Iran – Persepolis (24 Dec 2017)

Another day, another UNESCO world heritage site. Iran, with its extremely rich history and culture, is packed full of such heritage sites.

We started the drive from Yazd in the direction of Shiraz – Persepolis (and some of the surrounding attractions) were on the way.

Along the way, we spotted some snowy mountains, which was surprising as the temperature was still pretty warm (and those mountains didn’t look that high).

Our first stop was Pasargadae, the site of the tomb of Cyrus the Great. The tomb itself wasn’t particularly remarkable, even if it was of great historical significance (Cyrus the Great was the founder of the first Persian empire).

We then visited some of the other sites in the area, including a few necropolises.

And now for the star of the show – Persepolis itself!

The Gate of All Nations, the most symbolic of structures in Persepolis and the one that greets visitors when they first enter the main site.

We had this rather weird drink (and I still don’t know what was inside).

And, we got some “chips” which looked completely different from what was in the picture. It seems that they just opened a bag of chips and emptied it into a tray, whereas the picture showed actual freshly-cut and fried potatoes. Ah well. One of the very few minor “scams” you’ll encounter in Iran.

Many of the carvings were still in very good condition, despite being more than 2000 years old.

This is how they give you sugar in your drink – using sugar sticks that you could stir your tea with, or just suck on it. Wonder why we don’t have that here…