our last morning in Shiraz was spent walking around the old part of the city and citadel. our first stop was a beautiful mosque that was never for public use but more for use during special occasions. a side room was beautifully decorated and illuminated by sun shining through the coloured glass windows. we then walked towards the bazaar stopping to look at the theological school.the tiled ceiling of the portico was all dark and blue,unlike all the decoration we have seen before. however the courtyard had the tiles we were used to as well as palms and citrus trees. a couple of imams were happy to be photographed but not with Kate. a short stroll and we were in the bazaar. we bought some saffron from a spice merchant and also some of the local ice cream, frozen vermicelli in sweet lime juice. the old caravanserais was now a shaded square of shops and a welcome source of light as the bazaar was a warren of dark alleys. whilst sitting down in the shade a little Iranian girl was enchanted by Kate's nail polish and she gave us some sour cherries,Christine an Australian fellow traveller gave her a little koala which delighted her. the final visit in Shiraz was the castle,a UNESCO site. it was the formal royal palace before the capital was moved to Tehran in the 18th century.the Royal bathroom had some interesting decorations but the castle had been used as a prison in the 1960s and had suffered accordingly. much renovation had been made to the Royal court and there were pictures of before and after.we had lunch in a local bread and kebab,plain quarter of roast chicken,bread made on the premises,pickles,garnish, yoghourt and of course the non beer of the day all for just over £2!
we now started our drive north back towards Esfahan along a long narrow fertile valley,flanked by arid mountains with an occasional village nestling at the bottom .
on the way to Esfahan we stopped at another UNESCO site,Pasagarde the palace and tomb of Cyrus the great,great uncle of Darius who built Persepolis. not much is left standing but a there a few hints to its importance and it was similar to Persepolis as it was built to receive dignatories etc. the ruins had been used by the locals to build a mosque by Cyrus's tomb but the old shah had it dismantled which didn't endear himself to the locals and they remain in heaps by the ruins awaiting renovation.
now we were driving through desert towards Esfahan and as darkness fell we were treated to a wonderful desert sunset. at our last comfort break where we bought coffee,ice cream etc the stalls were selling the local tobacco folded into little parcels and charcoal for water pipes. an unusual sight in this day and age.