Shiraz - May 6th to 9th 2017

After a night in the bus, we finally arrived in Shiraz. It was early morning. The landscapes at sunrise were unreal, emphasised by the rain and the lightning flashes from a thuderstorm breaking the sky and reflecting themselves in lakes on the way. We hadn’t seen rain for months. We also hadn’t seen such green landscapes for a long time. We were far from the desert and dry landscapes one can imagine when thinking about Iran!

When we got off the bus, we were totally on our own. After two night sleeping not so well (first in the ferry to Bandar Abbas and then in the bus) and with no shower, we were eager to find a place to have some rest. But we had no mean to join the hosts we had contacted from Dubai as we hadn’t found a Sim card for our phone yet. Fortunately we found a coffee shop with free Wifi so we managed to get the indications to go to their place. We were welcomed by Elahe and Hadi, the most lovely couple we had ever met. They took such a great care of us during four days.

During the day, we would visit the city on our own, its beautiful mosques, colorful gardens full of flowers and peaceful mausoleums. And at night we would meet Elahe and Hadi when they were back from work and spend fun evenings together. One night, we cooked them a Poulet Basquaise. We watched movies together. It was like being with old friends at home!

Here were our first impressions after a few hours in Iran. We felt like it could be France in the 80s (well from how we see France in the old movies). Everything was clean, well organized, but there were old Peugeot cars everywhere in the streets. People were dressed like in an old movie, as if there was a vintage color filter applied everywhere.
We thought there would be strict rules in terms of religion. But even if covering hair was mandatory, lots of women wore their scarf at the back of their head. Some of them wore bright colors. And moreover, there were lots of women in the streets, driving cars and going to work! We hadn’t seen so many women in the streets of Oman or Pakistan.

In terms of architecture, Iran was a pleasure for the eye! I let you admire all the beautiful and exquisite places we visited. Note that each visit costs a flat price of 6 €/pers. (200 000 rials) whether you visit a small mosque or the ancient city of Persepolis! So for budget travellers like us, it was difficult to cope with that as there are a lot of beautiful places to see and we had to choose according to our budget.

During our wanderings in Shiraz, we discovered Shiraz old bazaar and we loved it. It was a beautiful building, full of carpets, fabrics, spices, teas…

On our last day in Shiraz, we went to the ruins of the ancient city of Persepolis! The site is very impressive. It has been built from -521 BC by Darius the first as a vast complex of buildings from palaces to treasury. The city had a great political role… until Alexander the Great destroyed it in -331 BC.

Our next logical stop to follow the tourist track would have been Yazd, but destiny made us stop in the totally off the track little city of Safashar!