Iran Day 2: Shiraz (2 Mar 11) - The City of Poets: A Visit to Sa'adi and Hafez Tombs

We woke up in time to meet up with our driver at 4.30 am who drove us to the domestic airport. Tehran at this hour is very different from what we saw yesterday. It seem like the city is still in slumber, there are hardly any cars on the streets and the journey to the airport did not take too long. Our driver was very dedicated and responsible, ensuring we checked into the right counter and entered the right gate before the leaves us. At the X-ray machine, my Cyrus cylinder crate got quite abit of attention. The staff at the x-ray machine was curious what it is, our driver spoke to them in Farsi, they gave us a blank look and then signal for us to proceed on. Time has came for us to board the aircraft. A bus drove us to the tarmac, at the tarmac while waiting to board the aircraft, we were happily snapping pictures. After taking some pictures, 2 Iranian told us discreetly that we are not allowed to take pictures in the airport and told us politely to put our cameras away before they get confiscated.  We quickly did what was advised and boarded the aircraft. The flight from Tehran to Shiraz took about 2 hours, the flight was uneventful but scenic. We flew past the Zagros Mountains, which runs North/South to the west of Iran. 

A quite domestic airport terminal in Tehran

At the tarmac waiting to board Air Iran towards Shiraz

Inside the cabin of Air Iran getting ready to fly

Breakfast is served

Glimpse of Zagros Mountain 

Zagros Mountains from air

We touched down 2 hours later, collected our luggages and our guide is already waiting for us. He introduced himself and briefly told us the itinerary for the day. As we are not able to check in at the time we arrived in Shiraz, our guide took us to some of the attractions in downtown Shiraz. Our first stop is the public bath. We were told back in those days, not all household will have tap water, as such people don't shower everyday. However they need to shower everytime they enter a mosque for prayers, thus this bath was built beside the mosque. We entered the bath and the first room, which was rather large is the waiting room. There are some carvings on the ceiling of this room, which depicts some day-to-day life of the locals then. Once we past the waiting room the rest of the bath is disappointing, as this bath has been converted into a carpet museum and an arts & craft centre. Only the waiting room still look like what it was before, the other rooms like the changing and the washing room do not resemble a bath at all. We did not spend alot of time in the bath as it was not really worth spending alot of time in. We headed next door for the mosque after exiting the bath.

Mosque in Shiraz while driving towards the Public Bath

Entrance to the Public Bath

The exquisite carvings on the ceilings of the bath

Persian Folklore carved on the ceiling of the bath

The main waiting room inside the bath

Inside the Public Bath

A relatively simpler carving inside the bath

From the outside the mosque does not seem to impress me alot, especially after the disappointment I got from the public bath next door. I wasn't really expecting anything great before entering the mosque. Once past the door, my viewpoint changed. Perhaps it has been a long time since I have seen so much space, the first impression I got from standing at the door looking into the courtyard of this mosque was it is so carefree, so tranquil, could be the result of the absence of tall buildings around which gave me a view of the cloudless sky and the unthreatening sun beams, which doesn't feel as potent as that in Singapore in midst of the winter here. We were told that the need for such a large courtyard so that place in Shiraz can gather here. This Jameirah Mosque not only function as a place of prayers, it is also a place of education and socialisation. We then went further into the prayer halls, this felt like a set from Lord of the Rings in the dwarven mines. The columns were neatly arranged to give a rather mystical feel to the area. Our guide went on to explain the different functions on the mosque, I did not really pay alot of attention to his introductions as I was captivated by the mystic-ness of this place. Truly stunting!

The entrance to Jemeirah Mosque 

Persian Styled Entrance to the mosque

The courtyard of Jemeirah Mosque 

Entrance to the prayer halls of the mosque

Facade of the prayer halls

Inside the prayer halls of Jemeirah Mosque 

Even the columns are carved to elevated it of its dullness

The intriguing patterns on the ceilings of the prayer hall 

Looks like a page out of the movies

Inside the prayer halls 

We were told this is where the priest sits to address the devotees 

Me in front of the prayer halls inside Jemeirah Mosque 

We headed for the bazaar, which was right next door to the Jameirah Mosque. Our guide had explained that the purpose of building the bazaar next to the Jameirah Mosque, so that people can do their marketing after their prayers. This bazaar was similar to that in Tehran, except that it is not as big. One can still find day-to-day necessities here as well as some handicraft shops and shops catering to the tourists selling souvenirs. The bazaar was interesting initially, but they turned out to be repetitive after awhile. Perhaps they do not offer items that intrigue me, or maybe I am just not a good shopper. I was skimming through the bazaar like a zombie after about 5 mins inside. I was kinda glad when we exited the bazaar as it started to feel like a waste of time. 

The bazaar beside Jemeirah Mosque 

They have stuffs for the locals to do their weekly marketing

Inside a typical Persian Bazaar

Locals doing their marketing and preparing for the Persian New Year

This section sells clothings 

Open area inside the bazaar

Inside a typical Persian Bazaar

We were driven to the Tomb of Sa'adi, one of the famous poets in Shiraz. After parking the car, our guide took us to this ice-creamy opposite the tomb. Prior to our trip to Iran, we have come to know that the Shirazi ice-cream is rather unique and it is a must try. We got a cup each and started to eat the ice-cream. It is indeed very different from what we are used to, the ice-cream is rather starchy and is very tasty but the scooping part takes abit more effort. Our guide told us that they used animal fat to make this ice-cream, and it is not healthy to eat everyday. After savouring the ice-cream, we headed for the tomb. The tomb of Sa'adi was at the end of a garden. We were told the initial design of this tomb does not have this big of a garden, it was subsequently added by the locals as a mark of respect to Sa'adi and his teachings. The building that housed the tomb looked like a pavilion with a dome-shaped roof. Inside the tomb was Farsi writings carved onto the wall, which was some of the poems that Sa'adi had writen There is an extension to the left when you face it from the entrance. This is where the greatest fan of Sa'adi is buried, however it is locked at the time we were there, can't enter it. From the outside, I saw some pictures and an empty room, rather boring. We were then brought to this fish pond, which was built underground. The fascinating  part about this pond is not the fishes but how and where the water for this pond came about. We were told that the water is irrigated from the nearby mountains some 6km away. These water was also channeled to a second fish pond nearer to the entrance of the Tomb. After visiting the tomb, we were ferried to our hotel to check in and get some rest, as the next attraction is best seen nearer to sunset. After checking in, we did not rest, instead we spent the afternoon walking around the neighbourhood. Nothing eventful happened though.

A typical Mosque in Shiraz

The Streets on Shiraz

Walking towards Tomb of Sa'adi

This modest building is where Sa'adi is buried

Tomb of Sa'adi

Under this stone is where Sa'adi - one of the greatest poets in Persia was buried

Teachings of Sa'adi engraved on the wall where he was buried

This entrance leads to where Sa'adi's greatest fan is buried

Walking around the tomb of Sa'adi

The source of the water in this underground pond is from the nearest mountain some 6km away

Even the underground pond has very intriguing Persian patterns on it

3 hours later our guide picked us up. Our destination next is Eram gardens. This looks like any other garden to me, except that it has a building right in the centre of the garden. Perhaps it is winter, all the plants have yet to bloom, I find this garden rather dull and has nothing special. We did not spend alot of time in this garden, after about 30 mins later (which felt like a lifetime), we headed to Hafez Tomb, where another poet was buried. When we were about to enter the tomb grounds, there were 2 men at the entrance carrying a bird trying to get us to do some predictions. We ignored them and went into the tomb grounds. As with Tomb of Sa'adi, there is a garden between the entrance to the tomb itself. As we were climbing up the stairs towards the tombs, we came across this structure, which closely resemble the roman pillars. Past this structure is where the Hafez tomb lies.  The single dome-roofed pavilion stood in the middle, our guide told us that in the centre is where Hafez was buried, under the pavilion. However the land around the pavilion is where his followers were buried! As the sun was setting, the pavilion was lighted up. It was beautiful! We spend some time walking around the tomb of Hafez before heading for dinner. The dinner was rather uneventful and we headed back to hotel to rest for the night.

Around Eram Gardens

Surroundings at Eram Gardens

A Bald tree in Eram Gardens

Nearby hill 

Fountains are part of the Persian Garden feature

Eram Gardens

Walking towards Hafez Tomb

This is the spot where Hafez was buried

Greeneries in the compound of Hafez Tomb

Even the ceiling of the pavilion where Hafez was buried received some serious attention

Tomb of Hafez

Me at Hafez Tomb

Hafez Tomb at dusk

Night Lighting at Hafez Tomb

Hafez Tomb at night

Night Lighting of Hafez Tomb

Dinner Time

These 2 glasses contained non-alcoholic beer

Feast for the night

Iran Day 1 : Tehran (1 Mar 11) - Venturing Into a Misunderstood Country

My friend and I planned this trip almost 1 year ago, today marks the day we journey into this land where media and even my friends in Singapore deems to be dangerous. I read that this misunderstood country has riches in culture that awaits those who "dare" to venture into its shores. Well the flight to Tehran was rather torturous, partly due to the constantly being awake for food or for landing into Colombo, where our flight makes a short stopover; partly also due to the position that I was trying to get some sleep that is giving me back and neck aches. Luckily the short 9 hr flight was over pretty soon. We spent another 2 hours transiting Dubai Airport and another 2 hours flying into Tehran. This is when all the fun begins! According to my research, Singaporeans are given Visa-on-Arrival, so we headed towards the counter that marks "Visa" to get our visa done. When our turn approached, the staff at the counter asked where we are from. We gladly volunteered the information and told him we are here for tour. He then gave us a blank look and quickly check what seemed to be a list behind the counter. He then gave us another puzzled look and directed us to head towards the immigration control as he said we do not need any visa, now this is very different from what people told me and my researches suggests. I approached the immigration control with some doubts about what I was told earlier on. At the customs, the immigration staff looked at my passport and then me and asked "Visa"? Not knowing what and how to answer, I said "No Visa". He then nodded his head, punched something into his computer, gave me the stamp in my passport and then I realise I am in Iran! The whole process took less then 5 mins, one of the fastest immigration ever! After claiming our luggage, we met up with our liaison in Tehran. He held a paper with our names on it and was suppose to drive us around in Tehran. On our way to the hotel, the travel agent whom I had liaise with called us, to ensure that we already arrived in Tehran and was brought to our hotel. She had confirmed that someone else will be meeting us later after we checked in to show us around Tehran. 

Arrival at Tehran Airport

My first impression of Tehran when being driven from the airport to the hotel is there is so much land they have here. Iran is not as backward as I imagined. Along the way there are road signs written in both Farsi and English. It became apparent that we have arrived Tehran as the traffic suddenly built up. I had read about the horrendous traffic condition in Tehran, I did not expect it to be this bad. People are not driving according to their lanes, they merely squeeze into whatever space their car can be squeezed into. The distance between cars are so close that I can open the door of the car next to ours by simply stretching out my arm. What fascinates me more is despite the chaotic traffic condition, I didn't see any traffic accidents on the road. Driving in Tehran needs alot of guts and it involves both defensive and aggressive, and certainly one need to be very decisive when driving here. 

We met up with our guide for Tehran after settling down in the Hotel. Our first stop was the Golestan Palace. I like visiting Palaces as it tells alot about the life back when it was used by the kings. In my mind, I have always thought Palaces are grand, as it usually symbolises the power of the kings, especially when it is used to hold reception for foreign dignitaries. I was slightly disappointed when we arrived at the Palace, it is not as big as I would imagine it to be. Golestan Palace basically has 4 main buildings within the compound. As we entered the Palace grounds, the first building that was almost immediately noticeable is one where the marble throne was placed at. It is not difficult to spot the throne as it was placed in a very conspicuous platform that overlooked the gardens and the fountains in the palace grounds. As we walked around this building that housed the marble throne, I spotted a marble coffin. Our guide explained that this coffin was used by one of the kings has it is heavily influenced by European culture as there are angels carved on the cover of the coffin. We were told that the coffin is now empty, and placed here to display to visitors the extend of European influence in those days. The next building we visited is the Leeve Halls, where 3 halls are housed. This looks like the reception room and the living quarters of the royalties. The foyer of this building is decorated with mirrors, makes the architecture  of this hall somewhat unique. We headed to the dinning hall, where again the European style is evident here on the pillars. This rather huge hall was where the royalties dine daily in those days. The next hall we visited is the mirror hall, which essentially looked like a study room of some sort to me. This hall is rather small compared to the other 2, and was heavily decorated with mirrors. Makes me wonder if the king who built this palace likes mirrors or is merely using mirror to make the whole place look bigger. To the left as we exited the mirror hall is the Coronation Hall. Now this hall is the biggest of all 3 and has no trace of European influence in the styling. This hall, as we were told, was used not only for coronation events, it is also used to entertain foreign dignitaries as well. The next so called hall that we visited in this building is the Ivory hall. It looked more like a corridor with 2 chairs and 2 huge ivories displayed. Hardly looked like a hall at all. 

Walking towards the main hall of Golestan Palace

The Persian design leading to the main hall of the palace

The main audience hall, where the Persian King used to sit to address his audiences. The throne is made of white marble

Panoramic shot of the facade of the palace 

The next building we visiting within the palace grounds is the Edifice of the sun. The distinctive feature of this building is the 2 tall towers and a slightly shorter clock tower. We were told that the original design of these towers do not come with the 2 pavilions that we see on top of these towers. It is later added as the king, after traveling to Europe, liked their structure so much that he ordered his men to add these pavilions to the tower. These towers were the tallest structure in Tehran once upon a time. Too bad we cannot enter this building, else I would love to climb onto these towers and see the view from up there. To the right of this building is another building with 4 wind towers. We entered this building and saw that the main hall was again decorated with mirrors. The unique part about this hall is the doors that slide-opened vertically, used during summer to keep the hall cool. I find this building somewhat boring and uneventful. We went to this building that was converted to some kind of art gallery next. I was getting abit restless by this time, not too sure if it is the art that is boring me or the jet lag is getting onto me. I did a quick browse through of this part, and quickly exited the building. It seems this is the last stop of the palace. As we were walking back to our vehicle, our guide asked if we wanna take a quick look at the Tehran Bazaar, the biggest bazaar in Tehran. We did not object to it and indeed we took a quick walkthrough of the bazaar. It is rather crowded here as it is close to the Iranian new year and everyone is out shopping for new year. The bazaar was huge and was arranged in sections, some sections are selling textile, some spices and other selling clothing. One can find almost anything they need for household here. We were brought to this lower part of the bazaar selling Persian Carpets. There are tons of shops selling carpets and some of them are really nice. We were told briefly the different types of Persian rugs and how to recognise them. We spent about 30 mins in the bazaar before heading to our next stop.

Persian Style Art on the wall of the palace

This is where the stone coffin is house 

Inside of one of the buildings of the palace

Golestan Palace grounds

The clock Tower at Edifice of the Sun

Inside the Mirror Halls

The Mirror Halls from outside

Inside of the Mirror Halls

Persian Rug section of the Bazaar

Tehren Bazaar

Tehran Bazaar

After some turns here and there on the vehicle, we arrived at somewhat looked like a bank. Before long I realised we were at the Jewels Museum. My first impression of the Jewels Museum when I first read about it was it is rather boring, perhaps some place that showcases jewelery and nothing much. The security for the museum was very tight, all electronic equipment including mobile phones were not allowed inside the museum. What's the big deal, I thought to myself, well just follow the protocols I guess. As we entered into the vault, we saw the famed Peacock throne, decorated with gems and gold, the throne was very impressive and certainly costed alot! As we went through the museum, I was taken aback by the number of precious gems, gold and jewelery that was up on display! A handful of any of these is sufficient to feed my whole family very well! As if I am not impressed enough, the crown of all jewels here was the Sea of Light - the largest pink diamond in the world! At first it looked like an ordinary diamond, as one bend down and see the diamond at eye level, it is pink! I was jokingly telling our guide, the value of this diamond is enough to feed 10 generations in luxury! After going through the Jewel Museum, I realise it is very worth visiting! Never in my life I have seen so many precious stones, jewelery and of course the largest pink diamond in the world! 

We headed for the National Museum after leaving the Jewel Museum. I was more excited about visiting this place as I had read that visiting this museum can give us a better idea of the history of Iran and how things come about. It was rated as one of the "must-go" in Tehran. As we had arrived the museum, we were informed that we have to deposit our camera . Usually it is allowed to be brought into the museum, but the Cyrus Cylinder was on display this period, therefore cameras are not allowed (I was thinking what's the big deal?). As we entered the museum, our guide brought us to this gigantic 3d map of Iran and explained to us the different regions and the normads. As we were going through the artifacts on display in the museum I was getting rather bored! It is not as impressive as I imagined it to be and out of the displays, I can only remember this 500,000 year old tooth that belonged to a 14 year old boy and this huge rock carving they took from Persepolis to be displayed here. The rest of the exhibits are bowls, pans, weaponary. Not really my cup of tea. We headed to the 2nd floor where the Cyrus Cylinder was displayed. This artifact originate from Iran, and it is now on loan from the British Museum. What an irony, the country's historical artifact actually had to be loan from some other countries! This cylinder was fabled as the world's first human's right charter! As we exited the museum, I saw a replica of the Cyrus cylinder for sale, I immediately bought one. The packaging was rather unique, in a wooden crate box. Before heading back to the hotel to rest for the night, our guide brought us to this gate, which was used as a tourist symbol of Iran. Well this gate certainly looked old, and behind this gate was what used to be a runway for aircrafts. We snapped some pictures and headed back for our vehicle.

Entrance to the Tehran National Museum

This building outside the museum used to be the Tourism Bureau

This area used to be a runway for military aircrafts

Some governmental buildings outside the museum

As we were heading back to our hotel, we asked our guide if there is any good Persian restaurants around our hotel. We were pointed to this restaurant that is just round the corner and decided to give it a try after we leave our things in the hotel. We headed for the restaurant, seriously if the guide hadn't pointed out we wouldn't had known there is a restaurant here. The entrance does not seem to suggest what is brewing behind the doors. As we enter into the restaurant, it looked very empty. No customers were in sight. We thought they might have closed and asked the waiter, he told us they have just opened for business and ushered us to a table. We ordered some kebabs and tea and found out that they got our orders mixed up after we finished the food and was chatting with the waiter. The apologetic waiter immediately brought some tea for us as what seem to be a gesture of apology, certainly hope these do not come out from his salary. After dinner we headed back to the hotel to rest for the night, as we were rather tired from the night flight, plus we had to wake up as early as 3.45am the next day for our flight to Shiraz.

Typical Persian Food for dinner

The very inconspicuous restaurant nearby our hotel