The pavilion over the grave

A whole day to explore Shiraz lay in front of us, with local tour guides. Punctually at 9.30 am, Ali and Tannaz, Hamid’s nephew and niece, picked us up from the hotel. Since we didn’t have any plans, the tomb of Hafez, a famous poet, was our first stop.

We all hopped into their car and while we were still on the way, we were invited for lunch by Ali’s and Tannaz’ mother Mozhgan via phone call. Such a lovely invitation! Trying to avoid awkward situations later, I immediately asked if it’s something I can eat as a vegetarian. The promised Shirazi food would be rice with vegetables and an optional addition of meatballs which sounded perfect and delicious. 🙂

The tomb of Hafez is an alabaster tomb stone inscribed with one of his poems in a pagoda set in a beautiful garden. Since it is spring, every flower was in bloom which gave the whole thing a colourful touch. Everyone learned something about weird flower names: Snapdragon is called the Farsi equivalent of “monkey”, while in German it is “baby lion’s mouth”. Continue reading →