(Daniel) We woke up this morning and headed to a hotel which had been recommended to us by the owners of the Silk Road, but on inspection the place was horrible.  Instead we decided to head out to the days activities and see what happened. First on the list was Persepolis, with a quick stop for breakfast at a fast food joint on the way out of town.

The road to Persopolis was a bit confusing, but eventually we found the avenue which was purpose built for the tourist season.  Although this place, or at least the name was familiar from history lessons, I didn’t really know what to expect, but as we drove up to the main car park, I could see that this is one attraction that draws a serious crowd in high season.  With a huge car park and visitor complex this must be one of Irans main international tourist spots.  There is even a campsite on the boulevard leading to the complex.

After buying parking and buying our tickets to enter the site, we walked up to the main steps, two grand stairways leading up to huge statues of horses that mark the entrance to Persopolis.  On the statues people have carved their names, not recently, but as far back as 1840, most of these names are of infantry and horse men from the British army, and I am sure that these ruins must have been an impressive sight during those times, especially when the car park and tourist complex wasn’t here!

After the horse statues the ruins are quite run down, but once you climb the hill to the temple which is built into the rockface you can get more of a feel for the size and grandeur of the place.  With rooms that contained hundreds of pillars, you can imagine shady deals and liaisons happening behind each stone archway, and how many historic decisions passed through these halls.  We walked around and took plenty of photos, the sun shining, as we have now reached the most southerly point to date. 

After having our fill of the ruins, we returned to the Wolf, and drove back to the tourist campsite.  Although the camping was closed we persuaded the manager to let us camp, and parked up in a secluded spot at the rear of the site.  However after about 15 minutes, the manager returned and explained that we were to camp in the carpark, I really wasn’t happy about this, but the others didn’t seem to mind, so we moved to the far less idyllic tarmac!  We then walked to a restaurant closeby and ate more kebabs (yes we are getting a it sick of kebabs now!) before heading back to the  campsite.

In the evening, we sat in the garden drinking tea and smoking a waterpipe, Rowan and Gabby taught me how to play Casino, and so for the record the score is currently Rowan 17, Gabby 11 and me 24! 

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