We left Esfahan reluctantly today, having enjoyed our stay immensely. We had a loose arrangement to meet our next guide, Soheil at a particular square in a town called Ardekan on our way to Yazd. We phoned Soheil when on our way so as to co-ordinate both our and his arrival as he was driving in the other direction from Yazd. in the end we couldn't find the square so we propped in a local restaurant and had the non English speaking staff assist in directing Soheil to our location by phone. Having met we set off for our first stop, Chak Chak, the most sacred of the mountain shrines of Zoroastrianism. This involved a steep climb in fascinating mountainous terrain to arrive at a cave-like structure where there was a constant drip of water from the ceiling with apparently no source ever having been found for the water. The sound of dripping water was likened to chak chak and hence the name. From there we drove to Meybod where we had a delicious and again, inexpensive lunch in a converted caravanserai. Also in Meybod we visited the ancient ice-house pigeon tower, a private home with the tallest wind towers in Meybod, a carpet museum and lastly one of the oldest castles in Iran, Narin ghaleh dating from before the Islamic period. Following all this we then drove further to Yazd where we visited the Jameh mosque before finding our hotel, the Fahadan traditional hotel, in the old quarter near the old jail. This turned out to be a beautiful old hotel which has been operating for over 200 years. Dinner at an associated traditional restaurant 200 meters up the road in a converted bathhouse completed our evening. Our hotel hosts a couple of exotic parrots including a macaw that get to fly around the open space in the tea-house/restaurant area.
We left Esfahan reluctantly today, having enjoyed our stay immensely. We had a loose arrangement to meet our next guide, Soheil at a particular square in a town called Ardekan on our way to Yazd. We phoned Soheil when on our way so as to co-ordinate both our and his arrival as he was driving in the other direction from Yazd. in the end we couldn't find the square so we propped in a local restaurant and had the non English speaking staff assist in directing Soheil to our location by phone. Having met we set off for our first stop, Chak Chak, the most sacred of the mountain shrines of Zoroastrianism. This involved a steep climb in fascinating mountainous terrain to arrive at a cave-like structure where there was a constant drip of water from the ceiling with apparently no source ever having been found for the water. The sound of dripping water was likened to chak chak and hence the name. From there we drove to Meybod where we had a delicious and again, inexpensive lunch in a converted caravanserai. Also in Meybod we visited the ancient ice-house pigeon tower, a private home with the tallest wind towers in Meybod, a carpet museum and lastly one of the oldest castles in Iran, Narin ghaleh dating from before the Islamic period. Following all this we then drove further to Yazd where we visited the Jameh mosque before finding our hotel, the Fahadan traditional hotel, in the old quarter near the old jail. This turned out to be a beautiful old hotel which has been operating for over 200 years. Dinner at an associated traditional restaurant 200 meters up the road in a converted bathhouse completed our evening. Our hotel hosts a couple of exotic parrots including a macaw that get to fly around the open space in the tea-house/restaurant area.
No comments:
Post a Comment