SHIRAZ, ESFAHAN AND ZAGROS MOUNTAINS

I visited Shiraz for one day and then the famous temple of Persepolis, which I both didn't find much interesting, but as it was on the way to Esfahan, I "had" to go there. More interesting for me were the iranian phenomenon of picnicing, the "national sport". The parks in the cities are full, at day and at night, they also bring their tents and barbacue. Many don't even try to find a calm place and sit down at the roadside. Usually they come with their family, not to meet other people.

Passing by some more beautiful picnic-spots at the waterfalls of "lost paradise" and Margoon, I came to Yasuj and finally to Esfahan.

In Esfahan I stayed for one week, there were too many things to do. First I met a Austro-Persian friend who brought me my trekking boots from Austria (so far I always walked with sandals). Then I searched for "santoor", a string instrument, and after I bought one, I looked for a save transport for it. My oud got damaged , when I sent it home by post from Sanaa and my viennese friend was "full". Somehow I got to know somebody who will take it to Kiew in September, so I might make a small detour when I return home from Turkey. Next I had to extend my visa,which also lasted more than one day. And of course I "had" to see the amazing mosques, maybe the most beautiful ones in the world. Also the armenian churches are very interesting, they perfectly unite armenian and persian architecture.

There are a lot of parks, very large ones, and their total absence in the countries which I visited before, made them seem much more beautiful. There's also no risk to step into a dog's excrements, like in Vienna.

Then it was time to explore the Zagros mountain range. It's the homeland of the Bakhtiari nomads. They stay here in the summer, then, to escape the snow, they make a 10 - 15 day's trek to Khuzestan, where it's too hot now. They were very friendly and not suspicious at all, when I met them on my way, though most of them have never seen a foreigner before. It's very hard to pass by their black tents made of the wool of their own goats, and to decline their order to enter. There are many cold rivers, but much more refreshing during a hard walk on the slippery paths is their home-made "dour", the iranian energy drink made of yoghurt. They also offered me to smoke opium many times, but I declined, as it hardly would contribute to my energy. In Iran it's very common to smoke it in front of his wife and children or guests like me.

Communication was a bit hard. Within 8 days I met one arabic speaker and no english speaker, so there was no other option than to improve my farsi. The Bakhtiari themselves speak pashto, which I wasn't able to distinguish from farsi.

Villages and roads are very rare in the mountains. The houses are made of stones and a wooden roof covered with mud or leaves. They are built very close to each other and the slopes are very steep, so the roofs of one row of houses are at the same time the way of the row above.

The Bakhtiaris never either asked me for money nor did their children throw stones on me (happened sometimes in Yemen and Ethiopia), but unfortunetly there are many thieves among them. In two attemps I could hinder them from taking my GPS and mobile phone, but in the third attemp, when I was asleep in the aftermath of a wedding (the third day) they were successfull: For the third time within 17 months my camera was stolen, including 2 credit cards. So I think there'll be no more pictures to see untill i come home.