Approximately 2 or 3 kilometers from the palace stands an outcropping of rock that was home to four of Persia’s earliest kings. This site is known as Naqsh-e Rostam and it was there that Darius I and II, Cyrus II, and Artaxerxes I are believed…Read More

Approximately 2 or 3 kilometers from the palace stands an outcropping of rock that was home to four of Persia’s earliest kings. This site is known as Naqsh-e Rostam and it was there that Darius I and II, Cyrus II, and Artaxerxes I are believed to have been entombed. Their remains have long since disappeared along with anything that might have been buried with them, but the entrances to each of their tombs remain intact.

The tombs are carved into the cliff and resemble ancient city of Petra in Jordan. The tombs are approximately 40 feet above the ground and it is not clear how one would have reached the entrance without a ladder.

Also carved into the rock, just below the tombs, are two carvings that date back to the Sassanian Dynasty, the last Zoroastrian dynasty. The style is different from that of the tombs above and they depict the Sassanian king Shahpour I being presented a prisoner – Valerian the Roman Emperor. The Roman Emperor was captured during one of the many battles that took place between the two empires and the carvings commemorate that victory.

Immediately opposite the four tombs and the rock formation is a tower-like structure which I took for a well at first. It is a squared, stone structure that stands approximately 60 feet tall, thirty feet of which are below the ground and the remainder standing above ground. This is an ateshgah (literally, fire place but translates to fire temple) built during the Zoroastrian period and as the symbol of Ahuramazda was fire, the ateshgah housed a flame representing Ahuramazda. The flame was extinguished during the Arab invasions during the 7th century A.D., never again to be lit.

When you are moving in Iran close to the Pakistani border you can find more and more marks of activity from drug dealers and smugglers. On the roads there are police checks more and more often, it's possible to see more and more barricades on roads…Read More

When you are moving in Iran close to the Pakistani border you can find more and more marks of activity from drug dealers and smugglers.
On the roads there are police checks more and more often, it's possible to see more and more barricades on roads in the desert and sometimes people offer you some drugs on the streets.
It's usual that someone will ask you something like: 'Hey Mister!!! Do you have material?' and when you ask 'What kind of material do you mean?' he will just deeply breathe fresh air into his lungs and say 'Hmmm... you know Mister!'.

Although it's forbidden to carry drugs in Iran, many people say that huge percentage of Iranians are drug-addicted. Whether it is true I do not know. In fact no one really knows, but people say it is so.
It's well known that Afghanistan is the biggest producer of opium in the world. And the main part of this amount is smuggled through the Iranian desert into the Europe. So fights between smugglers and the Iranian army are quite usual near the Pakistani border, especially near Zahedan.

So when you are in Shiraz, be careful of those guys who look drunk in Afghani dress. They are not aggressive, but it's funny how they offer you drugs on every corner.   Close

Behnam dvlt bydar sHrm dvlt bydar bbalyn Amd gft brKyz kh An Ksrv Syryn Amd qdHy drkS v srKvS bh tmaSa bKram ta bbyny kh~ngart bh~Gh Ayyn Amd mJdgany bdh ay Klvty nafh gSay kh z CHray Ktn Ahvy mSkyn Amd gryh Aby brK svKtgan baz~Avrd nalh fryadrs eaSq mskyn Amd mrQ dl baz hvadar…Read More

Behnam

dvlt bydar sHrm dvlt bydar bbalyn Amd gft brKyz kh An Ksrv Syryn Amd qdHy drkS v srKvS bh tmaSa bKram ta bbyny kh~ngart bh~Gh Ayyn Amd mJdgany bdh ay Klvty nafh gSay kh z CHray Ktn Ahvy mSkyn Amd gryh Aby brK svKtgan baz~Avrd nalh fryadrs eaSq mskyn Amd mrQ dl baz hvadar kman abrvyyst kh kmyn Cyd~ghS jan~v~dl~v~dyn Amd dr hva Gnd melq zny v jlvh kny ay kbvtr ngran baS kh Sahyn Amd saqya my bdh~v~Qm mKvr az dSmn~v~dvst kh bkam dl ma An bSd v ayn Amd Sady yar pryGhrh bdh badh nab kh my lel dvay dl Qmgyn Amd rsm bd~ehdy ayam Gv dyd abr bhar gryh~aS br smn v snbl v nsryn Amd Gvn Cba gfth HafX bSnyd az blbl enbr~afSan bh~tmaSay ryaHyn Amd

I know that it seems really strange, but this is a transcription of Hafez's poem Behnam in Farsi (Persian). It's just a sample of his work. Enjoy this crazy theater of strange characters and diacritics...   Close