Leaving Isfahan we travelled on routes 65S and 55S towards Shiraz. The countryside was hot and barren with a wide valley floor and the hills on the side barely visible through dust pollution. The dust was blown here all the way from Jordan and the Yemen. In years past the rulers of all the countries in the area agreed to stop the dust by covering the ground with mulch. After they died, and another ten years or so, this all stopped and the dust has continued ever since. There were small settlements along the way and the people there looked as if they had a very hard living. Since arriving in Iran I have seen very few solar hot water panels and asking why I was told that it was a new technology for the country and with the cost of fuel so low and thus electricity to heat water being so cheap then there was no need for solar panels.
A couple of hours out of Persepolis the countryside changed with farming being possible and the land greener. This was because water was channelled from the mountains to the villages either above ground or in very old aquifers. Barley, wheat, tomatoes, grapes, raisins and sultanas are grown in this area and it is where the Shiraz wine gets it’s name. Wine is still produced in the area but for private consumption, it cannot be sold to anyone. I was told that the authorities know of the practise of making wine but provided there is no problem with it they turn a blind eye to it being made. There is also a problem with drugs in Iran mainly due to Pakistan being across the border and drugs are really frowned on here.
Early in the afternoon we stopped at Persepolis, a city previously hidden from the outside world so it was said, and burnt to the ground by Alexander the Great in 330BC. The palace was almost made entirely of stone but with huge roofs of large baulks of wood. When these were set on fire they heated and melted the steel and lead clamps that held everything together and the whole place fell apart. It was interesting walking round the site as there were indications there of where the paintings and carving that looked Egyptian had come from in other parts of Iran.
After about half-an-hours drive from Persepolis we camped in a quarry with a couple of thousand feet of mountain over our heads. I do not think that I slept very well that night as a diesel engine driven pump in the local village run all night and the local wild dogs were noisy as well.
A couple of hours out of Persepolis the countryside changed with farming being possible and the land greener. This was because water was channelled from the mountains to the villages either above ground or in very old aquifers. Barley, wheat, tomatoes, grapes, raisins and sultanas are grown in this area and it is where the Shiraz wine gets it’s name. Wine is still produced in the area but for private consumption, it cannot be sold to anyone. I was told that the authorities know of the practise of making wine but provided there is no problem with it they turn a blind eye to it being made. There is also a problem with drugs in Iran mainly due to Pakistan being across the border and drugs are really frowned on here.
Early in the afternoon we stopped at Persepolis, a city previously hidden from the outside world so it was said, and burnt to the ground by Alexander the Great in 330BC. The palace was almost made entirely of stone but with huge roofs of large baulks of wood. When these were set on fire they heated and melted the steel and lead clamps that held everything together and the whole place fell apart. It was interesting walking round the site as there were indications there of where the paintings and carving that looked Egyptian had come from in other parts of Iran.
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| The main gate (Xerses) Gateway |
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| A general view |
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| Looking towards the tomb of Artaxerxes 3 |
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| A view of the complex |
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| The tomb of Artaxerxes 3 |
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| A stone carving of King Darius |
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| A strange column on the site |
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| A glorious stone carving of rams heads |
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