DAY 4&5 ABARKUH/YAZD

 It's not that I've been all that busy, that I skipped posting yesterday, but rather that I've been falling asleep earlier then usual...probably because of the heat.

Yesterday we left Shiraz and drove about an hour out into the desert to visit the tomb of Cyrus the Great. It was pretty underwhelming...think of it as an Iranian Plymouth Rock...most non

-American tourists would have node of what the big deal was of a rock in an iron cage...same here...just some blocks of rocks in the middle of nowhere.

The saving grace is that our guide had arranged for us to have a lunch meal at the home of a local woman who operated a small restaurant (2 tables) out of her home in the village. She prepared a traditional meal of stuffed chicken (walnuts, pomegranate , raisins , seasoning) that was delicious...traditional side dishes, some kind of yogurt drink...a good time was had by all.

We then drove another hour or so to our hotel in Abarkuh...a dusty little town with narrow winding streets. The hotel was a converted mansion from 1845(maybe)...totally charming. 

We went out for dinner to a kebab place (pretty much all the restaurants are kebab places)  and I discovered that they kebab little baby lamb chops...yummy!...my new kebab product.

We left Abarkuh early and made a stop at one of the local sites...a 4000 year old cypress tree..listed as the second most visited site in Abarkuh, it was exactly what the title says it is...a cypress tree...zzz.

Drove 2 hours to our next stop Yazd...a city of 1 million. First stop was the Tower of Silence...a Zoroastrian burial area that was several centuries old. Didn't look anything like Maxwell Smart's Cone of Silence...just a circular building at the top of a really long flight of stairs where dead Zoroastrians were laid out in the open for the elements and vultures to help them along on their journey to...?...silence?

Anyway, it was hot and I decided to sit while Helene and the guide ascending the stairs. Helene reported back that it was a circular building with a flat floor for laying out bodies...zzz.

I'm at our new hotel in Yazd waiting to drive out to the desert for a picnic…we’re going to a caravanserai…a travelers inn in the desert…hopefully  I won't fall asleep before I have a chance to report on it.

Chilled out at the hotel and got picked up around 5:30. It wasn't clear to me what we were doing...driving out into the desert to a caravanserai and having a picnic there since they couldn't serve food due to covid restrictions. We drove for about an hour and then turned off the main road and drove through a small village...I figured we were stopping at some shrine or mosque and zoned out. Suddenly in the middle of an open field in the middle of nowhere a large Man Who Would Be king kinda fort appeared. It turned out to be a 3rd Century fort that was almost entirely intact. It had served as a redoubt for the local to protect their grain and livestock and valuables...the interior was a labyrinth so that if attackers managed to breach the gate they would find it impossible to corner the defenders. It was really quite extraordinary and probably my favorite antiquity so far. 

The caravanserai was also a hoot...several of hundred years old it had been restored to a boutique level inn and was quite charming. The rotisserie chicken from town along with a delicious local melon made for a good evening.