Travel Letters

The Zagros Mountains

Bandar Abbas

Port City 

Persian Gulf

Hormoz Gan Province

Iran

May 15, 2020

Hello,

At the National Museum in Teheran, our knowledgeable guide Hassan conducts a discussion of the geography of Iran.

We learn that Iran sits on a tectonic plate that is called “The Iranian Plateau.”  Consequently, the elevation of major cities ahead will be high above sea level.  Isfahan 1574m or 5164 ft.  Shiraz 1500m or 4921 ft.  Kerman 1755m or 5757 ft.  Kashan 2106m or 6909 ft or 1.3 mi.

The Dasht-e Kavir or the Great Salt Desert spreads across the north.  In the south near Kerman, we will visit the Lut or Red Desert.

The most prominent feature on the map is a mountain range that runs like a spine down the west of Iran.  The Zagros Mountains provides a protective barrier against Iraq, Iran’s neighbor to the west.

Sergio and Shiraz

Shiraz

Iran

May 14, 2020,

Buona Serata,

The sign clearly indicates the restaurant opens for dinner at 8:00 pm.

Roberta and Sergio and I leave our hotel at eight and walk the short distance.

After climbing the steep spiral staircase to the dining room, the manager informs us the kitchen staff is delayed.  No cooks at the moment! 

Persian Music

Shiraz                                           

Iran

May 15, 2022

Hello,

“Jan, you are a hunter!”

So spoke Majdi, my guide in Iran.

Hadji observes that Jan “hunts” for an opportunity to take a special landscape photograph.   He is impressed as I comfortably engage with strangers and then easily pose with them. 

I am never conscious of being a hunter.

Am I enterprising or patient or lucky?

On a lakeside in the mountains, it is just my luck that someone left the radio playing in his parked car.

"I Love Shiraz"

Shiraz
Fars Province
Iran
May 14, 2022
 
The Arg of Karim Khan or Karim Khan Citadel was built as part of a complex during the Zand dynasty. It is named after Karim Khan, and served as his living quarters. It is rectangular in shape and resembles a medieval fortress.
 
In the past, the citadel was sometimes used as a prison. Today, it is a museum operated by Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization. A public park surrounds it.

Persepolis and Necropolis

Shiraz
Fars Province
Iran
May 13, 2022
 

 

Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (c. 550–330 BC). It is situated in the plains of Marvdasht, encircled by southern Zagros mountains of Iran. Modern day Shiraz is situated 60 kilometres (37 mi) southwest of the ruins of Persepolis.

The earliest remains of Persepolis date back to 515 BC. It exemplifies the Achaemenid style of architecture. UNESCO declared the ruins of Persepolis a World Heritage Site in 1979.

Shiraz

Shiraz

(1500m 4900 ft)

(Pop 1,800.000)

Fars Province

Iran

May 12. 2022

On our first day In Shiraz, our group visited three important sites.

THE TOMB OF HAFEZ IS in a peaceful, garden setting that drips with an ambience of poetry and romance. The 14th-century writer is considered the Shakespeare of Iran, one of the greatest Persian poets of all time, and a source of national pride.

Hafez’s collected works, the Divān, is regarded as a pinnacle of Persian literature.  Most every home in the country contains this book, and it is regularly read and consulted for guidance and inspiration. The poet is revered as a folk hero to this day, and people congregate at his tomb, especially at sunset, to pay their respects.

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