Shiraz, the city of poets, literature, wine and flowers

After the night in the desert we walked around Esfahan once more and left the city in the afternoon, heading to Shiraz by VIP bus. VIP bus had bigger chairs than regular bus and there was only 24 of them, we could almost lay down after unfolding them. The journey was quite pleasant, we got some water and food in funny bus-shaped boxes.

We arrived in Shiraz in the evening. It was getting dark but you could feel feast everywhere. It was the night Ramadan ended. Lots of people were walking around, having picnics everywhere they could find a patch of grass (even green zones between roads).

inside of citadel

Karim Khane Zand's citadel

We found our host and spent the rest of the evening in his flat. We learned to play Backgammon, a game very popular in the region (also called Nard or Tavla). And we got totally crazy about it.

We spent the next day walking around the city and realized that the most interesting monuments of ancient Persian culture were actually outside Shiraz. But we visited Karim Khane Zand's citadel and baths.

Citadel was beautiful from outside but once we stepped inside we were quite disappointed. Almost all paintings on the walls were destroyed during revolution. There was just a few things worth seeing.
That was valid for all parts of the city which we saw. But people were great as in any part of Iran with small exception of Sarche.

Our host was quite a rebellious man, he was partying, playing poker with his friends and drinking whiskey. In other words, doing things that are nothing special for us in Europe but can get you into real trouble in Iran.
Half of our group decided to go for the underground party and the others stayed at home to rest for next day.