Day 4 - Tehran

Off to a suitably civilized late start of 10 am, again with Parto and Mr H, this time to explore the palaces and bazaars of Tehran. First stop was Golestan Palace which fortunately was open - it is a public holiday here and there was some doubt on this point. This magnificent complex of the Qajar rulers was simply beautiful. Once again words are simply unable to capture the beautiful artwork and inscriptions and the simply awesome mirrored halls in a couple of the buildings. Hopefully my photographs will give some idea. As we were so close when we left the Golestan Palace we walked to the Grand Bazaar - this only had a few shops open, again because of the public holiday, but there were sufficient open and it was crowded enough to get a feel for how busy it would normally be. A short drive then took us to another well known Tehrani restaurant simply called Dizi, I believe. We were here to indulge in a peculiar and very tasty dish called Dizi and once again it was crowded with Iranians on holiday.
(Sue: Eating Dizi is a  really authentic Iranian experience. A plate of wondrous green herbs and leaves, raw onion, and spicy relish is placed on the table with flat bread. The Dizi (lamb stew) is then delivered in a large jug. The bread is broken into pieces and placed in a bowl and the liquid from the top of the stew is poured over the bread and eaten. You then mash up the rest of the stew with the wooden implement provided  and combine this with handfuls of herbs, relish, bread and onion -absolutely delicious! A glass of sour almost liquid yoghurt is also part of the meal and appears with many meals in Iran but doesn't appeal to my taste. The Iranian yogurt that comes with kebabs and other meals is another story altogether-rich smooth and gentle on the palate-as nice as any yoghurt I have tried anywhere.)
Next stop Nieyaavaraan Palace, home to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his family for the last 10 years of his royal rule.Not as impressive as Golestan but still pretty special, especially seeing such things as the private dentist office for the Shah, the children's bedrooms with their toys, the guest quarters where such luminaries as President Jimmy Carter, Queen Victoria etc overnighted. From here we traveled back toward the city , first stopping at a cake shop for some tasty treats to take with us. We had arranged to visit our friends that we had met on the flight from KL to Tehran. After saying goodbye to Parto and Mr H we were welcomed into their home and truly felt like honoured guests - once again we are blown away with the friendliness and hospitality of Iranians - if only more people from the west realised this then there might be a great deal less animosity toward Iran. We spent a pleasant hour or so chatting and tasting all manner of sweets that our hosts had prepared before then being driven back to our hotel in the city. A late dinner and bed as tomorrow is the day we set out on our own.