. 

We spent two hours  and 30 minutes visiting both sites and we probably could have stayed an hour longer but our guide rushed us through …thinking he may have had a mid afternoon appointment sometime later.  We then went to a restaurant on the way back to Shiraz  and had a buffet of vegetables that was very good…great eggplant and zucchini dished with spices and yogurt. 

Our guide departed shortly after our restaurant visit and the driver bused as back to Stella’s Jamm e Jam hotel where we waited on the street whiles she took forever to take some things back to her apartment. When she finally arrived we started off to the bazaar not knowing that we were in the company of a compulsive shopper and for once, it wasn’t me.  We weren’t 3 steps into the bazaar before Stella bought a blanket that was supposedly made by nomads.  She also saw a wooden inlaid box earlier in the day that she was planning to buy on the way home.  The planning wasn’t nearly over, as we were having some tea at the bazaar tea house she was planning many other things including a set of copper pots and pans.  Before we went out in search of the pots, she stumbled upon a shop that sold painted plates and within a few minutes a large 16 inch, $80 plate was wrapped and making it out the door wrapped in the blanked she brought earlier and the put inside a piece of soft luggage she also bought in the bazaar.   After that was a trip to the copper pot man where she bought two pots and one pan and I was wondering how all of this was going to make it back to Australia in her luggage. But she wasn’t finished yet. On the walk back to the hotel, she spotted the store that had the inlaid box and bowled over a group of tourists that were trying to look into the display case. She wanted to make sure no one had bought the box so she drove away the tourists until she was the only one left at the counter and then managed to find the box she waned earlier…another $80 spent and that was it…thankfully. 

We took the daredevil cab back to her apartment and got ready for dinner at the restaurant down the street, I got a great chicken with Rice, Derek got fish and Stella got something called a Dilly which is some sort of meat, vegetable and broth mixture backed in a clay cup. I believe that you are supposed to pour the broth liquid in a soup bowl and eat like soup and then mash the meat and vegetable mixture in a large metal bowl before you eat it.  All three dished were really good. 

That was the ending to a really long day with many hours in the bazaar spent  power shopping. I ended up getting an inlaid box also for $210 but was very envious of the one Stella got for almost $100 less.  Derek also ended up with an inlaid box and a bronze sculpture / candle. We learned today that shopping with Stella may be dangerous  as it is only day 4 and she has bought enough to ring back from 3 trips. I want to see how she actually pulls this off…and she is actually going to buy more. Further report soon. 

That is enough for the night…my Ambien is kicking in. More tomorrow I hope. 

Naqsh -e Rostam

Iranian family leaving the gym…all 4 on one moto!

Day 3 in Shiraz was a crazy and busy day as we had only 5 hours a sleep after the flight from Tehran.  Our guide led us from one site to the next at break net speed.  We visited several mosques, bazaars and parks and those who were unable to keep up we’re berated by our guide who expects everyone to walk in lockstep and has little patience for stragglers. Still, we managed to lose a couple of people along the way and search parties needed to be engaged. We try to look out for each other as we all get to avoid being the one that has to deal with the guide’s lecture on punctuality and paying attention. 

Concerning food, we have mostly survived on kebabs, Coca-Cola and the occasional packaged Iranian Hostess-like cakes and cookies. We did have a Shirazi speciality dessert yesterday that consisted of what seemed like very cold spaghetti cut very short doused with a combination of rose water and lemon very sweet syrup.  The spaghetti was semi hard but sort of melted in your mouth as it was chewed.  For dinner we went to a really good restaurant near the bazaar.. I had a fish kebab that was outstanding but ate far too much the entire day and need to curb it back a bit today. 

This is day 4 and we are on the bus to Persepolis. I am looking forward to the trip as I didn’t immerse myself in the place the last time I was here. I will make sure I have a couple books with me so I can read as I am walking.  Ok, the bus is bouncing around too much and I can’t write much more…especially with my shoulder which is still giving me problems. 

Stella in a mosque doorway