My trip to Iran part 2

As promised, here’s the second half of my favorite photos from my trip to Iran last fall.  Click on any of the photos to enlarge them for more detail.

This is the town of Abyaneh, where the buildings are all made of red mud brick.  It was gorgeous.  The town is a former Zoroastrian village, and they have their own dialect and their own style of dress.  You can see a very common outfit on the lady below.  It’s sort of a flowered head scarf over another flowered top with a skirt.  It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site.

This is the tomb of Cyrus the Great, who died in 529 BC.  The tomb is in Pasagardae and the entire site is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  Alexander the Great (who the Persians call Alexander the Cursed) visited here after looting Persepolis.

This is a room from a pavilion in the Bagh-e Dolat Abad (Dolat Abad Garden) in Yazd, a town in the desert.  I loved the reflection of the stained glass in the water.  The garden itself is large, but not too picturesque, and is part of the Persian Gardens UNESCO site.

Then we moved on to Esfahan, which is a beautiful city.

Chehel Sotun Palace, built in the 1600s.  It’s also part of the Persian Gardens UNESCO site.  The inside is decorated in paintings of battles and other events, and decorative designs.

Chehel Sotun Palace was lovely, but Esfahan’s main attraction is without a doubt the Maidan-e Imam – the Imam Square.  It’s the second largest square in the world after Tiananmen.  Believe me, it took a very long time to walk all the way around it!   On the square are two mosques, one of which is huge, as well as a palace.  The larger mosque is in the background of the picture below.  Encircling the entire square is a bazaar, filled with everything from camel bone boxes to copper vases to spices to every day things like shoes.  It was really interesting to walk through it all.

Sheik Lotfollah Mosque, on the square.  It was reserved for the royal harem and built in the 1600s.

The domed ceiling inside was unbelievable.

Finally, we visited the old Friday Mosque, which was built in the 1000s!  It is an enormous site, added to over centuries.  And of course, it’s a UNESCO site.  Each section has a very different look, and they are all lovely in their own way.  Below is one of my favorite pictures from there, because I love the calligraphy in the stonework.  Click on the photo to see more detail.

I hope you enjoyed seeing these photos!