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We finally arrived into a cooler, less air polluted Shiraz at 10pm and drove straight to our hotel. Set in the Old City amongst a maze of alleyways was the Niayesh Boutique Hotel. The hotel is over 100 years old and it was originally built to hold the Literature Association of Shiraz before becoming a publishing house. It is one of the most beautiful hotels I've ever stayed in. All of the rooms surround an indoor courtyard with huge bed like sofas, tables and chairs where you can while away the hours with some traditional sweets and cakes, a cup of Chi and a good book.
The next day I was supposed to go on a walking tour of Shiraz followed by a trip to Persepolis. However, thanks to some dodgy catering by Caspian Air I had food poisoning and spent the day in my room feeling very sorry for myself! Luckily the following day we had a free morning so Mustaffa was able to arrange a car with a driver guide to take me to both Persepolis and Negropolis.
Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (550-330BC). Mostly in ruins it is still a really spectacular site with very impressive carvings depicting what life would have been like over 2,000 years ago. I won't bore you with the details but I've added some photos to my blog page so you can get the gist of what I'm talking about.
Negropolis is about 10km from Persopolis and it houses the four tombs of King Darius II, Artaxerxes I, Darius I and Xerxes I. Hewn into the cliff face, high above the ground the tombs are covered in beautiful carvings depicting scenes of imperial conquests and royal ceremonies. I was really lucky that when we arrived there we were the only people so I had the whole site to myself.
After the tour I returned to Shiraz and the rest of the group. We then went and had lunch at a fantastic restaurant complex. It has seven floors and each floor has a different themed restaurant. We stayed with the Iranian food and yet another kebab (I can't help it they are so delicious and much better than Troys!). I've put some photos of the restaurant on my web page - it was really lovely.
After lunch we left Shiraz and headed North to our Nomad Stay.
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