Post #173 27 May 2018

Gentlefolk,

This post describes our visit to Kerman, Central Iran, 15 - 17 April 2018.

On the way from Yazd to Kerman we spent a night in the caravanserai at Zeinodin, and that stop-over is included at the beginning of this post.

Between Zeinodin and Kerman we stopped at the Maymand Stone Village.

On our first morning in Kerman we visited the Lut Desert; later back in Kerman we had lunch at the old market; in the afternoon we visited Rayen Citadel (about 100km south).

Enroute from Yazd to Zeinodin

On the road from Yazd to Kerman - we are still on a high plateau, about 1,500 m above sea level; semi-arid, very little vegetation, flat, but always high rocky mountains in the distance.

We stopped for lunch at a small hotel & restaurant in a village; here Zahra is chatting with the owner and his daughter, Fatima.

Chicken for lunch, done in a huge clay oven.  Delicious - one of the tastiest meals we had on the whole tour.

The group waiting patiently for lunch to be served.

After lunch the owner showed us a working qanat on the outskirts of the village.

There was a steady stream of local people who were getting water at the qanat. 

Zeinodin caravanserai

The caravanserai dates to the 16th century (but refurbished recently) and is situated on the ancient Silk Road. It is one of 999 such inns that were built around Iran during the reign of Shah Abbas I (1587 - 1629) and Shah Abbas 11 (1642 - 1666) to provide accommodation for merchants and travelers; they were about 30 kms apart, the distance a fully loaded camel could cover in one day. These caravanserai must have been a very welcome sight for tired, dirty and hungry traders. 

The caravanserai at Zeinodin.  It has circular towers on the corners which was unusual.  It can accommodate up to 80 guests; shared bathrooms (the Mens toilet featured urinals - a rare sight in Iran); and a communal eating area.  We met some German and Ukrainian guests also staying the night (hence the camper vans), and also a French tour group in a big bus like ours.

Vera at the main door of the caravanserai.

A sign advising that people who want to visit for a meal or to use the bathrooms must pay an entry charge equivalent to US$2.

The 16-sided inner courtyard.  The shared bathrooms faced the inner courtyard, which also provided access to the kitchen and dining room.  After dinner that night Patrick and Amelia split the group into 4 teams and organised a quiz - I was together with Frank, Rawee and Bethany and we won the contest! Good fun.

The interior of the caravanserai; each small room had two mattresses on the floor.

The view from the top of the caravanserai - surrounding area was dry and flat, with big rocky mountains in the distance.

Maymand Troglodyt (cave-dweller) Stone Village

Some archaeologists believe the first humans occupied caves here 12,000 years ago (Stone Age), others say 6,000 years; whatever, suffice it to say that this is a very, very old area.

This village was listed as a UNESCO Historical Site in 2015.

A stark, desolate landscape, very hot summers, very cold winters; the only green were some cultivated trees in the Village itself.

More than 300  hand-dug caves make up this village. 

A closer look at two of the cave entrances.

Another entrance to a 'residence'.  

Inside one of the homes with its smoke-blackened ceiling; hard to believe that people could survive in these conditions, and some still live like this today!

Kerman

From the Stone Village we drove to the city of Kerman. Checked into the hotel.  This evening we were invited to a private home; a family of five: father (Walid, a body-builder), mother, two teenage daughters (12 & 15) and a little 10-month old baby; we watched the father as he prepared dinner for us.

It was nice to see the inside of an Iranian home, and to have a home-cooked meal.

It started raining as we were walking back to the bus - just a 10 minute shower - amazingly (because it is normally so dry in Central Iran), we have had rain in every city we have visited so far!

The following morning we drove into the Lut Desert, reputed to have the hottest recorded temperature on earth (70.4C). We left the hotel in Kerman at 7am, and two hours later we were surrounded by sand, sand and more sand.  We were there for a couple of hours, having breakfast (provided by the hotel) and exploring the area. It was hot - probably close to 40C - a dry heat and quite bearable for a while.

After that we drove back to Kerman and visited the huge old market, where we had lunch.  Later we visited the ancient adobe Rayen Citadel.

An attentive audience watched Walid preparing the kebab (mince chicken and mince lamb) in his kitchen; he then used a charcoal barbeque in the back yard.  Vera is carrying the little baby.

Eating dinner in Walid's living room; as we were in a private home several of our women took off their hijabs.

Driving from Kerman to the Lut Desert.  Much of the drive was through high, rugged mountains.  Really, Iran is a geologist's dream - the mountains are everywhere and most impressive.

Some of the vegetation around Kerman.

Bushes created firmer ground, which then became mounds as the surrounding sand was blown away.  This strange landscape lasted for perhaps 20 km and then we entered the real desert.

The desolate landscape of the Lut Desert.  Barren, brown, yet oddly fascinating. 

Desert landscape.

Some amazing shapes in the desert.

Scenes of Kerman City

After the Lut Desert we drove back to Kerman and visited the market  - there seemed to be two parallel alleys, each about  500 or 600 meters in length, just seemed to go on and on; lots of people everywhere buying and selling, always interesting.

Market scene

A handicrafts store.

Market scene.

Patrick photographing a local.

Lots of vegetables on offer - and very inexpensive.

Ross and Vera bought dates at this stall, which they shared with the rest of the group - delicious.

A range of local cookies available at this stall.

Vendors laying out their wares.

A group of ladies checking out clothes for sale.

A box of live baby chicks, but multi-colored???

We came across a group of art students from the local university, sketching in the market.

There was a tea / coffee house in the center of the market - two musicians entertained - we had lunch in the adjacent restaurant.

We had lunch in the restaurant in the center of the market; great atmosphere.

Bethany and Vera enjoying lunch in the restaurant in the Kerman market.

Rayen Citadel

In the afternoon we drove 100 km south to visit Rayen Citadel / Castle.

A poster of Rayen Castle.  It is located on the foothills of the Haraz Mountains (highest peak 4,450 meters) - you could see the snow-capped mountains in the distance, very pretty.  

Rayen Castle is a large adobe (straw - mud - brick) structure; said to be possibly around 2,000 years old; renovations started 20 years ago and are on-going.  There was an even larger adobe castle at Bam, but it was destroyed by an earthquake in 2003.  The castle is square and covers an area of 20,000 sq meters; the outside walls are 10 meters high.  Zahra said that  Arab invaders back in the 7th Century had great difficulty taking this formidable fortress.

Inside Rayen Castle.

A renovated section of the roof of Rayen Castle.

Nice views of the Haraz Mountains from the top of Rayen Castle.

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And so ended a very long, but good, day in and around Kerman.

The following day we drove to Shiraz, our final destination in Iran, and the subject of my next post.

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Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Alex Olah & Vera Olah
Canberra, Australia
Sunday, 27 May 2018