The morning was spent visiting a beautiful mosque and the bazaar around the main square. Then it was off to Shiraz which is about 450 kms south of Esfahan. (Sorry if I've spelt this two ways. Officially in Iran it's Esfahan.) We are delighted to see our driver Mohammed again. He drove us from Tehran to Esfahan and now he's in charge till Shiraz. He tells us that it will take about 6 hours but that he doesn't want to arrive in rush hour which is between 7 and 8 pm. He suggests we stop for an hour or so at his sister-in-law's house in Shahresa, a small city on the way.

We leave Esfahan through busy streets but eventually find the dramatic desert landscape of flatlands and jagged distant mountains that tower above the land below. We reach Shahresa and pull up outside a large iron gate in a long wall and are admitted. There is a lovely rose garden with a pergola covered in a vine. Mohammed's sister-in-law greets Gill with genuine delight and kisses her warmly and embraces her. I shake hands with her husband who is in his seventies and obviously having difficulty walking.

Inside, their house is cool and spacious. Mohammed tells us that the size is typical of older houses but that new houses are much more cramped. Sofas line one wall and a glass enclosure shows us a beautiful indoor garden with painted tiles on the walls and open to the air above. Madam rushes into the kitchen and emerges with an ice cold pomegranate sherbert. This is followed by tea in glasses and a plate of small green bitter fruits that taste like unripe cooking qapples with a bit of vinegar in the mix. They laugh when Gill involuntarily winces at the taste. No worries... She has loaded our plates with tiny cucumbers so we eat them instead.

The bell rings and their 19 year old granddaughter,Eli, arrives. I'm not sure if it is coincidence or she was just visiting them anyway. I suspect they invited her as they knew she wanted to practise her English. She speaks excellent English and tells us she is a university student in Kashan. She is studying to be a teacher. She is intelligent and vivacious and tells us about her life as a student. She talks about her hopes and fears and she quizzes us about the countries we have visited. She has a thirst for experience and knowledge. We must have stayed an hour and a half, laughing and talking heart to heart with a young woman at the beginning of her life. We were touched by her account of what her life is like. We exchanged e mails and she sent Gill a 'hello' e mail after we left starting "Hello, lovely couple." They all stood at the gate as we drove away, waving at us. I know I shall remember them for a long time.

We drove on through the seemingly endless desert. On both sides huge walls of rock stood monumentally in the setting sun. The road was excellent. It a main artery for Iran carrying commercial traffic to the Gulf port of Bander Abbas. For all that Mohammed had wanted to avoid rush hour, the traffic is terrible when we arrive in Shiraz. We find the hotel and our comfortable room which, as it turns out, is a honeymoon suite. We are beginning to suspect that Mr Zandi is of a romantic disposition. When we went to the Abassi hotel he insisted on leaving us alone in the beautiful garden as he said he 'felt' we would like to be alone there. We are touched by his solicitude.

A plate of fruit and a plate of sweet biscuits is laid out should we be hungry. We decide to eat in the garden of the hotel. There is a Ramadan buffet and a group of four musicians playing Iranian music. We rather shame-facedly decline the buffet in favour of a burger and a pizza. I am still having trouble eating enough so the burger was a major step forward on the 'shovelling protein and carbs' programme. Little water fountains plashed as we ate and the strains of the music wafted out of the dining room into the garden.