Saadi and Ferdowsi
From Shiraz to Tus
From the wisdom of speech to the grandeur of epic
The desert road to Khorasan: north-east out of Shiraz to Ferdowsi's tomb at Tus, beside present-day Mashhad.
- Countries
- 1
- Stops
- 6
- Events
- 1
- Distance
- 1083 km
The story of the route
This route runs between two different pieces of work done on the Persian language. Saadi made prose and the ghazal so plain that they are still read seven hundred years later; Ferdowsi gave thirty years of his life to hold, in sixty thousand lines, a language that was slipping away.
One travelled the world, came back, and settled in his own city; the other never left Tus and built the world out of myth. Again, two relationships with travel — and that is where this road mirrors the Konya road.
The road runs along the desert edge: Yazd, Tabas, Sabzevar, Neyshabur. Each is an oasis, and without them the route would not exist at all. Here geography decides; it does not decorate.
- Shiraz
- Saadi
- speech
- desert
- Neyshabur
- Tus
- Ferdowsi
- epic
The route map
Full map- Cultural places 5
- Events 1
- Experiences 3
Stations
Each station is a city with something to see; the distances are computed from real coordinates.
- 1
Shiraz
IranThe start. The Saadieh is in the east of the city, beside a qanat that has held water since Saadi's own day.
Saadi's room - 2
Yazd
Iran307 kmThe adobe city, its windcatchers and qanats. The first big stop on the desert edge.
- 3
Tabas
Iran305 kmAn oasis between two deserts. Without its palm grove the caravans would not have come this way.
- 4
Sabzevar
Iran299 kmAncient Bayhaq. From here the road joins the great Khorasan highway.
- 5
Neyshabur
Iran100 kmTurquoise, and the tombs of Khayyam and Attar. For a long stretch it was the capital of Khorasan.
- 6
Events on this route
EventsExperiences along this route
Experiences- Stay
A stay in an adobe house in Yazd
A house with a windcatcher and a central courtyard, walking distance from the Friday Mosque.
Yazd
- Tour
Five days, Shiraz to Tus
The whole Khorasan road with stops at Yazd, Tabas and Neyshabur; the last day at Ferdowsi's tomb.
Shiraz
- Walk
A night walk at the Hafezieh
Ninety minutes after sunset, with ghazals read beside the tomb. No coach, no large group.
Shiraz