Mahon

That is where we are now..we went to a marvellous old fort ..citadel and the onto this place where we ate lunch...interesting local stew which was delicious. The on to a shrine where a Shaw who was a mystic and a poet (means King)was buried in great huge room the most important-part being the carpets on the floor and our guide  attracted an huge crowd because he spoke out loud a famous poem by a Iranian poet named  Suni

 Large crowd gather around us while he was  speaking this beautiful poem later translating Into. English when other people came and  made a video of him he has a carrying voice deep and strong and he obviously loves literatur. The courtyard was filled with huge cypress trees.  and I thought of the cedars of Lebanon which are famous.

We finished the day within a magnificent tour of a water garden..there were the crowds with babies and finally being New Years. Everyone was cheerful.  

I should say something about these rugs...two enormous ones were hand made...you count the fineness of rugs by their knots per centimetres these rugs also had suni poetry and quotes from the Koran woven into the sides.  There were others rugs also but loomed on a machine

The shrine has seven archways. (7) being one of those biblical numbers and is of course very beautiful, unlike cathedrals they are rarely dark and somber.  There were some chairs which were interesting.  A bit like the old fashioned school desk with a swing up table, well this swing up table is used by women who can no longer get down on their knees. So they put their head down on the desk to pray.

The water garden is a miracle inthis desert.  There is a central stream about ten feet wide which cascades down from about 100 feet about eight to ten feet at a time.  Along each side of the stream are wide walk ways flanked by trees and flowers and as the water falls from each ledge there is a fountain.  It is lovely and cool and has been there for eons.

Tomorrow day light savings starts and we leave here 0700 for Shiraz which is 500 kilometers away.  It will really be 0800 in DLS.  Friday  is the sabbath which starts with the morning prayers.  We understand that the mosques are empty. A bit like many of our churches.