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Or make that Baluchistan. And it had all been going so well.<br />I had made an abrupt exit from Tehran on the night bus to Shiraz - a 14 hour slog on an old, 60's Mercedes bus. I had come to Shiraz primarily to visit the ancient Persian capital of Persepolis, and believe me, it was worth the slog. Normally I'm underwhelmed by these kind of sights - for instance, I thought the Coloseum was crap. But Persepolis was different. Perched on a low hill overlooking the surrounding area, and backed by a larger hill with two huge tombs cut into them, I couldn't not be impressed.<br />

A one-way ticket to Palookaville

Conor Meleady
2006-02-28 08:45:33

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Or make that Baluchistan. And it had all been going so well.

I had made an abrupt exit from Tehran on the night bus to Shiraz - a 14 hour slog on an old, 60's Mercedes bus. I had come to Shiraz primarily to visit the ancient Persian capital of Persepolis, and believe me, it was worth the slog. Normally I'm underwhelmed by these kind of sights - for instance, I thought the Coloseum was crap. But Persepolis was different. Perched on a low hill overlooking the surrounding area, and backed by a larger hill with two huge tombs cut into them, I couldn't not be impressed.

I spent a good three hours just wandering around, checking out the different sculptures and engravings - and graffiti, some of it dated in the 1800's, before Persepolis was 'discovered'. The most interesting area was the staircases with the engravings of all the different subjects of the empire coming bearing gifts, from Ethiopia to India. The English language info board read...."Notice the smiles on their faces, and the care-free way they walk", urging us to believe that these were entirely willing subjects. Maybe.

It would be impossible to describe the entire city - I'll just say
that the view from the graves above the sight were amazing, revealing the true scale of the place.

Shiraz itself was a pleasant enough city after the chaos of Tehran. It lacks any real sights, but that's ok, it has a couple of nice Mosques, and one excellent shrine to the brother of Imam Husein (I think). One night I was in a tea-house, watching Man Utd throw away a one goal lead on City, when I got chatting to an Australian who was on his way to Kabul to cover the upcoming Afghan elections. I told him I'd met a Basque journalist back in Mardin who had been on his to Iraq. The Aussie told me, 'that's strange, I'm travelling with a Basque journalist who's just come from Iraq'.

Two minutes ...