"The Iranian Experience"
personal comments,landmarks, hotspots and a "travel disaster"  from my two weeks in Iran
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Aug 2003
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Docked boats close to main bridge at Karun river in Ahvaz.Karun ,about 900kms long, starts from Zagros Mountains that dominate western Iran and flows south parallels to Iraqi border.Background photo....posing with background of iluminated bridge arcs above Karun river by night.(DO NOT CLICK. JUST DRAG IN+OUT TO REGAIN POP UP TEXT CHANGE PHOTO) 
Persepolis,partial view of arcaelogical site and statues of mythical creature in foreground and horse in background photo. DO NOT CLICK,JUST DRAG IN+OUT TO REGAIN POP UP TEXT / CHANGE PHOTO
Persepolis,"The Gate of Nations",was the official entrance to  palace for  important visitors coming to  declare their compliance and offer gifts  to the master of known world of that era (CLICK TO REGAIN POP UP TEXT)
Ruled and totally controlled by religious leaders since Ayatollah Homeini's  islamic revolution and collapse of western friendly Shah Reza Pahlevi 's regime  in 1979,Iran has gone through major  political,social and economic crisis even more worsened by the  Iran/Iraq war (thanks to Sadam Husein's opportunism against  the Iranian  province of Kuzhestan) that resulted hundreds of thousands killed and extensive  destructions on both sides  till ceasefire of 1988,Nowadays Iran although recovered  from it's near past seems to stagnate  in  retardness and decadence.Iranians however are relatively openminded (at least younger generations and students) and condemn (...in private of course as far as dissagreeing with regime in public ...causes  serious trouble...) the far reaching power of clerics being  the roots for the  widespread corruption at all levels of Iranian administration.On the other hand and despite the  hard everyday problems they face,Iranians  are usually friendly to foreigners  while Iran itself is  an almost endless   source of history,culture  and art from anciety till modern times and even this fact alone is more than enough to overbalance  the potential  cost of  particular  risks  and  benefit travelling  to this fascinating destination not just for one and last  time....
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Xerxes' Apadana palace,just a small part of the enormous royal complex in the ancient capital city of Percepolis.Founded by Darius the Great  in the 5th century BC.,Persepolis was the ceremonial center during the era of Achaemenian Dynasty till 4th century BC  and Alexander the Great's victory over Persians when  it was set on fire and  destroyed most likely in revenge for Athens and all rest Greek cities attacked and burnt by the Persians during their unsuccesful campaigns against ancient Greece (CLICK TO REGAIN POP UP TEXT)
Darius the Great (detail) depicted on carved stone uncovered in Susa.On background photo,restoration of colored glazed bricks,also from Susa,depicting Darius' "immortal guard",a unit of devoted elite high ranking wariors in charge of protecting the emperor and his empire.Numerous palace architectural ornaments referring to soldiers,guards,animals and mythical creatures were uncovered in Susa but only few of them are nowadays exhibited at National Iranian Museum in Teheran or  elsewhere in Iran. DO NOT CLICK,JUST DRAG IN+OUT TO REGAIN POP UP TEXT / CHANGE PHOTO
Ziggurat of Chongazanbil is estimated as the best surviving sample of Elamite architecture.(Elam was the ancient kingdom transcending  the area of what is today Southwestern Iran).Ziggurats used to be temples of pyramidal shape and  represent the foremost religious  edifices in Mesopotamia,from around 2200 BC until 500 BC. Chongazanbil was built of mud brick with facades made from glazed bricks and is estimated to have been nearly 50 metres high topped by a small sanctuary.Nowadays only half of that height remains at site.Background photo (courtesy John Malcolm), restoration drawing of ziggurat. DO NOT CLICK,JUST DRAG IN+OUT TO REGAIN POP UP TEXT / CHANGE PHOTO)
Tomb of Cyrus I the Great at Pasagardae.Cyrus I won independence from Media and expanded his control to Mesopotamia thus he is rerecognized as founder of the Persian Empire.Royal tombs were built  higher to the ground (or dug high into rocky slopes as at royal necropolis in Naqsh-e-Rustam) to prevent corpses from being dishonored and sullied  by humans or natural  phenomena like floods...(CLICK TO REGAIN POP UP TEXT)
About 10 kms northwards from  Persepolis,the royal necropolis of Naqsh-e-Rustam is situated in the homonymous cliffs.Dug high into the rocks,five identical looking tombs is believed  to belong to Darius I,Artaxerxes I,Darius II,Xerxes I and Parysatis (Darius'wife).Characteristic is the external cross shaped carving of the tombs most likely indicating both the "metaphysical" nature of the perished,by the vertical part connecting earth to heavens,and also his authority  above all people  by the horizontal one...(DO NOT CLICK,JUST DRAG IN+OUT TO REGAIN POP UP TEXT / CHANGE PHOTO)
In 1794 minor and low populated city of Teheran was chosen as Iranian capital city by Agha Mohamad Khan,first ruler of Qajar dynasty which ended and followed domination of short Zand dynasty.Situated on foothills of Shemiram Mountain,southern of Alborg mountain complex (an ever visible city orientation mark) and  about 1000 meters above sea level,Teheran was vastly developed during last century,nowadays figuring among biggest cities in the world with current population of about 12million.The city offers an extensive variety of museums while spectacular buildings of diverse traditional architecture are mixed with a mass of unlimited,ugly and degrading modernization.Worth of mentioning,the distinctively and rather elitist northeastern part  where scysrapers,wide highways and other contemporary edifices,within a quite preserved natural  area,shape a totally different,from downtown,urban environment.(More about Teheran on iran3) CLICK TO REGAIN POP-UP TEXT
Kerman (pop.310.000) is 1100kms from Teheran and  about the half of that from Shiraz.It owes most of it's fame to local carpet handicrafts but lacks attractions of main importance.In any case Kerman was a convenient stop point for two overnights and a day trip to Bam with an intermediate stop to  Mahan,a small provincial town,with a worth a visit mosque.(CLICK TO REGAIN POP-UP TEXT)
...alike Isfahan,Kashan was also missed...maybe another time...
Yazd,is located 670kms from Teheran and about 1200 meters above sea level in a seemingly dry area which however is watered by an extensive net of underground canals reaching 50kms in length.The city itself is quite picturesque as it retains traditional architecture avoiding urban modernization of unlimited grade.Mentioned by Marco Polo as "The noble city" ,Yazd (meaning feast and worship) is also the religious centre for Zoroastrian followers worlwide but it has much more attractions to offer a foreigner (see relative photos and texts on iran2) CLICK TO REGAIN POP-UP TEXT
Expected as the highllight of this trip,Isfahan finally was not possible to be seen due to the incident on the way from Shiraz to Kerman.Hope another time in near future to be more ...lucky and combine the lost part of this trip with Northern Iran till Caspian Sea...(CLICK TO REGAIN POP UP TEXT)
About 60kms northeast of Shiraz,Takhte-e-Jamshid or Persepolis (as Greeks named it) is the most spectacular ancient site of Iran consisted of various palaces from the era of Achamenid dynasty.Construction of this giant royal complex started during Darius the Great's time in the 5th century BC and was completed by Xerxes and his successors about 150yrs later...was set on fire to the ground after Alexander the Great's final victory over Darius and the end of the Achamenid dynasty in 333BC (CLICK TO REGAIN POP-UP TEXT)
Chongazanbil lies about 20kms from Iraqi border and about 50 from Shush.Off the beaten truck it has become a place of archaelogical interest only the last 60 years following an incidental discovery of the homonymous ziggurat during areal survey by an English oil company (CLICK TO REGAIN POP-UP TEXT)
Pasargadae,was kind of administrative capital city in ancient Percia hence the palace here was not as spectacular and  gorgeous as at Persepolis.Nowadays there is very little done regarding archaelogical excavation/restoration and apart from Darius the Great's tomb dominating the entrance of the site,there is nothing impressive to see but few scattered and minutelly restored ruins (CLICK TO REGAIN POP UP TEXT)
Shush (ancient Susa),one of the capital cities of  Persia (Greek name of the land after Perses-people of ancient Iran-deriving from Perseus),was founded by Achaemenid king Darius I and completed by Artaxerxes II.Administrative capital and royal winter residence  of the Achaemenid Dynasty (521-331 BC) was also the eastern terminus of the Persian Royal Road that ran westward to Lydian Sardis,capital of Media.Following Alexander the Great's conquests,Susa became Greek colonial city-state under the Seleucids and was called "Seleusia on the Eualeus".Susa is also mentioned in old testament as the place where prophet Daniel lived and was thrown to the lions by Cyrus.Nowadays his tomb  in the modern town of Shush,consists a sacred place for Muslims and Christians in a rather undisclosed way of common religious worship.Ancient Susa however  is nothing more than a huge devastated area with masses of ruins in a visually rather  indifferent excavation site.There is a fortress/museum built by  French archaelogists on a nearby hill but it was not open and seemed deserted (CLICK TO REGAIN POP-UP TEXT)
100kms southeast of Kerman in the Dasht-e Kavir desert lies the modern town of Arg-e Bam with the nearby medieval  mud-walled citadel of Bam dating about 2000yrs back,really a ...fairy tale scenery in the desert(see relative photos and texts on iran2) CLICK TO REGAIN POP-UP TEXT
About one hour by plane southwards to Teheran,Ahvaz is a commercial city (pop.750.000) that was heavily struck by surface to surface missiles during the Iran-Iraq war.Though recovered from it's past the city itself has very little to offer a visitor,especially during August with temperatures reaching 50o C during daytime...however a convenient  stop point for two overnights and a day trip to Shush and Chongazanbil before heading on to Shiraz (CLICK TO REGAIN POP-UP TEXT)
Shiraz,capital city of Iran during the short era of Zand dynasty (1747-1779AD) was also one of the most important cities of islamic medieval world.Nowadays it retains reputation as center of Iranian intellectuality  connected with poets,writers and artists through the ages.It has a famous univercity with remarkable buildings and other real estate possessions by donation like the Bagh Eram gardens with a typical late Qajar palace (1900AD) inside it.Situated 935kms southern of Teheran and on altitude of 1600 meters,Shiraz has  mild climate totally and pleasantly different from that in ...burning Ahvaz and most probably the best in whole Iran on yearly basis (CLICK TO REGAIN POP UP TEXT)
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The Friday Mosque in Shiraz (foreground photo) with a unique building in the centre of it's yard,(background photo) the "Khoda Khane" (house of god) resembling the Kaaba in Mecca (DO NOT CLICK.JUST DRAG IN+OUT TO REGAIN POP-UP TEXT/CHANGE PHOTO)
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