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
