The girls were sad that we had to leave so early, while they were still in school, but the way to Shiraz was long and we needed the time on the road. We did, however, jump in the car with all of them on Azemeh’s morning school run to say goodbye. Such smart girls, it was a pleasure to meet them.

Azemeh made a special vegetarian breakfast treat for Nina – a tomato and egg affair that tasted delicious. We took a round of goodbye photos and packed the bike. Then, it was time to leave for good. We are so glad to have had the chance to share a day in this family’s life and experience Persian hospitality first hand. It did not stop at their door, either. Azemeh insisted to guide us to the edge of town, where the road that we would need to take goes east. Thank you all!

We followed the road east across a vast plain until we hit the first of the mountain ranges between us and Shiraz. Instead of following the route suggested by our hosts, we decided on a little detour further south. The shorter route would have led us past Pasargadae and Persepolis. Both of them we wanted to do as a day trip from Shiraz, and we hate doubling up on routes. This way, we got the chance to see some more beautiful scenery and go past three almost dried up lakes.

We had a short rest at the first one, before re-fulling and pushing on. A few kilometers out of Shiraz, we passed the last lake – this one is a salt lake. There was a sort of jetty going down and we had a bit of fun playing around with the salt on the shore.

Once we were in Shiraz, we gave Hamid (our contact from Dubai) a call. Instead of him, his wife answered the phone and informed us that Hamid was currently in the operation room for surgery on his hands. Two days after we had left, Hamid had broken both his hands in a motorcycle accident. But this is Persia, after all. In no time, we were offered help and two blokes dropped us off at the hotel we had quickly looked up in the Lonely Planet.

Pretty knackered after a long day of riding, we only went out one more time in search for dinner and some light sightseeing. Dinner proved to be hard once again, with all the recommendations failing to offer any vegetarian dish for Nina. This is kebab land.

For now, we resorted to some people-watching across from the old palace, with a cup of tea from a street vendor. It turned out to be mostly people watching us, though, and we continued to one of the three bazars. We saw Persian carpets, spices and all manner of more or less useful wares, but still no food.

As we came out of the bazar, we decided to go for the safe route of bread and cheese instead and started to ask around. Turned out we walked just right past the bakery, obscured by a crowd of shoppers. We got a nice bread straight out of the oven and some veg and cheese and headed back to the hotel. On our way back, it actually started raining – the second time in two days for us in Iran.

Back in the hotel, during dinner, Hamid got in touch with us (bless him) fresh out of surgery. He got us in contact with his sister who lives in Shiraz and soon we got the offer of a guide for sightseeing for tomorrow morning. Pick up 9.30 am. All was well – we love Iranian hospitality.

P.S.: Get well soon, Hamid!