capítulo 4 - inglés

                     Deunpunto Alotro Diary 4








The trip to Yazd is done by day, for once. We make the most out of it and are fully enjoying the desertic landscape we are crossing as well as the sunset on the aride mountains surrounding the millenary city of Yazd. City that saw Marco Polo and the caravans of the silk road. The first images of the city are of a brick and adobe city with here and there mosques full of the typically finest blue mosaic.

Our host Balal, friend of a Spanish friend, Ricar, met in Bandar Abbas is welcoming us in his workplace, a hotel lost at the end of a small street, in the hert of the historical center. He has negociated for us a reasonnable price so we decide to stay there and end up alone in a dormitory for less than 5€ per day breakfast included!

As usual, the firsts days are dedicated to working and internet communications to built our project and keep contact with our team, family and friends. We are amazed by the breathtaking view from the rooftop restaurant of the hotel over the main mosque, the roofs of the surrounding houses and the desrtic horizon around.

The first visit of the city is done by night. We purposely get lost in the tiny streets of the old city directly coming from the set of a movie where the ruins of old building speak for themselves, telling us tales of caravanserails and travelers. The next day, we discover the crafts of Yazd, fine rich and enticing! The evenings are long and animated with our host and friend Balal, long time couchsurfer and used to welcome travellers.

We would like to spend one night in the middle of the desert, but the story of night dogs and visits made us change our mind. Instead we go to an important site of Zoroastrism, the oldest religion of Persia, where the tribes used to leave the corpse for the passage to the other world. We reach the towers of silence at closing time, perfect for the sunset over these anciant towers perched on their mountains. We are not autorised to go in, it is 5:01pm and it closes at 5pm! Well we go around the wall that separates us from the site and to our big surprise the wall finishes on... nothing! Or rather a space completely open and easy access. The perfect example of a useless wall! We then go towards old adobe constructions at the feet of the mountains. Old houses where the last Zoroastric tribe lived before the exansion of the city. First things first, eat then find a place to sleep and found wood for fire... difficult mission in a desert.

Therefore it is after about 40min and a few kilometers that Guiller comes back hands full of industrial wood, impossible to burn! We just managed to make a lot of smoke in the room where we were supposed to sleep. In search of a new place, we decide to climb on top and visit the towers by night under the moonlight. We feel lucky and we share stories and laughs before going in Morphee's arms. In the morning, we let the alarm ring and when we wake up we find the early tourists surprised to discover life inside the historical houses.

The next day, we go to Maybod, a few kilometers from Yazd. We are excepting a small village with traditional houses with old cooling chimney. It is in a city that we arrive and visit a millenary castle in its hights.

We leave in the evening to Bandar Abbas. Back in the heat of the sunny south and the happyness of putting the flipflops again!