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Day 84: The southern city of Shiraz was our jumping off point for the greatest of Persian archeological sites, Persepolis. We were also able to visit two magnificent mirrored tombs, only one of which (the Imamzadeh-ye Ali Ebn-e Hamze) was photographable.
The other, the Mausoleum of Shah-e Cheragh, took a bit of getting into. […]

Day 83: From the terrace of the Silk Road Hotel, the dome and minarets of the nearby Jameh Mosque and the adjacent mausoleum were in perfect alignment.
The magnificent old city Jameh Mosque, with its imposing twin minarets, by day.

Day 82: Yazd’s “town square”, fronted by the facade of the Amir Chakhmaq Complex, at sunset.

Day 82: The city of Yazd was famous for its ancient water channels (qanats) which still run beneath the mud brick houses of the old city. I photographed this local boy decending the long flight of stairs down to the qanat, lit from above through a natural skylight.

Day 81: Iran’s glass and ceramics museum was located in a magnificent period estate house and, according to our thoughtful guide at the National Museum who recommended this place, boasts the best collection of glass outside of the United States, a very disarming concession to an enemy of the Islamic Republic.
During her life, mum was […]

Days 80-89: While we spent many days being overwhelmed with friendliness and volunteered assistance from people that we met on the street, a darker picture of the state emerged from the government-controlled TV news.
As we were in Iran during the week that French foreign minister Kouchner observed that, with respect to the Iran nuclear crisis, […]

Day 80: This gentleman, known as the Salt Man, lived 1700 hundred years ago and was discovered in 1993 in a salt mine in southern Iran. For someone his age, it’s remarkable how much hair he can still call his own. Salt Man was obviously quite a character as he sports an ear ring in […]

Day 89: While recommended as the Author’s Choice in the 2004 Lonely Planet (new edition reportedly out soon), this place appeared to have gone downhill. Despite being among a handful of other guests we were inexplicably checked into a room facing the very noisy street instead of the reputedly quieter rooms on the other side. […]