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Ancient city There are many places worth a visit

From far away – that is from the clear blue sky – Kish Island appeared to be a tiny little spot in the Persian Gulf. But once we landed at the sleek, well spruced-up airport, it’s not just its expanse that stood out but also the fact that this island houses vast traces of the ancient city of Harireh.

After all, Harireh was one of those ancient cities which the Iranian poet Saadi has referred to in his masterpiece “The Rose Garden” and also stands out the fact that historical evidence suggests that this ancient city was a trade hub.

Experts of ICHO (Iranian Cultural Heritage Organisation) estimate a population of over ten thousand for the city 800 years ago.

Today strong traces and ruins of the ancient city of Harireh remain as reminders of the bygoneera. But as we went across this island there seemed so much from the past, pointing at the glorious heritage that Iran stands for.

One of the two important places in the list is Qanat. Qanat is a subterranean aqueduct, which includes a network of wells and underground tunnels to transfer water. It is said to be unique in the world with an antiquity of 2000 years.

The other one is Payab, which is the traditional water reservoir to obtain water. It was made by the local islanders. It has been restored recently and added to the tourist attraction list.

In fact, though many shopping centres and modern day restaurants, luxury hotels, cultural centres, parks, marine and water sports facilities have sprung up on this island but the fact remains that traditionholds ground. Even on the cuisine front.

In fact, the one day we spent on this island, lunch was served in a cave-structured restaurant, with the best of cuisine and service – little wonder as the service – crew of this restaurant was manned by a woman manager.

I must emphasise that contrary to the Western propaganda, Iranian women were seen controlling significant professional areas and women employees were seen at workplaces, in the different cities of Iran we’d visited. Anyway, moving back to this island, I must add that for dinner our hosts took us to a traditional Iranian eating joint and I can never forget the ambience and the relaxed setting.

It was an out-door eating joint set under trees with abundant sitting space, traditional music playing in the background, food being cooked out in the open (not far from where we sat) with the choicest of dishes – right from the Iranian kababs to chai to chicken.

Over food different aspects related to this island came up. The Kish Island is the first Free Trade Zone of Iran and it is located 18 kilometres off the Southern coast of the mainland Iran.

This island is 300 kilometres away from Bandar Abbas port city of Iran and 200 kilometres from Dubai.

And its international airport lays well connected, said to be drawing over a million tourists per year. Perhaps, this heavy flow of tourists explains the large number of hotels, motels and restaurants.

HUMRA QUREISHI

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