On to Shiraz, home of the wine grape of the same name but which is now verboten. Shiraz has quite a different feel to Esfahan and does not have the polluting industry of that city. Apart from the all-pervasive trade among themselves, the main industry seems to be education especially with the apparently acclaimed university. This no doubt has something to do with the proximity of Persepolis and other sites though it has long been a centre of learning. We get the impression that Iranians are generally very well educated. Persepolis, in particular, is breathtaking and the more one learns the more intriguing it becomes. There are several "rules" for tourist in Iran, a couple of which again bore fruit at Persepolis: 1. At appropriate times one should get a guide, and, sub-clause a), choose your guide carefully. The second can be like choosing your parents well but you get the drift. This was an empire of the highest order and damn Alexander the so-called Great for its spiteful destruction.
Another bazar - all the cities seem to have them and they are all variations on the same theme of warrens and rabbit runs filled to pussy's bow with shops and people. However, the bazar in Shiraz had something the others didn't - shop after shop filled with bright, brilliant, fancy, pleated, printed, beaded, bejewelled and bedecked fabric. What on earth could this be for? In Shiraz the black chador was as common as anywhere else and it didn't seem as if this fabric had any place in such a dull style of dress. Then we started noticing long, full skirts peeping put from under the chadors, and eureka! There was the fabric! So perhaps in Shiraz the desire for colour and beauty in their dress has not been so repressed as it first seems. This is all women of course, there are no such restrictions on the men but I doubt they'd wear this fabric.
Spilling out of the end of the bazar, we came to the Vakil mosque. Another town, another beautiful mosque, but this one was different in the decorations. Where all the others used geometric patterns on the walls and particularly tiles, this one used roses. The effect was beautiful, and of all the mosques we visited this one had the most serene and welcoming feel to it.
We had mentioned to Narciss, the receptionist at the hotel, that we were interested in the traditional musical instruments of Iran. She happened to have a friend who was studying the setar (not to be confused with the Indian sitar) at university, and arranged for her to accompany us to look at instruments. This friend took us to a tiny shop with lots of tars, setars and other instruments, and proceeded to play the setars to see what sound each produced. She was brilliant, and we then had our own setar recital there in the shop.
We left Shiraz to travel to Yazd via Persepolis and Pasargardae, with a driver called Zia. We had been told that he spoke very good English, but this proved not to be the case. Either that or he was antisocial. We went first to Persepolis, and it was superb. I won't go into the detail of it because there is so much to describe and it is already very well done in a book we bought, but it is an astonishing construction, and even in its destroyed state, remains beautiful and imposing. We could have spent hours there but Zia pressed us to move along as we were getting late. His English was good enough for that message. This was a further disappointment, as we had been assured that we could have as much time as we wanted at Persepolis. On then to Pasargardae, and a repeat performance from Zia.
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