In every picture I ever saw of the Ayatollah, he was always wearing a frightful scowl, so it was really odd to see him smiling and waiving from atop this mosque -- Shiraz

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This was some sort of holy shrine on the streets of Shiraz with a water faucet. We never figured out the entire story, except that everyone who passed by seemed to have a drink from the same cup.

This is another type of Iranian bread, traditionally baked on hot pebbles, but commercially baked on a hot iron with a pebbly surface.

Michele bought a piece of the bread for about twenty cents. It was the size of a dinner table, so we halved it. Hot from the oven, it was scrumptious, and left no room for dinner.

Shiraz produces "sour lemon juice" sold by all the stores along this one street in bottles of all sizes. You can smell the lemon walking down the street.

Fig orchards from the highway

The dried figs were actually quite tasty, hard and crunchy on the outside, sweet and chewy on the inside -- though a bit "dusty."

Roadside vendor on the highway between Shiraz and Kerman offers almonds and figs for sale

Michele is pleased with her forty cent watermelon purchase. Turns out it has magical powers to attract men willing to carry it under their arm for long distances...

The colorful clock tower in the middle of the roundabout in the city of Rayan

Turns out Santa actually loves Muslim children too!

Following the demise of the city of Bam in the 2003 earthquake, Rayen has taken it's place as the mud brick / adobe tourist attraction.