Getting there
My entry into Shiraz was from Dubai (Terminal Two). The flight takes less than an hour, Shiraz airport is very small and the whole immigration process, luggage reclaim, etc. to the taxi takes about 30 minutes. It's very stress free. There are also flights to major Iranian cities.
Ziarat
Shiraz has a major ziarat, Shah Cheragh, which is covered in more detail here
Sightseeing
There are a number of sites within Shiraz itself and also a few fascinating day trips outside the city. Within the city you should visit the Zand castle, which is close to the city centre and there are a number of nice mosques in the city as well. Outside the city there are full day-trips to Persepolis (Takt-e-Jamshed), Bishapur and Shapur's cave.
Arg Karim Khan Zand
The plan was to take pictures in the early morning light. So I arrived at the Arg Karim Khan Zand at 7.40am the next day, only to be told that it opened at 8am. more
Masjid-i-Vakil
Outside the Arg I walked over to what Bradt refer to as the Bagh-I-Nazar. This is described as ‘a small octagonal reception Pavilion of Karim Khan Zand’. Now Bradt says that, it used to house a small local museum. However the only building that matched this description was a museum, looked quite nice as well – but it was closed. No one nearby seemed to be entirely sure whether this was the Bagh-I-Nazar and I decided to move on. more
Masjid-i-Nasir ul Molk
The people at the hotel reception had said that the next place on my itinerary, the Masjid – I – Nasr ul Molk could be accessed by going through the bazaar – Bradt seems agree. Helpfully she says this, ‘exiting the bazaar by the carpet quarter, turning right and right again’, only problem is you can’t tell where the carpet quarter is and while I could have a pretty good go at asking for a carpet in Farsi, how do you say ‘quarter’? The only solution seemed to be to ask for the mosque itself. more
Shiraz Diary
I took the Iran Aseman flight from Dubai to Shiraz paid at the airline’s office in the terminal (‘cos I missed my original flight with another carrier, but that’s another story).
It’s a fairly short flight, about an hour, but you do get nice kebabs for the meal. It is on one of those aging Tupolevs which have a tendency to crash, though.
Shiraz airport is small, sleepy, and a breeze to get through. Personally I am developing an affinity for small regional airports compared to massive international hubs. Chennai airport in south India is far more civilised than Delhi or Mumbai. more
Day trip to Persepolis
We left Shiraz at about 5.30am and arrived at about 7am. The person at the entrance said it was a bit early, but let me in anyway. The site dates from 515BCE and construction was started by Darius the Great. Demolition was in 330BCE by Alexander the Great who was taking revenge for the Achaemenid attack on Athens. more
Day trip to Bishapur
Bishapur is a palace town complex dating from 266CE. To be honest there is not a very great deal left, the French having taken away the most impressive stuff to the Louvre. As you stand looking at the site you don’t actually see a lot. It’s only by walking around and looking down that you actually see the stone remains of rooms (not even entire buildings). Some paths have also been excavated. Apparently the site is much larger than what has been excavated. more
THE PHOTOGRAPHS BELOW LINK TO BIGGER ALBUMS FOR EACH LOCATION
