Original subtitles

I can't tell you how exciting it is to be here.

I'm in Tehran - the capital of Iran!

Do you know, up to 10 days ago

we didn't know whether we were ever going to be able to come

to this fabulous country

and then, suddenly, our visas came through

and I'm here now,

and so are you.

Iran is pivotal to the Silk Road and our great journey.

All the ideas, all the cultural exchanges,

all the philosophy, all the poetry

came from this country when it was Persia.

So far in my travels along this ancient trade route,

we've seen the glamorous silk

that made Venice the richest city in Europe.

Gee-whiz, respect.

We've trekked through Georgia's breathtaking Caucasus Mountains.

Wow!

And wondered at the glittering towers of modern Azerbaijan.

It's magic.

Now, at last, in incredible Iran,

we'll be exploring the ancient wonders of Persepolis.

I mean, the scale of it, it's amazing.

I'll find a surprisingly familiar twist to the silk trade.

Christian Lacroix.

Lacroix sweetie, Lacroix.

And in an enchanting city there are night-time celebrations.

A really special occasion, I've gate-crashed it.

Thank goodness I dressed up.

Join me on my Silk Road adventure!

Persia, as Iran used to be called,

was famed for its wealth and sophistication

and was the beating heart of the Silk Road.

Starting from its capital, Tehran,

we'll cross deserts and visit oases

to the ancient glorious city of Persepolis.

Iran is very much off the typical tourist trail.

This once centre of the known world feels almost like a hidden state.

When I was growing up,

Iran was epitomised by the Shah and his immense wealth,

built largely from the Iranian oil reserves.

In 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini and the Islamic revolution

swept into power.

Iran increasingly became isolated from the West

and was later branded by George Bush as part of the axis of evil,

and continues to be viewed by some in the West

as a pariah state with nuclear ambitions.

I've always wanted to visit Iran

and go behind the politics

and see the country and the people who live there.

If you come here, though, you have to conform.

Modest dress and head scarves have enforced by law in Iran,

and visiting foreigners are no exception.

Staying both stylish and within the law is no mean feat,

so I've asked Reihane Taravati to help me out with a spot of shopping.

Where are we going now?

We're going to a Milan Mall, a very new shopping centre,

which is very much trendy.

This is so far from the Tehran I had imagined.

This is fantastic!

Facebook and Twitter are banned in Iran but Instagram is not.

Last year alone, 23 million Iranians opened a social media account

for the first time,

and Reihane is one of the country's top social media influencers.

So what social media has done is linked Iran,

and the young people of Iran with the world?

I follow Vogue,

I follow Time magazine, is my favourite.

Do you? Yeah.

I read Elle, Marie Claire.

Wow. Yeah, no.

We never think... (GASPS) Look, scarves!

This is what I'm looking for.

Reihane and I were just getting to some important issues

but I've been distracted by some shiny silky things.

(SPEAKS FARSI)

So I would like to get something that maybe I could wear with this.

I love good colours. I mean, look at this colour.

Something smaller like yours which I could just twist around my head.

That would go with anything, wouldn't it?

Would that look good with this? Will you help me?

Oh, darling, you're just the person I want.

Do you like the fabric? I think it's lovely.

It's lovely and light.

I'm pretty much adoring that.

I'd like to get the viewers' votes at home on this.

If I was on Instagram,

people would tell me at once, wouldn't they?

(LAUGHS)

So, now, let's have a look at it.

Christian Lacroix.

Lacroix, sweetie, Lacroix.

So there we are.

I have a feeling it's a king's ransom.

Do I care? Not a jot.

This is gorgeous, isn't it?

Where shall we go now?

This shopping trip is changing all my preconceptions.

You see, the thing is, Reihane, we in the West,

most of the stuff we hear from the Middle East and Central Asia

are war stories and horrible stories...

I know. ..and we never see the beauty.

That's why I actually like the social media a lot

'cause, you know, you can see the real people of Iran,

their homes, their stories,

and it's kind of more true.

Yes, it is. I get that feeling.

And you get the absolute feeling that you are looking out to the world

and the world can look back into you?

Yes.

Tehran is also famous for having some of the worst traffic jams

in the world.

Which doesn't help when you have to cross town

to meet one of the country's biggest movie stars,

Bahram Radan

He's known as Iran's Brad Pitt

and he's currently filming a taekwondo action movie.

Hi. How good to meet you.

How lovely to meet you. Welcome to Iran.

Well, thank you for letting us to come to watch this.

This is rehearsal?

Yes, this is a rehearsal day.

Bahram, is cinema very popular here in Iran?

Yeah, it is, it is.

And you make how many films a year?

More than 150, I guess.

It's huge. Yeah, it's huge.

It's a huge industry, actually. Yes.

That's far more than we make in Britain.

And what are the chances of me coming to work in Iran

in the film industry?

You want to learn Farsi? Yeah.

Definitely. Let's do that.

Or maybe I can play a foreigner.

Oh, yeah. A hated...a hated foreigner.

I would be a beastly woman from overseas

who couldn't speak Farsi.

Yeah, we should give it a try.

Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful? Yeah, I think so.

But an added complication to acting in Iran that I hadn't considered

are the restrictions between sexes.

You know, we have so many boundaries,

we have so many limitations.

How...when I cannot touch any woman,

if I...if I want to hug my mother in the movie,

I can't.

You can't? I can't.

And so I have to...

Me and the director and all this stuff...

Work out a way.

..we have to work on how we can deliver our messages

with all those limitations, you know.

So that's a little bit hard.

But, at the same time,

I'm so happy that I'm living

in very, very talented group of people...

Yes.

..that can, with all these limitations,

they can do masterpieces.

Yes. I hope it'll change soon, for you.

(LAUGHS) I'm sure it will.

It's been a privilege, thank you, Bahram.

Thank you.

If I had a bit of paper, I'd ask for your autograph.

Oh! (LAUGHS)

I've sampled modern Tehran

but before I leave the capital,

I want to glimpse the splendour of its magnificent imperial past.

This is Golestan Palace,

the former home of the Shahs of Iran

and still an ornate reminder of the wealth and excesses

of the old monarchy.

It's like being in a jewel box.

And this is the huge yellow marble throne.

And these huge awnings would be rolled up

and then sitting here, the Shah would see all the people

who had come to have an audience.

It's sensational.

Oh!

Oh, look! Come, come. Come, come.

Paintings of the Shahs with their great jewelled crowns

and carrying weapons.

Shah Naser al-Din made the biggest changes to the palace

in the 19th century.

Known for his over-the-top lifestyle,

he was a fan of all things European

and took design inspiration from the Palace of Versailles.

Every part of every single surface decorated,

and when you look up there,

it's like looking at a heavenly piece of jewellery,

the fineness of the glasswork.

I'm so pleased I've seen this.

I wouldn't have believed it.

You can't get it from photographs.

The temperature is soaring,

but the Silk Road is beckoning me south

where it's in the 40s.

Most tourists overlook the small city of Kashan

but it's got several jewels

that I'm hoping are worth a long, thirsty drive.

With me is Mahnaz Mohammadi, a filmmaker from Tehran,

who is guiding me through this scorching arid landscape.

I'm looking on each side, it's so bleak.

We've got a few mountains, but it's...

A little bit of grass growing. Yeah.

But we've seen some deserts, haven't we?

Yeah. Deserts everywhere.

To survive the desert

and take their silks and carpets out beyond Persia,

traders followed ancient camel routes from watering hole to watering hole.

Do you want some of your lovely aloe vera?

Yeah. Please. Thank you so much.

What have I got, Mogu Mogu pink guava-flavoured drink.

(GASPS) Gotta chew, it says, gotta chew.

What does that mean?

This, incidentally, "Gotta chew",

means it's got lumps of stuff in it.

Might be guava, it might not be.

It says with coconut in it.

So we've got little blobs of coconut. Very nice.

Over time, these little oases grew into major trading posts.

One of the most important was here in Kashan.

Today, it's a small city of 300,000,

and only gets a handful of foreign visitors a year.

Yet, prized Persian carpets are still handmade here,

but you do need to know where to look for them.

Salaam. Salaam.

Maryam Kavaki comes from a long line of Kashan carpet weavers.

Look at this work.

This seems like alchemy to me,

to see what seem to be completely random threads.

Maryam, how old were you

when you started to learn how to weave carpets.

And so, generation after generation,

great-grandmothers teaching their daughters, down, down, down.

Now we get Maryam.

And so her hands, these little hands, are very skilled.

With the swiftness, I couldn't see,

but now it comes round one, round the other,

back there, pull down, cut.

But then all the time following this pattern.

It's quite phenomenal and it's growing in front of our eyes.

How long has it taken you, Maryam, to make this much carpet here?

Er, 20 days. 20 days?

Long day, long day.

And what about the birds? Do they keep your company?

When we go to a shop and buy a Persian carpet,

no idea that somebody like Maryam has sat here and made it

day after day,

and you go, "Mmm, I love that one",

and all these hours of toil.

Women around the world making things of such beauty.

Look at that.

I wish this carpet were finished now and I would buy it from you.

You are wonderful. You are wonderful.

You're brilliant.

When Marco Polo visited here 800 years ago,

he was told that the three wise men who followed the star

came from Kashan,

and it's a story that's still around today.

On the outskirts of Kashan

lies one of Iran's oldest and greatest treasures.

This is the Fin Garden.

It's called chahar bagh because it's laid out in the traditional style

of four gardens, divided by running waterways,

shaded by tall, cool trees like this.

Absolutely peaceful.

It's the oldest Persian garden still in existence,

built in 1590 and following the tradition of the paradise garden.

At the very heart is a spring that rises up in the central pool

before cascading out into all four corners.

Paradise sort of means the walled garden,

and here we're looking at hedges and trees

which are quite normal for us in the UK.

But just beyond there it's a raging desert.

It's flat. It's baking hot.

Can you imagine in the old days to come inside

and to hear running water, and to have shadow and shade,

and order laid out in front of you.

In a suitably cool corner of the garden,

I meet Mr Aminyan,

who has spent his career protecting this jewel of Kashan.

Mr Aminyan, this looks so inviting.

Can we take our shoes and socks off and put our feet in the water?

I'm going to get some miraculous water on my feet.

Mr Aminyan, do you have a garden of your own?

Who was it who thought of this idea?

Thank you. Merci. Thank you so much.

This idea was revolutionary.

It actually hadn't happened anywhere in the world.

And this idea went across to China for irrigation,

for watering plants and things.

But once this idea caught fire and the world had seen it,

like with so many other things, Persians leading the way.

Dragging myself away from the peace and tranquillity

of the paradise garden...

..next is the former dazzling capital of ancient Persia,

Isfahan.

It's where the old trade route from north to south

joins the one from east to west.

And the jewel in the crown of Isfahan is Naqsh-e Jahan Square.

Oh, well!

It's colossal.

Three times the size of St Mark's in Venice,

it's the largest enclosed square in the world.

It was built by Shah Abbas I in the 16th century,

who was said to be as cruel as Ivan the Terrible

and as canny as Elizabeth I.

Look at this, on this great, great terrace,

the king's palace, Ali Qapu, looking over this phenomenal square.

What is this vast space?

Is it just a garden, a park? Well, it is now.

But in the old days it was a polo ground

and the King would come out here

and watch his favourite polo players and his favourite horses, perhaps.

And, of course, he was in an ideal position.

There's about 3km of shopping wrapped all around here,

and he's a personal little mosque over there.

Absolutely sumptuous.

I think some of you are a little bit anxious

about what I'm wearing on my head.

Now, look, this is the problem.

One of the crew has said that I reminded him of Hilda Ogden.

So today I'm rocking the Florida golf widow look.

I hope you like it.

It may change again.

This, I feel, is the nearest I've got

to what the Silk Road would have been like 400 or 500 years ago.

You would have seen silk merchants from China,

spice traders from India,

Persian carpets and silver jewellery.

MAN: Come, be drinking tea in our carpet shop.

English people like tea very much.

We like tea and we like carpets. We like tea and carpets.

And this looks like silk. Is this silk?

Yeah, this one is 100% silk. It is a hunting design.

It is one of the oldest patterns.

Isn't that gorgeous.

This also is where to park your bike. I love it.

Just leave it there so people can see it.

There'll be no stumbling on the bike.

Leave it there, middle of the road.

(PLAYS TRADITIONAL MUSIC)

400 years ago, Isfahan was one of the largest cities in the world,

bigger than London and more cosmopolitan than Paris.

There is good price.

May I see? Yes.

You can hear lovely little tapping sounds.

This is what I love, the sound of metal workers.

It always means there's artisans at work.

So when he's finished with his chisel,

when he's finished cutting it out,

this outside bit will lift off,

and set it against black velvet.

Look how fine it is.

This is a gorgeous picture of two, I think, mythical birds.

Seems to have a great Chinese influence

and I wonder if these ideas of art

were flowing to and from the Silk Road for centuries,

and somebody seeing it and going,

"Mmm, pretty much like that. "I could do that in my own workshop."

and this is how ideas gradually work their way back.

The power hungry Shah Abbas

had a cunning reason for building the market

right next to his palace.

It helped him to control trade.

And he didn't stop there.

Oh, look!

This is the great mosque at the end.

He also wanted to control the power of the clergy.

So at one end of his giant square, he built a huge public mosque

and called it The Royal Mosque.

Because it's being restored,

we've been asked not the take our shoes off.

Look at this!

Staggering great dome.

The magnificent 53-metre-high dome was cleverly designed

so that the voice of someone

speaking from directly beneath its centre is echoed

around the huge interior.

And here's the famous mark of the centre,

which means that it's right underneath the middle of the dome.

And I think that if I clapped here...

(CLAPS)

(CLAP ECHOES)

Can you hear that? (CLAPS)

(CLAP ECHOES)

That's what I call a ricochet.

(CLAP ECHOES)

Our visit to Iran coincided with the month of Ramadan,

when Muslims fast during daylight hours.

We were told that the Great Square would really come to life

in the evening.

And I just couldn't resist another visit to the Aladdin's Cave

that is the Great Bazaar.

Oh, look, look, look - how beautiful.

Look, it's full of carpets. This is divine.

Can we come in? Here you are. Welcome.

Thank you. Oh, how wonderful!

What a collection you have here.

We have around 2,700 years history for Persian carpet.

Wow. Yes.

And all have a meaning.

Ali has travelled extensively, spending time with nomads.

This carpet's from Balouch, another tribe of nomad,

south-east part of Iran.

He learnt that every carpet tells a different story.

This type of chicken,

this is the symbol of richness in Persian carpet.

Is it? Yes.

This is symbol of eyes that shows the nomad hospitality.

Oh, lovely. Thank you.

Each carpet, it turns out, is rich with the meaning

of the life of the person who made it.

This is the mother and son paisley.

It's a little one inside the bigger paisley.

Yes, same as if pregnant. And the life start.

I had no idea that there were so many different kinds of carpets.

Whenever you think of Persian carpet, I love a Persian carpet.

Now you see there is an absolute plethora of different ones -

nomadic ones, kilims, city carpets.

Beautiful. Thank you.

Thank you so much. You're welcome.

It's been such a revelation talking to you.

Our pleasure.

How lovely this looks in the evening. Look at this place!

During Ramadan, called 'Ramazan' here,

the sound of evening prayers signals the end of fast for the day.

And this prayer...

Azan. Azan.

After that, they will stop the praying...

And break the fast. Yes.

Yes, look - here are people here sitting down,

breaking up, eating something.

Look at that little gang of chattering, chattering children.

I think they're asking us to join them.

Salom, hello!

And it would be rude not to.

They've all got a little small dish of food...

They haven't started yet.

..in front of them.

And they'll be given a sign, a sign, I think, that they can start eating.

(CHILDREN CLAP AND SING)

My name is Joanna. Joanna, yes, yes.

It's rice, and sort of saffron rice, pickled cabbage, some oniony bits.

It turned out that this was a special evening

for these young lads.

They were leaving their local primary school.

Isn't that lovely? So this is graduation.

So it is special - it is not just an everyday occurrence,

Iftar in the evening, of Ramazan.

It's a really special occasion. I've gate-crashed it.

Thank goodness I dressed up.

Reza, one of the teachers from the elementary school,

has helped to organise the picnic.

Is tonight a big celebration?

The palatial buildings and gigantic square here were so impressive

that residents boasted that Isfahan is half the world.

But it's time to leave and follow in Marco Polo's footsteps

even deeper into the desert,

to an ancient place where a sacred fire thousands of years old

is still alight.

When the great explorer Marco Polo travelled through Persia in 1292,

he wrote of a remote good and noble city

where they made a much sought after type of silk known as Yazdi.

The city he was describing is Yazd.

Lying on the borders of Iran's two largest deserts,

it's one of the oldest cities on earth.

And its history helps explain how the Silk Road allowed merchants

to export not just valuable goods

but also precious ideas.

This is the old part of the city of Yazd,

which is bang in the middle of the desert.

It's the most remote city I think I've ever been to in my life.

Marco Polo came here about 800 years ago,

and he said if you rode in any direction for seven days,

you'd be lucky to get three little sips of water.

It's so remote.

The house builders in Yazd also invented a revolutionary technology.

An ingenious idea that was carried along the Silk Road

to countries right across the Middle East and North Africa -

the world's first air conditioning system.

And these fine, beautiful, strange, upright, box-looking things

are wind chimneys.

They draw the air in, even when it's 42 degrees outside,

which it has been today and is pretty much now,

and it's hot.

They cool the air as it comes down.

And so inside these little hot mud huts, it's much cooler.

Yazd is regarded as the most beautiful desert city in the world,

and despite its historic appearance, has a young beating heart.

This is what we know as charades,

and I think they call it 'pantomime' here.

Thank you. We love Iran. My friend...

Yes. University.

University? University of Yazd.

I wish I could join in. I kind of love this game.

(LAUGHS)

(ALL TALK AT ONCE)

(APPLAUSE)

I didn't know what the titles are that they're doing.

We've got a lovely girl going to do it now.

Oh, it looks hard. What's it going to be, baby?

(ALL TALK AT ONCE)

Walt Disney! Walt Disney!

(APPLAUSE)

Delve deeper into the old town of Yazd

and you'll find echoes of a time

when a man couldn't even open the door to a woman.

Oh, look - I've heard of these door knockers. Look.

This is the man's door knocker, straight like that.

Well, rather sort of graphic, actually, like that.

This is the woman's door knocker. Look.

So that when you're listening...

(TAPPING)

..that's women.

So you know that's a woman outside - in this case, me.

And this is men...

(KNOCKING)

Isn't that clever?

Makes me think how slow we are at home

because we just go bing-bong and you've no idea.

It could be the Avon lady - I'm not advertising.

It could just be the milkman...

It turns out that Yazd has a surprising link

to a legendry British rock star.

Freddie Mercury was raised as a Zoroastrian,

a religion that originated in Persia 3,500 years ago.

In this rather unprepossessing street sits

one of the most important temples to Zoroastrianism,

one of the oldest religions in the world.

It spread from here with the Silk Road traders,

who moved gradually eastwards to Central Asia, China and India,

where Freddie's parents were born.

Fire is sacred to Zoroastrians, both as a means of purification

and a symbol of their Lord of Wisdom, Ahura Mazda.

This is the temple of fire in Yazd - so small, so elegant,

with the great symbol of Zoroastrianism up above the door.

Huge, spread wings.

An aged man with a great big beard holding one hand up,

a ring in the other.

Here is this gorgeous symbol telling me what it is.

That hand reaching upwards to God and this hand holding a ring,

symbolising that you must keep your promises.

And we have that today in our wedding rings.

We have that on our left finger.

This is the bit that I absolutely adore.

It says, "Respect your elders."

This is a special message for teenagers who are watching this.

"Look to middle-aged people or even old people

"or even quite wrinkly people because they know it all.

"They've done it all. They have experience."

I know all this because I obviously can read fluent.

I just sort of knew it.

I found I could just... almost like speaking in tongues.

Zoroastrians took refuge here in this desert city

after the Muslim conquest of Persia in the 7th century,

and brought with them their most treasured possession.

And so here it is, the sacred fire.

This particular piece of fire was taken from an original piece of fire

and this has been burning for 1,400 years.

It's absolutely extraordinary

to have come from the complexity of the great mosques

with all their splendour

to see this simple, bare little room.

Zoroaster, the great priest, whose name also is Zarathustra.

Also Sprach Zarathustra - you know that famous piece

which is played forever?

(HUMS ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA)

Richard Strauss. Play it. Now.

(ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA PLAYS) That's it.

That's Zarathustra.

(ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA CONTINUES)

Fire influenced every aspect of Zoroastrian life and death.

These are ancient hilltop burial grounds.

Known as the towers of silence,

they're an eerie tradition of Zoroastrianism -

the religion of Persia for a thousand years before Islam.

Because Zoroastrians believes that fire was sacred,

they wouldn't contaminate the fire with a dead body.

So they're laid to rest up here. Birds of the air come and eat them.

Sky burial, and eaten by the birds.

We're over halfway through our journey through Iran

and I can't tell you how pleased I am that I came here.

I have to say, I did have doubts about it.

The difficulty with filming and communicating with people,

and that perhaps we'd have been watched or judged

in everything we did.

I could not have been more wrong. It's been completely extraordinary.

Fantastically welcoming. So kind and so friendly.

It's just been a revelation.

And another revelation is the food.

I was anxious, gosh, will it all be kind of stewed goat?

And I'm a vegetarian.

Well, here, I've eaten the best vegetarian food in the world.

And tonight, this is actually vegan. Stewed vegetable.

Mmm, absolutely delicious.

We'll just have to take a little piece of bread as well.

I don't usually eat the bread - obviously you can tell that.

Slender. But now and then, irresistible.

We're on the last leg of the Silk Road in Iran

and it's taking us right down to the south-west of the country

to Shiraz.

So, Shiraz. Oh, dream, dream, dreaming of going to Shiraz!

Yeah.

Shiraz people? Are they?

Here they're relaxing,

further south, relaxing in the heat,

with the flowers, nightingales, glass of wine, poetry -

why would they work?

I quite understand. How lovely. Yeah.

This is the Qur'an Gate, the entrance to Shiraz.

The tradition is that when you're going on a journey,

somebody holds a copy of the holy book, the Koran, over your head.

You pass under it and that brings you safe blessings for your journey.

I haven't got a copy of the Koran with me

but I've got the sun above to give me blessings.

Shiraz was an important stop on the caravan routes

that ran down to the Persian Gulf.

It's the capital of Fars Province,

from where the official language of Iran, Farsi, takes its name.

And I've got a very personal reason for coming here.

I'm so thrilled to be in Shiraz

because my mother was nearly born here.

My grandfather was a young consul at the time

and one of his postings was here to Persia and he was down in Shiraz.

The dynasty he served under, the Qajar dynasty,

gave him the star of Persia.

You can see how beautiful it is.

That is the piece that would have been worn on a ribbon

around your neck.

And this would have been worn on your sash of office

going across your chest.

My grandmother, having left Persia, said

that of all the countries in the world she wished to return to

and would love to live in was Persia.

I can just picture a pretty nice day for my grandmother here.

Painting in the morning in that glorious garden

and then a spot of lunch.

I'm going to go to a gorgeous little restaurant,

Shirazi restaurant, perfect food.

I think that must be it.

It's got a beautiful knocker on the door.

Salom. Hello. Very welcome.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

Shiraz wine did originally come from Shiraz but alcohol was banned

after the 1979 revolution.

Today in Iran, you don't get a wine list.

You get a rosewater list.

We have three main rosewaters. Yes.

A rosewater with some herb seeds, lemon juice with rosewater.

And another rosewater that they don't know the name of flavour.

May I have the very first one, rosewater with some seeds in it?

I'd love that. OK. Yes, of course.

Five minutes. Thank you.

Well, how gorgeous is this? Beautiful little courtyard.

And they're keeping the watermelons in the water of the fountain.

Oh! There you are.

Oh, look! Rosewater with some seeds.

Our traditional dessert. I've got to try this first.

That is exquisite. Tastes of roses and syrup.

These wonderful seeds.

Because Iran is a dry country,

they take such a lot of care in preparing drinks that are delicious.

So you don't miss the great famous Shiraz wines of yesteryear.

And that, dear viewer, is one that, in my opinion,

you should definitely try at home.

Iranians adore poetry and often say that Farsi is its natural language.

In Shiraz, people flock to visit the tomb

of their country's most revered poet, Hafez.

Abbas? Hi.

Hi. I'm Joanna. Nice to meet you. Nice to see you.

This is good of you - thank you so much.

No problem.

University student Abbas is my new best friend.

Abbas, you sound as though you've studied in America.

Actually, I didn't. It's mostly movies.

You've done all this from here? Yes.

But you're very fluent. You sound like Woody Allen.

That's really kind of you.

He has a thick New York accent, which I don't have.

No, you don't have!

In a centuries-old tradition called fale Hafez,

people randomly open a page of the great man's book

and look for inspiration and personal guidance in that poem.

Look how beautiful that is. Yes.

Salom. Stay, stay, stay, stay, stay.

Is this the first time that you've been here to the tomb?

Did the poem that you found today resolve the problem you came with?

And what about you? Is it good news for you?

Well, it was our good fortune to meet you here.

Merci. Adieu.

Salom. Hello. I'm Joanna. Hello.

How nice to meet you.

Will you tell me what it is about Hafez, the poet,

that makes his work so enduring over the centuries?

How wonderful. Do you have a favourite one?

Bravo! Bravo!

Merci, merci. That was beautiful.

With the best memories. Yes, thank you.

How lovely.

So here's my lovely copy of Hafez.

How do I do the fale? How do I do it?

You just put your nails

and you randomly pick a page and you just open it.

There. Good job.

Oh, it's wonderful. He is such a wonderful poet, isn't he?

Can you read the Persian to me?

"Throw me into the ship of wine, o, wine bearer..."

(BOTH LAUGH)

I've gone straight for the alcoholic rendition!

"It is said help the poor

"and if, by any chance, you become poor, God will help you."

And it will come back, somebody will give it to you.

Yes, something will come back to you.

Oh, that's very good news. Yes, it is.

Tell me, how many films did you have to watch

to get this perfect English?

(LAUGHS) Go on, tell me.

It's been 12 years.

On average, every two days, one movie.

Every two days? Every two days, yep.

You've seen all American cinema, haven't you?

The most famous ones, I suppose.

You've been so kind, Abbas. Thank you very much indeed.

The privilege is all mine.

Our final stop in Iran lies just 60km from Shiraz.

These are the colossal walls of Persepolis -

one of the mighty cities,

the legendary cities of the ancient world.

I'm seeing it for the first time.

My heart is beating so hard.

So this is how they would have come up to this palace,

wondering what they were going to see.

I'm wondering what I'm going to see.

Oh! Look at this avenue!

Huge avenue coming across the plain.

And it would have led you right up, all the way up to...

(GASPS)

Oh, my gosh!

Persepolis was founded by Darius the Great

in 518 BC when Britons were still living in wooden hill forts.

It was designed only for pomp and pageantry

and became the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire -

a beacon of extravagance.

What it must have been like to come to see this palace.

I mean, the scale of it! It's...it's amazing.

Persepolis quite soon became the envied city in the entire world.

"Is it not passing brave to be a king

"and ride in triumph through Persepolis?"

Those lines were written by Christopher Marlowe

in the play Tamburlaine the Great.

And on stage in London, if you're in a classical play,

and you're dry - you forget your words -

you just say that and the audience will never know

that it's just been dropped in.

Gives you time to think of your next line.

"Is it not passing brave to be a king

"and ride in triumph through Persepolis?"

With the city in its prime,

the Persian Empire ruled over 44% of the world's population.

A greater percentage than any other empire in history.

So this is a depiction on the wall

of all the different parts of the empire,

of the Great Persian Empire,

bringing tribute to the king of the time.

So this would be a Mede with his round hat.

This would be a Persian with his tall hat, holding hands.

This group comes from India. You can see he's wearing a sari.

This lot come from Samarkand.

I'm going to Samarkand next -

another of the exotic and fabulous places in the world

which was on the Silk Road.

This is people coming from all over the place,

bringing trade and bringing it through Iran and through Persepolis.

These are Greeks and they've got honeycomb and folded cloth,

cups of some sweet nectar.

Possibly retsina.

And they're all going upstairs

and they're all bringing their gifts to the king of kings, the Shahanshah.

But sadly, all this celebration and pageantry was not to last.

Less than 200 years later,

Alexander the Great sacked and looted Persepolis.

It took 20,000 mules and 5,000 camels to take away all his spoils,

leaving it more or less in the state we see today.

Oh, gosh.

I wish I could see what it was like.

Well, I can.

Oh, my heavens.

Massive black pillars.

Great, beautiful battened ceiling with horses' heads up there.

Great, stark decorations but so effective.

Oh, and there's the gateway I walked through.

Oh, this is marvellous.

Oh, I could stand here all day in the midday sun.

Just staring at this glory.

The Iranian state has its problems

and it's not an obvious tourist destination for us in the West.

And yet, the ordinary and extraordinary people I've met

have been welcoming, warm and generous.

I met an Iranian man here, just today, with his family

and they said welcoming signs to me.

And he just said, "Governments!"

That's exactly what I feel.

And now, for lust of knowing what should not be known,

I take the golden road to Samarkand.

Captions by Red Bee Media

Copyright Australian Broadcasting Corporation