Author Archives: admin

WARNING: Terrorists in the area have used car bombs in the past (especially during and before the Georgian-Russian conflict in 2008) to target military and security facilities. However, the situation in the recent years has been quite stable. If you are … Continue reading →

Iran – Esfahan, Chaharmahal/Bakhtiari, Kohgiluyeh/Boyer-Ahmad   October 19-21, 2019 Day 8: Drive to Isfahan, visit Meybod, Nain & Varzaneh on the way The road between Yazd/Mabod passes through some bleak desert – a flat plain between rugged mountains on either … Continue reading →

Zoroastrianism or Mazdayasna is one of the world’s oldest continuously practiced religions. It is a heterodox yet orthopraxic faith centered in a dualistic cosmology of good and evil and an eschatology predicting the ultimate conquest of evil with theological elements of henotheism, monotheism/monism, and polytheism. Ascribed to the teachings of the Iranian-speaking spiritual leader Zoroaster (Zarathushtra), it exalts an uncreated and benevolent deity of wisdom, Ahura … Continue reading →

Iran – Yazd October 16-18, 2019 We left Shiraz in the early morning and saw Pasargadae, the location of the tomb of Cyrus the Great in the morning and continued to Ararkouh where we stayed the night. ABARKUH (pop 27,500 2016) Abarkuh … Continue reading →

WORLD HERITAGE SITES WHS I have made a separate listing for the ones with diverse locations. The Persian Qanat The Persian Garden TENTATIVE WORLD HERITAGE SITES  Caravanserai of Iran The Persian House in the Central Plateau of Iran Industrial Heritage … Continue reading →

Iran – Fars (Shiraz) October 13-16, 2019 Day 3 After flying to Shiraz in the evening of day 2 (Oct 13), we checked into our hotel and left at 8am to see Persepolis. The 60km drive was across a flat … Continue reading →

Iran is a large country between the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf, and the Caspian Sea. It was renamed Iran in the early 20th century; before that it was known as Persia. It is bordered by Iraq to the west, … Continue reading →

Armenia (Armenian: Hayastan) is a landlocked country in the Caucasus that is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, Iran to the south, Azerbaijan to the east, and Azerbaijan’s Naxcivan exclave to the southwest. This former Soviet republic … Continue reading →

Georgia (Georgian: Sakartvelo) is a country in the Caucasus. Sandwiched between Russia in the north and Turkey in the south, it sits along the coast of the Black Sea. It is a rather mountainous country and is home to some … Continue reading →

Iran is a large country between the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf, and the Caspian Sea. It was renamed Iran in the early 20th century; before that it was known as Persia. It is bordered by Iraq to the west, … Continue reading →