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00:09I can't tell you how exciting it is to be here.
00:11I'm in Tehran, the capital of Iran.
00:15Do you know, up to ten days ago,
00:17we didn't know whether we were ever going to be able to come to this fabulous country.
00:20And then suddenly, our visas came through,
00:22and I'm here now, and so are you.
00:26Iran is pivotal to the Silk Road and our great journey.
00:31All the ideas, all the cultural exchanges, all the philosophy, all the poetry,
00:35came from this country when it was Persia.
00:39So far are my travels along this ancient trade route.
00:43We've seen the glorious silk that made Venice the richest city in Europe.
00:47Gee whiz, respect!
00:50We've trekked through Georgia's breathtaking Caucasus mountains.
00:54Wow!
00:55And wandered at the glittering towers of modern Azerbaijan.
00:59It's magic!
01:01Now at last, in incredible Iran,
01:04we'll be exploring the ancient wonders of Persepolis.
01:07I mean, the scale of it!
01:10It's amazing!
01:12I'll find a surprisingly familiar twist of the silk trade.
01:15Christiane Lacroix.
01:17Lacroix, sweetie, Lacroix.
01:19And in an enchanting city, there are nighttime celebrations.
01:22A really special occasion.
01:24I've gatecrashed it.
01:25Thank goodness I dressed up.
01:27Join me on my Silk Road adventure.
01:38Persia, as Iran used to be called,
01:40was famed for its wealth and sophistication
01:42and was the beating heart of the Silk Road.
01:48Starting from its capital Tehran,
01:50we'll cross deserts and visit oases
01:53to the ancient glorious city of Persepolis.
01:58Iran is very much off the typical tourist trail.
02:01This once center of the known world
02:03feels almost like a hidden state.
02:06When I was growing up,
02:08Iran was epitomized by the Shah
02:09and his immense wealth,
02:12built largely from the Iranian oil reserves.
02:16In 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini
02:19and the Islamic Revolution swept into power.
02:23Iran increasingly became isolated from the West
02:25and was later branded by George Bush
02:28as part of the Axis of Evil
02:30and continues to be viewed by some in the West
02:33as a pariah state with nuclear ambitions.
02:37I've always wanted to visit Iran
02:39and go behind the politics
02:41and see the country and the people who live there.
02:44If you come here, though, you have to conform.
02:49Modest dress and headscarves are enforced by law in Iran
02:53and visiting foreigners are no exception.
02:56Staying both stylish and within the law is no mean feat,
02:59so I've asked Raihani Tavarati
03:02to help me out with a spot of shopping.
03:05Where are we going now?
03:07We're going to Melal Mall,
03:10a very new shopping center,
03:11which is very much trendy.
03:14This is so far from the Tehran I'd imagined.
03:20This is fantastic!
03:23Facebook and Twitter are banned in Iran,
03:26but Instagram is not.
03:28Last year alone, 23 million Iranians
03:31opened a social media account for the first time,
03:34and Raihani is one of the country's top social media influencers.
03:38So what social media has done
03:40has linked Iran and the young people of Iran with the world.
03:44I follow Vogue.
03:46I follow Time magazine as my favorite.
03:49Do you?
03:49Yeah, I read Elle, Marie-Claire.
03:53Wow.
03:54We never think...
03:55Oh, look, scarves.
03:57This is what I'm looking for.
03:59Raihani and I were just getting to some important issues,
04:01but I've been distracted by some shiny, silky things.
04:05Hello.
04:06Hello.
04:06So I'd like to get something that maybe I could wear with this.
04:10I love good colors.
04:11I mean, look at this color.
04:12Something smaller like yours,
04:13which I can just twist around my head.
04:14That will go with anything, wouldn't it?
04:16Would that look good with this?
04:17Will you help me?
04:18Oh, darling, you're just the person I want.
04:20Like the fabric?
04:21I think it's lovely.
04:22It's lovely and light.
04:23I'm pretty much adoring that.
04:25I'd like to get the viewers' votes at home on this.
04:26So if I was on Instagram,
04:29people would tell me at once, wouldn't they?
04:32So now let's have a look at it.
04:35Christian Lacroix.
04:36Lacroix, sweetie, Lacroix.
04:38So there we are.
04:39I have a feeling it's a king's ransom.
04:41Do I care?
04:42Not a jot.
04:44This is gorgeous, isn't it?
04:46Where should we go now?
04:47What do I do?
04:50This shopping trip is changing all my preconceptions.
04:56You see, the thing is, Rehane, we, in the West,
05:00most of the stuff we hear from the Middle East and Central Asia
05:03are war stories and horrible stories.
05:06And we never see the beauty.
05:08That's why I actually like the social media a lot.
05:11Because, you know, you can see the real people of Iran,
05:15their homes, their stories, and it's kind of more true.
05:19Yes, it is.
05:20I get that feeling.
05:21And you get the absolute feeling that you are looking out to the world
05:24and the world can look back into you.
05:26Yeah.
05:29Tehran is also famous for having some of the worst traffic jams
05:33in the world.
05:35Which doesn't help when you have to cross town
05:37to meet one of the country's biggest movie stars,
05:40Bahram Radhan.
05:42He's known as Iran's Brad Pitt,
05:44and he's currently filming a taekwondo action movie.
05:50Hi.
05:51How good to meet you.
05:53How lovely to meet you.
05:54Thank you so much.
05:55Welcome to Iran.
05:55Well, thank you for letting us come to watch this.
05:58This is rehearsal.
06:00Yes, this is a rehearsal day.
06:05Bahram, is cinema very popular here in Iran?
06:07Yes.
06:07Yes, it is.
06:09And you make how many films a year?
06:10More than 150, I guess.
06:13It's huge.
06:14It's huge.
06:14It's a huge industry, actually.
06:16That's far more than we make in Britain.
06:18And what are the chances of me coming to work in Iran in the film industry?
06:22You want to learn Farsi?
06:23Yeah.
06:24Yeah.
06:24Definitely.
06:25Let's do that.
06:26Or maybe I can play a foreigner.
06:29Oh, yeah.
06:29A hated foreigner.
06:30I would be a beastly woman from overseas who couldn't speak Farsi.
06:34Oh, I'd love to work here.
06:36Yeah, we should give it a try.
06:36Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful?
06:37Yeah, I think so.
06:38But an added complication to acting in Iran, that I hadn't considered, are the restrictions
06:44between sexes.
06:45You know, we have so many boundaries.
06:48We have so many limitations.
06:50How, when I cannot touch any woman, if I want to hug my mother in the movie, I can't.
07:00You can't?
07:01I can't.
07:01And so I have to, me and the director and all this stuff, we have to work on how we
07:10can
07:10deliver our messages with all those limitations, you know?
07:15So that's a little bit hard, but at the same time, I'm so happy that I'm living in very, very
07:26talented group of people that can, with all these limitations, they can do masterpieces.
07:36Yes.
07:36I hope it'll change soon for you.
07:40I'm sure it will.
07:42It's been a privilege.
07:45If I had a bit of paper, I'd ask for your autograph.
07:54I've sampled modern Tehran, but before I leave the capital, I want to glimpse the splendor
07:59of its magnificent imperial past.
08:04This is Gholaston Palace, the former home of the shahs of Iran, and still an ornate reminder
08:10of the wealth and excesses of the old monarchy.
08:17It's like being in a jewel box.
08:21And this is the huge yellow marble throne.
08:27And these huge awnings would be rolled up, and then sitting here at the shah would see
08:33all the people who'd come to have an audience.
08:34It's sensational.
08:37Oh, look.
08:39Come, come, come, come.
08:41Paintings of the shahs with their great jeweled crowns and carrying weapons.
08:49Shah Nasser al-Din made the biggest changes to the palace in the 19th century.
08:54Known for his over-the-top lifestyle, he was a fan of all things European and took design
09:00inspiration from the palace of Versailles.
09:04Every part of every single surface decorated.
09:08And when you look up there, it's like looking at a heavenly piece of jewelry, the fineness
09:14of the glasswork.
09:15glasswork.
09:21I'm so pleased I've seen this.
09:24I wouldn't have believed it.
09:26You can't get it from photographs.
09:34The temperature is soaring, but the Silk Road is beckoning me south, where it's in the 40s.
09:41Most tourists overlook the small city of Kashan, but it's got several jewels that I'm hoping
09:47are worth a long, thirsty drive.
09:50With me is Manas Mohammadi, a filmmaker from Tehran, who's guiding me through this scorching,
09:56arid landscape.
09:57I'm looking on each side, it's so bleak.
10:00We've got a few mountains, but it's a little bit of grass growing.
10:04But we've seen some deserts, haven't we?
10:07Deserts everywhere.
10:10To survive the desert and take their silks and carpets out beyond Persia, traders followed
10:15ancient camel roots from watering hole to watering hole.
10:20Do you want some of your lovely aloe vera?
10:23Thank you so much.
10:25What have I got?
10:25Mogu Mogu.
10:27Pink guava flavoured drink.
10:30Got a chew, it says.
10:31Got a chew.
10:32What does that mean?
10:35This incidentally, got a chew, means it's got lumps of stuff in it.
10:39Might be guava, might not be.
10:41It says, with coconut in it, so it's got little blobs of coconut.
10:45Very nice.
10:48Over time, these little oases grew into major trading posts.
10:52One of the most important was here in Kashan.
10:58Today, it's a small city of 300,000, and only gets a handful of foreign visitors a year.
11:07Yet prized Persian carpets are still handmade here, but you do need to know where to look for them.
11:23Mariam Kavaki comes from a long line of Kashan carpet weavers.
11:27Look at this work.
11:29This seems like alchemy to me, to see what seem to be completely random threads.
11:35Mariam, how old were you when you started to learn how to weave carpets?
11:39I used to do this work.
11:43I used to do this work.
11:44I used to do this work.
11:45I used to do this work.
11:47I used to do this work.
11:47And so generation after generation.
11:49Great grandmothers teaching her daughters down, down, down.
11:53Now we get Marianne.
11:53And so her hands, these little hands, are very skilled.
11:58The swiftness I couldn't see, but now it comes round one, round the other, back there, pulled down, cut.
12:04But then all the time, following this pattern, it's quite phenomenal.
12:09And it's growing in front of our eyes.
12:12How long has it taken you, Marianne, to make this much carpet here?
12:17I've been doing 20 days.
12:2420 days.
12:2520 days.
12:2620 days.
12:2720 days.
12:2820 days.
12:2920 days.
12:29Long day, long day.
12:31And what about the birds?
12:33Do they keep you company?
12:34No, I don't want to do it.
12:36I don't want to do it.
12:37I don't want to do it.
12:39We go to a shop and buy a Persian carpet.
12:43No idea that somebody like Marianne has sat here and made it, day after day.
12:47And we go, hmm, I love that one.
12:49And all these hours of toil.
12:51Women around the world making things of such beauty.
12:57Look at that.
12:58I wish this carpet were finished now and I would buy it from you.
13:04You are wonderful.
13:05You are wonderful.
13:08You are brilliant.
13:11When Marco Polo visited here 800 years ago, he was told that the three wise men who followed the star
13:18came from Kashan.
13:20And it's a story that's still around today.
13:25On the outskirts of Kashan lies one of Iran's oldest and greatest treasures.
13:39This is a Finn garden.
13:42It's called Char Bagh because it's laid out in the traditional style of four gardens divided by running waterways.
13:49Shaded by tall, cool trees like this.
13:53Absolutely peaceful.
13:56It's the oldest Persian garden still in existence, built in 1590 and following the tradition of the paradise garden.
14:05At the very heart is a spring that rises up in the central pool before cascading out into all four
14:12corners.
14:13Paradise sort of means the walled garden.
14:16And here we're looking at hedges and trees, which are quite normal for us in the UK.
14:20But just beyond there, it's a raging desert.
14:24It's flat.
14:25It's baking hot.
14:28Can you imagine in the old days to come inside and to hear running water and to have shadow and
14:34shade and order laid out in front of you?
14:39In a suitably cool corner of the garden, I meet Mr. Arminian, who's spent his career protecting this jewel of
14:46Kashan.
14:47Mr. Arminian, this looks so inviting. Can we take our shoes and socks off and put our feet in the
14:52water?
14:54I'm going to get some miraculous water on my feet.
15:00Mr. Arminian, do you have a garden of your own?
15:02Mr. Arminian.
15:02Mr. Arminian.
15:03Mr. Arminian, you see the buildings that have soiled up inclassmen?
15:09Mr. Arminian.
15:09Mr. Arminian?
15:11Who was it?
15:12Who thought of this idea?
15:13Mr. Arminian they create this little glacier near the very least?
15:20Mr. Arminian.
15:22Mr. Arminian took to the desert until all the way through.
16:00Thank you, thank you.
16:01Thank you so much.
16:08This idea was revolutionary.
16:10It actually hadn't happened anywhere in the world.
16:11And this idea went across to China for irrigation, for watering plants and things.
16:16But once this idea caught fire and the world had seen it, like with so many other things, Persia was
16:21leading the way, dragging myself away from the peace and tranquility of the Paradise Garden.
16:29Next is the former dazzling capital of ancient Persia, Isfahan.
16:43Isfahan is the real crossroads of the Silk Road and was a pivotal point in the Persian Empire.
16:49It's where the old trade route from north to south joins the one from east to west.
16:56And the jewel in the crown of Isfahan is Nagshay-Jahan Square.
17:04Oh, well.
17:07It's colossal.
17:09Three times the size of St Mark's in Venice, it's the largest enclosed square in the world.
17:16It was built by Shah Abbas I in the 16th century, who was said to be as cruel as Ivan
17:22the Terrible and as canny as Elizabeth I.
17:26Look at this.
17:27I'm on this great, great terrace, the King's Palace, Ali Kapu, looking over this phenomenal square.
17:34What is this vast space?
17:35Is it just a gardener park?
17:37Well, it is now.
17:37But in the old days, it was a polo ground.
17:39And the King would come out here and watch his favourite polo planes, his favourite horses, perhaps.
17:44And, of course, he was in an ideal position.
17:45He's got about three kilometres of shopping wrapped all around here.
17:48And he's got a personal little mosque over there.
17:51Absolutely sumptuous.
17:54I think some of you are a little bit anxious about what I'm wearing on my head.
17:58Now, look, this is the problem.
18:00One of the crews said that I reminded him of Hilda Ogden.
18:04So today I'm rocking the Florida Gulf Widow look.
18:08I hope you like it.
18:09It may change again.
18:14This, I feel, is the nearest I've got to what the Silk Road would have been like four or five
18:19hundred years ago.
18:21You would have seen silk merchants from China, spiced traders from India, Persian carpets and silver jewellery.
18:31We can't come drinking tea in our carpets.
18:33Oh, English people like tea very much.
18:35We like tea and we like carpets.
18:36We like tea and carpets.
18:37And this looks like silk.
18:39Is this silky?
18:39This one is hundred percent silk.
18:40It's a hunting design.
18:42It's one of the oldest patterns.
18:44Isn't that gorgeous?
18:45This also is a way to park your bike.
18:47I love it.
18:48Just leave it there so people can see it.
18:49There'll be no stumbling on the bike.
18:51Just leave it there, middle of the road.
18:59Four hundred years ago, Isfahan was one of the largest cities in the world.
19:04Bigger than London and more cosmopolitan than Paris.
19:08This is good price.
19:09May I see?
19:10Yes.
19:14You can hear lovely little tapping sounds.
19:16This is what I love, the sound of metal workers.
19:18It always means there's an artisan at work.
19:21So when he's finished chipping with his sharpened chisel, when he's finished cutting it out,
19:26this outside bit will lift off and set it against black velvet.
19:29Look how fine it is.
19:31Look how fine it is.
19:32So this is a gorgeous picture of two, I think, mythical birds.
19:37It seems to have a great Chinese influence.
19:39And I wonder if these ideas of art were flowing to and from the silk road for centuries.
19:44And somebody's seeing it and going, hmm, pretty much like that.
19:46I could do that in my own workshop.
19:48And this is how ideas gradually work their way back.
19:52The power-hungry Shah Abbas had a cunning reason for building the market right next to his palace.
20:00It helped him to control trade.
20:02And he didn't stop there.
20:04Oh, look.
20:05This is the great mosque at the end.
20:10He also wanted to control the power of the clergy.
20:14So at one end of his giant square, he built a huge public mosque and called it the Royal Mosque.
20:24Because it's being restored, we've been asked not to take our shoes off.
20:31Look at this.
20:36Staggering great dome.
20:52The magnificent 53-metre-high dome was cleverly designed so that the voice of someone speaking from directly beneath its
21:00centre
21:00is echoed around the huge interior.
21:04And here's the famous mark of the centre, which means that it's right underneath the middle of the dome.
21:10And I think that if I clapped here...
21:17Can you hear that?
21:21That's what I call a ricochet.
21:34Our visit to Iran coincided with the month of Ramadan,
21:38when Muslims fast during daylight hours.
21:42We were told that the great square would really come to life in the evening.
21:47And I just couldn't resist another visit to the Aladdin's cave that is the great bazaar.
21:52Oh, look, look, look.
21:54How beautiful.
21:54Look, it's full of carpets.
21:56This is divine.
21:56Here you are.
21:57Can we come in?
21:59Oh, wonderful.
22:00What a connection you have here.
22:01We have around 2,700 years' history for Persian carpet.
22:06Wow.
22:07Yes.
22:08And all have a meaning.
22:10Ali Bordhbar has travelled extensively, spending time with nomads.
22:15This carpet from Baluch, another tribe of nomads, southeast part of Iran.
22:19He learned that every carpet tells a different story.
22:23This type of chicken, this is the symbol of richness in Persian carpet.
22:28Yes.
22:29This is symbol of ice that shows the nomad hospitality.
22:33Oh, lovely.
22:34Each carpet, it turns out, is rich with the meaning of the life of the person who made it.
22:39This is the mother and son paisley.
22:42It's a little one inside the bigger paisley.
22:44The same as the pregnant, and the life starts.
22:48I had no idea that there were so many different kinds of carpets.
22:52You think a Persian carpet.
22:53I'd love a Persian carpet.
22:55Now you see there's an absolute plethora of different ones.
22:58Nomadic ones, kilims, city carpets.
23:01Beautiful.
23:02Thank you so much.
23:04You're welcome, you're welcome.
23:04It's been such a revelation talking to you.
23:06Our pleasure.
23:13How lovely this looks in the evening.
23:16Look at this.
23:19During Ramadan, called Ramazan here, the sound of evening prayers signals the end of the fast for the day.
23:26And this prayer?
23:27Azan.
23:27Azan.
23:28After that, they will start to pray.
23:31And break the fast.
23:32You can see the, yeah.
23:33Yes, look, here are people here sitting down, breaking out, eating something.
23:40Oh, look at that little gang of chattering, chattering children.
23:45I think they're asking us to join them.
23:48Salam, hello.
23:50And it would be rude not to.
23:52They've all got a little small dish of food.
23:55They haven't started yet.
23:57In front of them.
23:58And they'll be given a sign, a sign, I think, that they can start eating.
24:10My name is Joanna.
24:12Joanna, yes.
24:15It's rice and sort of saffron rice, pickled cabbage, some oniony bits.
24:23It turned out that this was a special evening for these young lads.
24:27They were leaving their local primary school.
24:29Isn't that lovely?
24:30So this is graduation.
24:31It's special.
24:32It's not just an everyday occurrence, iftar and the evening of Ramazan.
24:36It's a really special occasion.
24:38I've gatecrashed it.
24:39Thank goodness I dressed up.
24:42Reza Ghassemi, one of the teachers from Nutegg Elementary School, has helped to organise the picnic.
24:48Is tonight a big celebration?
24:50We have a Christmas Eve in the name of Ramazan.
24:53It's because of the same thing, with the items, with the farmers.
24:58It's been told that in the Islam school, that we have to remember the young people of Ramazan.
25:08Then, from that side, the young people of Ramazan are going to the first class of the year, and then
25:13they are going to the same school.
25:14We have to remember, for example, a history that we have, for example, that these young people of Ramazan will
25:22be the same school, and they will be happy for them.
25:26The palatial buildings and gigantic square here were so impressive that residents boasted that Isfahan is half the world.
25:36But it's time to leave, and follow in Marco Polo's footsteps, even deeper into the desert, to an ancient place
25:44where a sacred fire thousands of years old is still alight.
25:57When the great explorer Marco Polo travelled through Persia in 1292, he wrote of a remote, good and noble city,
26:06where they made a much sought-after type of silk known as Yazdi.
26:10The city he was describing is Yazd, lying on the borders of Iran's two largest deserts.
26:16It's one of the oldest cities on earth.
26:20And its history helps explain how the Silk Road allowed merchants to export not just valuable goods, but also precious
26:28ideas.
26:29This is the old part of the city of Yazd, which is bang in the middle of the desert.
26:34It's the most remote city I think I've ever been to in my life.
26:38Marco Polo came here about 800 years ago, and he said if you rode in any direction for seven days,
26:44you'd be lucky to get three little sips of water.
26:47It's so remote.
26:51The housebuilders in Yazd also invented a revolutionary technology, an ingenious idea that was carried along the Silk Road to
26:59countries right across the Middle East and North Africa.
27:01The world's first air conditioning system, and these fine, beautiful, strange, upright, box-looking things are wind chimneys.
27:12They draw the air in, even when it's 42 degrees outside, which it has been today and is pretty much
27:18now, and it's hot.
27:19They cool the air as it comes down, and so inside these little hot mud huts, it's much cooler.
27:28Yazd is regarded as the most beautiful desert city in the world.
27:31And despite its historic appearance, has a young, beating heart.
27:40This is what we know as charades, and I think they call it pantomime here.
27:44Welcome to Iran.
27:46Thank you, we love Iran.
27:47My friend?
27:48Yes.
27:49University of Yazd.
27:50University?
27:51Yes.
27:52University of Yazd.
27:53I wish I could join in.
27:54I kind of love this game.
28:08I don't know what the titles are that they're doing.
28:11We've got a lovely girl going to do it now.
28:13Oh, that's hard.
28:13What is it going to be, baby?
28:14trabalh.
28:15What is it going to be?
28:18Oh, oh, oh!
28:22Oh, oh!
28:22Oh, oh!
28:24Oh, oh!
28:25Oh, oh!
28:37Oh, oh!
28:44Look, I've heard of these door knockers, look.
28:47This is the man's door knocker, straight like that.
28:50Well, rather sort of graphic, actually, like that.
28:52This is the woman's door knocker, look.
28:55So that when you're listening, that's women.
28:59So you know that's a woman outside, in this case me.
29:02And this is men.
29:05Isn't that clever?
29:06Makes me think how slow we are at home,
29:08cos we just go bing-bong and you've no idea.
29:11It could be the Avon lady, I'm not advertising.
29:13It could just be the milkman that couldn't rent her.
29:18It turns out that Yazd has a surprising link
29:21to a legendary British rock star.
29:24Freddie Mercury was raised as a Zoroastrian,
29:28a religion that originated in Persia 3,500 years ago.
29:34In this rather unprepossessing street
29:37sits one of the most important temples to Zoroastrianism,
29:41one of the oldest religions in the world.
29:44It spread from here with the Silk Road traders
29:46who moved gradually eastwards to Central Asia, China and India,
29:51where Freddie's parents were born.
29:53Fire is sacred to Zoroastrians,
29:56both as a means of purification
29:57and a symbol of their Lord of Wisdom, Ahura Mazda.
30:01This is the Temple of Fire in Yazd.
30:05So small, so elegant.
30:07The great symbol of Zoroastrianism above the door.
30:10Huge spread wings.
30:12An aged man with a great big beard
30:15holding one hand up,
30:16holding a ring in the other.
30:17Here's this gorgeous symbol telling me what it is.
30:20That hand reaching upwards to God
30:22and this hand holding a ring,
30:24symbolising that you must keep your promises.
30:26And we have that today in our wedding rings.
30:28We have that on our left finger.
30:30This is the bit that I absolutely adore.
30:32It says, respect your elders.
30:34This is a special message for teenagers who are watching this.
30:37Look to middle-aged people or even old people
30:40or even quite wrinkly people
30:41because they know it all.
30:43They've done it all.
30:44They have experience.
30:45I mean, I know all this
30:46because I obviously can read fluent.
30:47I just sort of knew it.
30:49I can kind of...
30:49I found I could just almost like speaking in tongues.
30:55Zoroastrians took refuge here in this desert city
30:58after the Muslim conquest of Persia in the 7th century
31:01and brought with them their most treasured possession.
31:05And so here it is, the sacred fire.
31:07This particular piece of fire was taken from an original piece of fire.
31:11This has been burning for 1,400 years.
31:15It's absolutely extraordinary to have come from
31:17the complexity of the great mosques with all their splendour.
31:21To see this simple, bare little room.
31:25Zoroaster, the great priest,
31:27whose name also is Zarathustra.
31:31Also sprach Zarathustra.
31:32You know that famous piece which is played for...
31:37Richard Strauss.
31:38Play it.
31:39Now.
31:39That's it.
31:42That's Zarathustra.
31:50Fire influenced every aspect of Zoroastrian life.
31:54And death.
31:59These are ancient hilltop burial grounds.
32:02Known as the Towers of Silence,
32:04they're an eerie tradition of Zoroastrianism,
32:07the religion of Persia for 1,000 years before Islam.
32:12Because Zoroastrians believed that fire was sacred,
32:15they wouldn't contaminate the fire with a dead body.
32:18So they're laid to rest up here.
32:19Birds of the air come and eat them.
32:21Sky burial being eaten by the birds.
32:31We're over halfway through our journey through Iran,
32:33and I can't tell you how pleased I am that I came here.
32:37I have to say, I did have doubts about it,
32:39the difficulty with filming and communicating with people,
32:42and that perhaps we'd have been being watched or judged
32:45and everything we did.
32:46I could not have been more wrong.
32:48It's been completely extraordinary,
32:51fantastically welcoming,
32:53so kind and so friendly.
32:55It's just been a revelation.
32:58And another revelation is the food.
33:00I was anxious.
33:01Gosh, will it all be kind of stewed goat?
33:03And I'm a vegetarian.
33:05Well, here I've eaten the best vegetarian food in the world,
33:08and tonight this is actually vegan.
33:10Stewed vegetables.
33:12Mmm, absolutely delicious.
33:14I would just have to take a little piece of bread as well.
33:16I don't usually eat the bread.
33:18Obviously, you can tell that.
33:19It's slent.
33:20But now and then, irresistible.
33:25The final leg of my journey
33:26is taking me somewhere I've always longed to visit.
33:29These are the colossal walls of Persepolis,
33:33one of the legendary cities of the ancient world.
33:45We're on the last leg of the Silk Road in Iran,
33:48and it's taking us right down to the southwest of the country,
33:51to Shiraz.
33:53So, Shiraz, oh, dream, dream, dreaming of going to Shiraz.
33:57Yeah.
33:58And you heard about the Shirazi people, they are lazy.
34:01Shiraz people, are they?
34:02Because, you know, the city of the poet and wine.
34:06Here they're relaxing further south,
34:09relaxing in the heat with the flowers, nightingales,
34:12glass of wine, poetry.
34:14Why would they work?
34:14I quite understand that.
34:17How lovely.
34:18Yeah.
34:28This is the Koran gate, the entrance to Shiraz.
34:31The tradition is, is that when you're going on a journey,
34:34somebody holds a copy of the holy book, the Koran, over your head.
34:37You pass under it, and that brings you safe blessings for your journey.
34:41I haven't got a copy of the Koran with me,
34:43but I've got the sun above to give me blessings.
34:51Shiraz was an important stop on the caravan routes
34:53that ran down to the Persian Gulf.
34:57It's the capital of Fars province,
35:00from where the official language of Iran, Farsi, takes its name.
35:04And I've got a very personal reason for coming here.
35:09I'm so thrilled to be in Shiraz because my mother was nearly born here.
35:14My grandfather was a young consul at the time,
35:17and one of his postings was here to Persia,
35:20and he was down in Shiraz.
35:22The dynasty he served under, the Kajar dynasty,
35:26gave him the star of Persia.
35:29You can see how beautiful it is.
35:30That is the piece that would have been worn on a ribbon around your neck,
35:34and this would have been worn on your sash of office going across your chest.
35:39My grandmother, having left Persia,
35:42said that of all the countries in the world she wished to return to
35:45and would love to live in was Persia.
35:50I can just picture a pretty nice day for my grandmother here,
35:54painting in the morning in that glorious garden,
35:56and then a spot of lunch.
35:59I'm going to go to a gorgeous little restaurant,
36:03a Shirazi restaurant, perfect food.
36:05I think that must be it.
36:06Parhamie.
36:07It's got a beautiful knocker on the door.
36:17Thank you so much.
36:22Shiraz wine did originally come from Shiraz,
36:25but alcohol was banned after the 1979 revolution.
36:30Today in Iran, you don't get a wine list,
36:33you get a rosewater list.
36:35We have three male rosewaters.
36:37Oh, yes.
36:38Rosewater with some herb seeds,
36:41lemon juice with rosewater,
36:43and another rosewater that they don't know the name of flower.
36:46May I have the very first one,
36:48rosewater with some seeds in it?
36:50I'd love that.
36:51Yes, of course.
36:51Five minutes.
36:53Well, how gorgeous is this?
36:55Beautiful little courtyard.
36:56And they're keeping the watermelons in the water of the fountain.
37:01There you are.
37:03Oh, look.
37:03Rosewater with some seeds.
37:05Our traditional dessert.
37:07I've got to try this first.
37:14That is exquisite.
37:16Tastes of roses and syrup.
37:19These wonderful seeds.
37:21Because Iran is a dry country,
37:23they take such a lot of care
37:26in preparing drinks that are delicious.
37:29so you don't miss the great famous Shiraz wines of yesteryear.
37:35And that, dear viewer,
37:37is one that, in my opinion,
37:38you should definitely try at home.
37:45Iranians adore poetry
37:47and often say that Farsi is its natural language.
37:50In Shiraz, people flock to visit the tomb of their country's most revered poet, Hafez.
37:57Abbas?
37:58Hi.
37:59Hi, I'm Joanna.
38:00How very nice to meet you.
38:01This is good of you.
38:02Thank you so much.
38:03No problem, no problem.
38:04University student Abbas is my new best friend.
38:08Abbas, you sound like you've studied in America.
38:11Actually, I didn't.
38:13It's mostly movies.
38:15You've done all this from here?
38:16Yes.
38:16But you're very fluent.
38:17You sound like Woody Allen.
38:19That's really kind of you.
38:20He has a thick New York accent, which I don't have.
38:23No, you don't have.
38:26In a centuries-old tradition called Foley Hafez,
38:29people randomly open a page of the great man's book
38:32and look for inspiration and personal guidance in that poem.
38:38Look how beautiful that is.
38:41Salam.
38:43Salam.
38:43Stay, stay, stay, stay, stay, stay.
38:44Please.
38:46Is this the first time that you've been here to the tomb?
38:49No.
38:49I'm here for a long time.
38:51Did the poem that you found today resolve the problem that you came with?
38:56Yes.
38:56Hafez always leaves.
38:58He says that everything is good.
38:59And everything is good.
39:01And what about you?
39:03Was it good news for you?
39:04Yes.
39:05Yes, exactly.
39:05Everything that I have in my heart, I got the answer.
39:09Well, it was our good fortune to meet you here.
39:12Yes.
39:15Adieu.
39:17Salam.
39:18Hello.
39:19I'm Joanna.
39:20How nice to meet you.
39:22Will you tell me what it is about Hafez the poet
39:25that makes his work so enduring over the centuries?
39:28Oh, my god.
39:49Yes.
39:58Bravo!
40:01Merci, merci.
40:02That was beautiful.
40:03With the best memories.
40:08How lovely.
40:10So here's my lovely copy of Hafez.
40:13How do I do the fall?
40:14How do I do it?
40:15You just put your nails and you randomly pick a page
40:18and just open it.
40:19There. Good job.
40:22It's wonderful. He's such a wonderful poet, isn't he?
40:25Can you read the Persian to me?
40:26Throw me into the ship
40:28of wine, oh wine bearer.
40:31That...
40:33I've gone straight for the
40:34alcoholic rendition. What's happening?
40:36It is said help the poor and if
40:38by any chance you become poor, God
40:40will help you. And it will come back? Somebody will get it to you?
40:42Yes, something will come back to you.
40:44Oh, that's very good news. Yes, it is.
40:47Tell me, how many films did you have to
40:48watch to get this perfect English?
40:51Go on, tell me.
40:52It's been 12 years on average.
40:54Every two days, one movie.
40:57Every two days?
40:58Every two days, yeah.
40:59You've seen all American cinema, haven't you?
41:02The most famous ones, I suppose.
41:05You've been so kind of us.
41:07Thank you very much indeed.
41:08The privilege is all mine.
41:11Our final stop in Iran lies just 60km from Shiraz.
41:18These are the colossal walls of Persepolis.
41:22One of the mighty cities, the legendary cities
41:26of the ancient world.
41:27I'm seeing it for the first time.
41:29My heart is beating so hard.
41:32So this is how they would have come up to this palace,
41:34wondering what they were going to see.
41:36I'm wondering what I'm going to see.
41:38Look at this avenue.
41:40Huge avenue coming across the plain.
41:42And it would have led you right up,
41:44all the way up to...
41:50Oh, my gosh!
41:55Persepolis was founded by Darius the Great
41:57in 518 BC,
42:00when Iron Age Britons were still living
42:02in wooden hill forts.
42:04It was designed only for pomp and pageantry
42:07and became the ceremonial capital
42:09of the Persian Empire,
42:10a beacon of extravagance.
42:14What it must have been like to come to see this palace.
42:17I mean, the scale of it!
42:20It's...
42:21It's amazing.
42:23Persepolis quite soon became
42:25the envied city in the entire world.
42:30Is it not passing brave to be a king
42:33and ride in triumph through Persepolis?
42:35Those lines were written by Christopher Marlowe
42:37in the play Tamberlin the Great.
42:39And on stage in London, if you're in a classical play
42:41and you dry, you forget your words.
42:43You just say that
42:44and the audience will never know
42:45that it's just been dropped in.
42:46It gives you time to think of your next line.
42:48Is it not passing brave to be a king
42:50and ride in triumph through Persepolis?
42:55With the city in its prime,
42:56the Persian Empire ruled over 44%
42:59of the world's population,
43:01a greater percentage than any other empire in history.
43:07So this is a depiction on the wall
43:09of all the different parts of the empire,
43:11of the great Persian Empire,
43:12bringing tribute to the king of the time.
43:15So this would be a mead with his round hat.
43:17This would be a Persian with his tall hat, holding hands.
43:21This group comes from India
43:22and you can see he's wearing a sari.
43:25This lot come from Samarkand.
43:27I'm going to Samarkand next.
43:29Another of the exotic and fabulous places in the world,
43:32which was on the Silk Road.
43:34This was people coming from all over the place,
43:36bringing trade and bringing it through Iran
43:38and through Persepolis.
43:39These are Greeks and they've got honeycomb,
43:42some folded cloth,
43:43cups of some sweet nectar,
43:45possibly Retzina.
43:47And they're all going upstairs
43:48and they're all bringing their gifts
43:50to the king of kings, the Shah and Shah.
43:55But sadly, all this celebration and pageantry was not to last.
44:00Less than 200 years later,
44:03Alexander the Great sacked and looted Persepolis.
44:06It took 20,000 mules and 5,000 camels
44:11to take away all his spoils,
44:13leaving it more or less in the state we see today.
44:17Oh, gosh.
44:19I wish I could see what it's like.
44:21Well, I can.
44:31Oh, my heavens.
44:35Massive black pillars.
44:38Great, beautiful patterned ceiling.
44:42With horses' heads up there.
44:45Great, stark decorations, but so effective.
44:51Oh, and there's the gateway I walked through.
44:54Oh, this is marvellous.
44:58Oh, I could stand here all day in the midday sun,
45:02just staring at this glory.
45:10The Iranian state has its problems,
45:12and it's not an obvious tourist destination for us in the West.
45:17And yet the ordinary and extraordinary people I've met
45:20have been welcoming, warm and generous.
45:23I met an Iranian man here just today with his family.
45:28And they said welcoming signs to me.
45:30And he just said, governments.
45:33That's exactly what I feel.
45:35And now, for lust of knowing what should not be known,
45:39I take the golden road to Samarkand.
45:46Next time in Uzbekistan.
45:49Look at this dress.
45:50Isn't it fabulous?
45:52I'm off to a wedding.
45:54Do you know, it doesn't matter what you put on,
45:56you look dowdy compared to everybody here.
45:59In Kyrgyzstan, I experience the modern with K-pop.
46:04And the ancient art of eagle hunting.
46:10Wow, what a view.
46:15Still to come with Amber Rudd, Rose McGowan and Alastair Campbell.
46:19We've Peston coming up after the news at 10.45.
46:23And tomorrow night, with hours of unseen footage,
46:26we've Manson, The Lost Tapes, at nine.