Day 10 - Hamadan

We spent a wonderful day today seeing the sights of Hamadan. Our local guide Zahra and her driver arrived at 9 and we set off  firstly to a shrine dedicated to an ancient Iranian by the name of Avicenna. He was a renowned philosopher, physician and mathematician - a kind of Persian Leonardo da Vinci. Apparently students of medicine in Europe as late as the 17th century were still using his huge manuscript written some 600 years before, as their standard text on the subject. Then to Hegmataneh, an archeological dig at Hegmataneh hill which has uncovered large parts of the ancient Median and Achamedian city that once thrived some 2600 years ago. It was hard to imagine these old mud walls having formed part of one of the world's great cities at that time. This visit also marked my unfortunate experience of having to use an Iranian loo - a case of have to, so I guess I can chalk that up to experience :-) Then off again with our crazy, young Iranian driver to the base of the mountain near Hamadan as we had opted to try the telecabine (gondola) having missed out in Gilan province.This seems as good a time as any to talk about Iranian traffic and the complete lack of respect for road rules. It takes a little while to get used to the way Iranians drive and it is almost impossible to describe in words. Suffice to say that a little bit of insanity helps greatly when tackling the road here - try youtube if you want to see typical hair-raising stuff. The telecabine took us to the top of the mountain where there were exceptional views over Hamadan as well as the obligatory restaurant and tearooms further up the hill. We went wandering up the hill and Sue and Zahra trekked a little further to a mountain spring to fill their water bottles. Chai (tea) at the local teahouse and then it was time to head down the mountain for a spot of lunch.  At the base of the mountain we also took in a small waterfall and some tablets chiseled into the rock face with three versions of a lengthy inscription - a kind of Persian Rosetta stone which allowed scholars to learn the ancient cuneiform writing. For lunch we first tried a local Dizi restaurant which unfortunately was full so we then headed off to an establishment run by mates of our driver down little back alleys to a teahouse which would pass unnoticed if you didn't know what it was. Mostly populated by young males sucking on their hubble bubbles as waterpipes, sheesha are known here. We ended up having a wonderful meal of dizi (someone's mum probably had it bubbling away on the stove) amid the smoke and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Spent a little while back at our hotel for a rest before again hooking up with Zahra to visit a popular park halfway up the mountain where families were picnicking just on sunset. Then we set off to find a restaurant serving gormeh sabzi for dinner. This was somewhere in the suburbs of Hamadan and proved to be an excellent meal and once again, ridiculously inexpensive, as meals are in Iran. And for the highlight of our day we then caught a cab with Zahra to her home and met her family including mum, dad, two sisters and a brother. Zahra was not only an excellent guide but also an exceptionally lovely person and inviting us to her home was a wonderful experience. After chai and sweets and conversation sitting on their porch in the evening we headed home for a well earned rest.