As usual excuse the typo's * and any strange words, that I think of while writing. I don't have time for extensive editing.
Shiraz is an old city(mentioned in the ancient writings in 2000 BC),also called the House of learning(culture), City of roses, of love and of gardens. Well, these last three are for the lovers.(of gardens and such
).It has 2 mi. inhabitants.
It is also the city where the famous poets Hafez and Sa'di are buried. The Iranians pilgrimage to these places and read their poems aloud. Very romantic.
Shiraz used to be world famous for it's wine,but not any more,as the governement forbid Muslim people to drink any alcool.
In my 20 days of travel, Shiraz is the first city where I've managed to find a picture postcard to send home...
It is always a joy to discover a new city, and Shiraz seems to be a nice one. Round about six in the morning the city is already awake as was I. It is only 26 C,cool. It will be 38 C by midday.
There's a lot of traffic already. The Iranian drivers work their klaxon, give a lot of gaz and away they are. Mopeds with a little trailers, yellow and neongreen cabs(checkered black band) and lorries drive at full speed.
It is an adventure to cross the streets safely. I tend to wait for a few chadors and hurry with them across, whilst crossing my fingers.*
Early in the morning the shopkeeperers spray their trottoirs with water, against the dust. In the shops,often not wider than 2 meter, some craftsmen have their little business;shoemaker,honey-men, tailor or fruitvendor. When I walk along, I smell the freshly baked nun(bread), the oil from the autoshops, rosewater, ripe melons or the colourful spices. If I stop to look at a baker's; I often get a piece of warm bread.
Surprise: I saw a beautiful shiny dark red Chevrolet convertible V8(very long model),with a black roof and white tyres, and a Californian licenseplate.I didn't see which type, but it is a car out of the early sixties.Yes, I like to see a nice old car.
Over to the serious business of culture....
Karim Khan was the founder of the Zand Dynasty, that ruled Iran from 1750-1779. It is his citadel we visited today.
It is a huge square building, with fortified walls and towers on each corner and a nice interior garden with several ponds.The walls and towers are decorated with fired bricks, in a geometrical pattern.
Karim Khan brought reforms and prosperity to Shiraz, so no expense was spared to decorate the inside of that building, with painted ceilings, leaded windows in many colors and beautiful wooden lattices. There were various buildings as well inside the citadel.
He is buried in the Nazar garden, a private royal garden with a building(now the museum with his tomb) in the middle. It is so beautiful that I wouldn't mind laying there myself one day.
This garden is typical Persian with symmetrical details.On entering, I heard masses of tiny birds softly chirp and sing. And the flowers: huge red and rosa sweet smelling roses, and literarely hundreds of rough lightbrown earthenware pots with fragile looking flowers in soft colors flanking the gardenpaths.Fountains, citrustrees, amphora's and the occasional mosaïc tiles. Stunning.
The museum is build around the austere tomb of Khan, and objects he possessed are on show: lacquered boxes with scenes of courtlife, enameld pottery bowls and ewers, engraved brass vessels and many more.
Under his direct supervision, the Vakil Mosque was build, that is being restored. It is a huge mosque with two great winter and summer prayer halls, with huge spiral carved pillars to support the vaults.And it has a beautiful pulpit with 14 steps, carved out of one single piece of marble.
As in the other big mosques, the downward surface of the arches are covered with a honeycomb-shaped tiled surface (moqarnas-work).That must have been a gigantesque work.Main color on the tiles is blue, with floral and arabesque designs. I wish I could read Farsi, to decipher the calligraphed words among that decorations.
And then the bazaars. There are several bazaars in Shiraz, dating from different periods. It are the most exotic ones I've seen this far. The finest is build by Karim Khan, the Bazar-e Vakil.*
There are brillant, gaudy, glittering textiles being sold. This is,because the Nomadic women wear them. These proud women wear big skirts of these glittering fabrics, and some black thin shawls over their head. No one would dare tell them to wear a chador. It is a sight to see them swaggering through the bazaar, with their big skirts, head high and fierce eyes. Bravo; I find it exciting, these free women.
There are different kinds of people here: dark men with a white dress, Indian with white flowing jackets and pants, women with two dark blue dots on their forehead, women with a face-veil and black gloves. And Pakistani's are here too; mostly beggars though, from what I've seen.*
And as always; a foreigner is spotted from a miles away and greeted by " which country, hello". Every of our movements are, very goodhearted, registred. People like to talk and say 'hello';they urge their children to do so as well.
Although under every chador there seems to be a mobile phone, but I haven't seen any tablet as yet. Till now I've been the only one in a hotel lounge with an iPad, which arouses some curiosity, but always discreet. I have only wifi in the lounge and am up early(6 o'clock)before all others, and go to bed late, so I can manage my digital affairs in peace. *
Tomorrow is going to be a long hot day, to see the sights at Persepolis.
Early at breakfast, because of the heat, we're going to see Persepolis today.
Persepolis(Parsa): build during the dynasty of the Achaemenids (550-530 B.C).It is the greatest surviving complex of the ancient Near Eastern civilisations. Alexander the Great sacked,burned it in 330 B.C.(wooden roofs and interior).It lies on the slopes of the Kuh-e (mount) Ramat and was 125.000 sq.metres; the ruins that are excavated are just a small part of it.(400x300 m).
The work on Persepolis began after Darius I, the Great, took the throne in 518 B.C. Subsequent kings, Xerxes I+II and Atarxerxes I-I-III, added to it over 150 years.
The highlights:
Ruins of the Apadana Palace (Xerxes I), with on one side the famous bas-reliefs with three tiers of figures:the elite of the Achmenian soldiers, the Imperial Guard and Immortals, the royal procession with the horses and valets of the Elamite king's cariots, Persians with feathered headdresses, Medes in round caps. The stairs are guarded by Persian soldiers. The centre of the staircase is dedicated to Ahura Mazda(Zoroastrianism). At the other end the basreliefs show 23 delegations bringing tributes to Kings:Ethiopians,Arabs,Thracians,Indians,Parthians ,Cappadocians,Elamites,Medians and many more.
There are ruins of royal palaces, by Darius and Xerxes, covered in bas-reliefs. And a treasury where besides valuables, also the administration on stone tablets, was kept. Alexander the Great looted it and it took 3000 camels to cart it all away.
And all in ruins:
The Haremsara; a museum now. It used to be either an harem or a guesthouse for visiting ambassadors. It has some nice vases and sculptures.
Xerxes Hall of audience, a small but nice palace in the heart of the ancient city.
The Palace of 100 columns which was probably used to receive the military elite.
It was all very interesting, especially the Apadana staircase with all those bas-reliefs of people of the different countries. Huge statues of aristocratic looking Arab horses and almost inside every gateway bas-reliefs of horses or men.A lot of the columns are incomplete, but there are a few rows of intact columns which gives an idea of the scale these buildings were build. And symbols from the Zoroastrinism are carved in stone.
Very hot though, under the scorching sun. *
On our way back to Shiraz we looked at Naqsh-i Rajab:at the Sassanian(224-642 A.D) 4 bas-reliefs of various scenes, like kings going to war on their horse.They are in a good condition, very nice.
And *also a quick look at Naqsh-i Rustam: rock tombs, hewn out of a cliff, high above the ground. Sassanian stone reliefs of the imperial conquests.
All of these and the above show essentially the battle between good and evil, as the Zoroastrians believe, and the conquests of snd submission to the great kings of Persia. Very impressive,all.
All in all, a very interesting day in Persopelis and its nearby region. It feels good to have been able to look this far back in the Persian history myself; in a history which is also a part of our western culture.