Silk Road Suzie: Yazd - Iran..........

The 2 weeks in Iran are now half way through. After Shiraz - where I had the most wonderful experience of buying a pen (fountain) and ended up with the pen being bought for me. A couple of nights ago I told a silk road story in a Caravanserai - it was magic. We were sort of camping there. The Caravanserai had only recently opened up and they let us stay there camping of the daybeds and in the alcoves just like the traders and merchants would have done. And opposite the one where we stayed there was a mud brick built one which was 900 years old. The next day (which I think was Friday but it could have been Saturday ( I am seriously losing count of the days) we looked at an ancient citadel in the village where we had stayed. That too was in the process of renovation - it had been a moated, four towered square building 3 storeys high, again all the bricks made of mud. At present it is just 2 storeys high but will over time be restored to it's former glory. Then on to see a 4000 year old cypress tree which also doubles up as a "cloutie tree" where we had lunch much to the amusement of other people visiting the tree. When we stop for lunch we bring out tables to prepare the food, a table for washing up, the food, cutlery, crockery and anything else needed and prepare our meal in the open! This causes much curiosity from anyone who is in the vicinity and we quite often get people coming over to look and see what we are eating. We also do the same for the evening meal and that means getting the gas stoves out as well and cooking up a stew or similar. So we cause some consternation and interest where ever we go.

Then the arrival at Yazd - a city surrounded by desert (sorry my spelling has gone at the moment so I mean sand not food) and the thing about Yazd it its relationship to the desert. There is an underground water supply to the city, which is remarkable green, that the people use. The "qanats" or canals are dug underground for up to 60 kilometres away in the foothills of the surrounding mountains and supply villages and the city. There are a couple of reservoirs for water in the old part of the city surrounded by tall towers, which one sees allover the city which have a name but as I have forgotten my Lonely Planet I cannot remember the name of, however these towers are a sort of air con system as they channel cool air down into the buildings and the hot air rises out.

The Towers of Silence

The Towers dominating part of the city ...............

the corpse road up to the Tower clearly marked .............

.... and seeing the figures you can get an idea of the size of them.

The city of Yazd seen from the towers.

A couple of wonderful experiences today showing the kindness and generosity of the Iranians we meet. First was when I and two others went out for a walk in the old city - We went to the nearby mosque (tallest minarets in Iran but covered in scaffolding) and saw that there was a museum. We asked if we could see it then realised that we were in the middle of a Madressi (Koranic school) but we were gestured through. I asked if there was anything to pay but again we were gestured through. The curator then unlocked the museum for us and then with my Parsi phrase book and a great deal of sign language we were given a tour of the museum and by the end understood all the artefacts that we were seeing.

The next was even more awesome. We were admiring a door in the old town when a ?tourist/local (we never did work out which) explained about the 2 door knockers. If you knock one then a man will answer and the other a woman. He knocked both very loudly then left. The door was answered by a woman who seemed surprised to see us but instantly inivited us 2 women in for "chai" (my companions husband was out of sight). We met her and her 4 year old son who later invited my companion's husband in to join us. We found out so much about her and surmised more about her life. Despite living in a rather grand courtyarded house we realised that she was by no means wealthy and was in some distress because her husband was ill - we assumed in hospital - yet despite this she invited us in for "chai' and the degree of hospitality was incredible. Again the Parsi phrase book and the sign language came out but the real clincher was my companion's digital photograph key ring loaded with pictures of their daughters and grandchildren. I came away feeling very humbled by the whole experience.

And this is the door!

I know I have left out Esfahan and Shiraz but there just seems to be so much to say and I only get to an internet cafe very irregularly. But heigh ho that's the way it is.

Impressions from notebook:

Hills like jagged teeth in need of dental repair.
Huge willow trees by a stream
Quite often see dead dogs by the roadside.
Hostile jagged mountains reaching up to bite the sky.
Bright turquoise mosque in blue sky
Undulating sand peppered with tufts of grass and spinnifex.
Red purple hills breaking up the flatness.
Coup in Kyrgyzstan - may not be going there - disappointed - all this way then not to see the place I wanted to go to.