Takht e Soleiman

Today we made a side excursion to Takht e Soleiman (The throne of Solomon) as or guidebook said it was one of the best archaeological sites to visit in Western Iran. We had a look at the map and thought it would be a 1 /12 hour drive and guessed it wouldn’t be very touristy as it is way of the main road. The more reason for us to have a look as we had our own transport. After visiting the site we would make our way to Tehran.

When you get of the main road, roadsigns disappear and the few sign you will see are in Farsi. We kept driving and driving but after 2 hours still no sign of Takht e Soleiman. We decided asking around and everybody pointed in the way we were driving. So we continued our way. Finally after driving through an amazing landscape with mud brick villages and mining cooperation’s we arrived tired and all at the site. It had to be great. But with many archaeological sites, this was a disappointment. There was little left to feed the imagination and what was left was restored with nowadays bricks. We wondered around for an hour so and tried to soak up the ancient history of the site. But with no luck. The information center wasn’t good either with some faded pictures and all explanation in Farsi.

We decided to head back knowing we had to drive another four hours and that we wouldn’t make it to Tehran. Bad luck this time, it could have been great. Have a look on the photo page for some impressions we had along the way.

Elles about the dress code in Iran:

All in all it’s pretty ok. Although 80 percent of the women here dress in a black veil called hejab. I don’t have to wear it but have to attend certain rules.

My hair has to be covered for about 90 percent. So my headscarf is lifted a bit to the back.

Arms have to be covered completely at all times. So there is no way of rolling up those sleeves, even when its 40 degrees celcius. Legs have to be covered except for the feet and a wide blouse has to be worn not to reveal anything of the figure.

So we bought a wide and long blouse and long trousers are no problem to wear. The headscarf, I have to get used to as it falls of my head the whole time and besides that it is way to warm to wear anything on your head. But in comparison with many of the ladies here I should not complain as I can’t imagine wearing the black veil. This veil is worn over the head and covers most of the body and kept in place by, believe it or not, the teeth and both hands. This restricts the women quite a bit! Definitely not my cup of tea……