Flight from Shiraz to Tabriz

We spent a leisurely afternoon in Shiraz, drinking coffee in the square opposite the main mosque and bazar. After saying farewell to our travel companions we made our way to the airport.

We took the metro to the airport, confident that the airport is at the final stop of the main line going through town. However, somehow the metro planners thought it would be ok for the airport stop to be about 800 metres away from the airport terminal building. So we walked the last distance for about 10 minutes.

(Fun) fact about the airplane seating plan: to avoid unmarried men and women from sitting next to each other, the rows on one side of the aisle alternate with all male/all female rows after one another. Alternatively, couples can sit on the other side of the aisle where there are only two seats...

Not so fun fact: after the flight I read on Wikipedia that our airline (Iran Aseman) had a fatal accident only 2 months ago. Most of the Iranian airlines are not licensed to fly to Europe due to their poor safety records. Sanctions on Iran often mean that spare parts cannot be obtained and force Iranian airlines to operate old airplanes, resulting in more frequent accidents. Ours was a Fokker 100, the last of which was built 1997 after which the company went bankrupt. At least the food was good! :-)Read more