Day 19 - Zeinoddin to Shiraz

After a leisurely traditional Iranian breakfast we packed up to leave at the same time as the Canadian Iranians who were to be met by Soheil, our guide from yesterday. As a result we followed them in their minibus as far as Mehriz where we were to turn left and take what amounts to a substantial shortcut by bypassing Yazd completely. At Mehriz we encountered a military roadblock where initially I thought things might turn ugly, largely I suspect, with the benefit of hindsight, due to misunderstanding and language difficulties - I don't feel comfortable when being interrogated by guys with automatic weapons slung casually around their neck and shoulders. A quick phone call to Parisa, our travel agent in Shiraz, and the assistance of Soheil who had stopped and came back to help, and soon all was well - turns out they needed the papers proving we had hired the car and weren't in the process of stealing it and driving to Pakistan or Afghanistan :-)  In the end we parted friends with friendly handshakes all round and a smile to send us on our way. En route we stopped for lunch and sightseeing in a small town called Abarkuh where we visited the supposedly 4000 year old cyprus tree, a beautiful mosque, an old mansion and tried a fastfood joint for a hamburger. I have to say that Iranians make better hamburgers than Aussies - it was delicious :-)  Another stop on the way, closer to Shiraz, was at Pasagard where the tomb of Cyrus the Great is along with more ruins of palaces and so on. On we went to Shiraz, eventually, where we proceeded to get completely lost and almost came to blows until Sue leapt into a cab which I then followed to find our hotel. In the end we made it just in time as we had a radio interview scheduled for 7.30 pm. The interview had been arranged with the husband of one of Parisa's colleagues and took place in the lobby of the Eram hotel where we were staying. We met Parisa and her husband along with Mehdi the interviewer. It was lovely to at last meet Parisa who has been so, so helpful in every respect with our travels and up to now had just been a friendly voice at the end of the phone or a helpful email respondent. Interview over we said goodbye and set out to find some  dinner opting for a late meal at the hotel restaurant and then finally to bed after a long day.