SHIRAZ-PERSEPOLI

THE ANCIENT PERSIAN SITES AND THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PHOTO

The next day we met a kind Iranian girl who helped us to find a cheap hotel. The trip cost 9500 rial.

When we reached the town of Shiraz we went to the Estaghlale hotel, where we slept 2 nights (we spent 40.000 rial per night in a double room). During the first evening we met a German boy and we shared with him the expenses for the tour of the archaeological sites of Persepolis, Pasargade and Nagh-e-Rostam.

While we were visiting the town we met a professor who accompanied us to the citadel of Arg-è karim Khani.  We talked with him about the situation of his country, and he told us that Iranian people have two souls: an Islamic soul, which often is purely apparent, and an earthly soul which loves women and wine.

The next morning we went to the bus station with our German friend and we bargained over the price of the tour with a few taxi drivers: we spent 30.000 rial each for the entire tour. Note that the hotel operators asked 25 $ for the same tour. We left for Pasargade, the farthest archaeological site from Shiraz (it’s 150 km far); you must pay 10.000 rial to enter this site, but if you’re in a hurry you can skip it (it’s not very interesting). Then we went to Nagh-e-Rostam, a beautiful place situated 56 km far from Shiraz. To enter the site you have to pay 15.000 rial. In this place our taxi broke down, so the taxi driver “sold” us to a colleague that helped us to continue the tour.

Our new taxi driver accompanied us to the ruins of Persepolis (entry: 20.000 rial) where we stayed for at least two hours. Then we visited the grave of Hafez; this small mausoleum is a must for everyone who visits Shiraz (entry: 15.000 rial). We met there a group of Iranian girls; we took a photo with them and by doing so we roused the curiosity of a great number of girls. I wanted to introduce myself to the bravest girl of the group, but when I tried to shake her hand she refused: she apologized and explained that she couldn’t shake my hand in front of her friends.

So we said goodbye to them and we went to a tourist shop to buy postcards. WHAT A SURPRISE! The brave girl came close to us and, after she had given us a postcard as a gift, she shook our hands. It has been a beautiful moment.

We came back to the town centre to eat at Hotel Homa’s restaurant. We ate very well there! Then we changed some money in the main street in front of FARS PIZZA BURGER (8450 rial for 1 $ including the bank charges) and we went to sleep.  

The grave of Hafez (click photo)