Archives: Galleries
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Bisheh Town & Bisheh Waterfall
More Beauty of Western LorestanSet among the craggy mountains of western Lorestan province of Iran, the small town of Bisheh draws tourists to the famous Bisheh Waterfall. Bisheh’s train station serves as a stopover for service between Tehran and Ahvaz and other southern destinations. It’s also home to a railroad bridge built by German engineers during the rule of Reza…
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Sefid Dasht Area of Lorestan
Mind bogglingly Beautiful Mountainous TerrainSefid Dasht is a small town in the Lorestan province of Iran, surrounded by surrounded with awe-inspiring mountain peaks. The name is also spelled Sepiddasht, Sefīd Dasht, Safīd Dasht, and Sapīd Dasht. Sefid Dasht, Lorestan on Wikipedia
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Ethnography Museum at Falak-ol-Aflak Castle
Iran’s Largest Ethnography Museum in Khorramabad, LorestanKhorramabad, the same name houses Lorestan’s Ethnography Museum in the 800-year-old Falak-ol-Aflak Castle on top of a hill. It is Iran’s largest ethnography museum. It includes dozens of life-size or near life-size dioramas depicting the lifestyle and life events of the nomadic Lur tribes, who populate Lorestan. These include funerals – during which the Lurs…
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Tehran’s Lavizan Forest Park Offers Stunning Views of the City
Lavizān Forest Park is a large forested area in the Lavizān neighborhood in northeast Tehran, with stunning views of Tehran cityscape, which is, of course, usually shrouded in smog.
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Breathtaking Views of Olive Farms
on the Gilan-Qazvin roadCame across these mindbogglingly beautiful scenes just south of the Sefid Rud Dam in Gilan Province, while driving on Highway 1 from Manjil, Gilan, to Qazvin.
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Plastic Palm Trees and Korean Soaps on the Ruins of Silk Road
A stunning example of globalization in IranIn search of handwoven kilims, I came to Ghalam-Abad, a tiny dusty village 50 kilometers outside Sabzevar, in northeast Iran, not far from the ancient Silk Road. I found the kilims and kind hospitable people who generously treated us to tea and stories of their lives. But we also found a lot of cheap Chinese…
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Village Home near Abr Forest, Shahrud
Staying in rural accommodations in Iran: quaint but roughI have a soft spot for staying in village homes in Iran. I appreciate the simple architecture using rustic material, the thick walls, the thatch ceilings, everything weather-beaten. Furniture, if there is any, is usually the bare necessities. The decoration minimalist and fascinating, as in pictures of dead relatives on prominent display in antique frames.…
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Day Trip to Kashan
It’s amazing how much you can see in a single day trip from TehranIt’s amazing how much of Kashan you can see in a single day, the bus ride from Tehran included, provided you make it to the bus station early. The town is small and taxi rides cheap and plentiful. I did have the advantage of being accompanied by a guide who swiftly took me from site…
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Alley diving in Kashan
Another ancient town, more alleys to exploreOne of my greatest pleasures in Iran is what I call alleydiving – just aimlessly walking the old alleys of ancient towns. The best time to do this is early morning and just before dusk, when incandescent lights compete with the dim natural light and create strong contrast for photography. Today Saeideh and I are…
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Winter Wonderland Outside Mashhad, Iran
One of the unique things about Mashhad is that it’s surrounded by fascinating landscape, only minutes outside the city. The stark landscape north of Mashhad is dotted with endless hills, lonely villages and gorgeous rocky outcrops. The area is known for its wild cherries. Winters are relatively mild in the plains. The snow stays on…
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Birjand’s Akbarieh Garden
A UNESCO World Heritage SiteBagh-e (Garden of) Akbarieh (or Akbariyeh), ancient home to the rulers of the area, today is the site of two museums, in Birjand, the capital of South Khorasan province, in northeast Iran. The garden is one of nine in UNESCO’s “Persian Garden” collection.
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![Birjand’s Old Town: nighttime alley Diving]()
Birjand’s Old Town: nighttime alley Diving
The dusty alleys behind the bazaar in Birjand‘s old town contain architecture of the days gone by. A quiet stroll at night made me nostalgic in this capital of South Khorasan Province, seldom visited by foreign tourists. There’s scenery here that reminds me of my childhood in Iran. As it always happens when touring Iran’s…
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![Village of Shafiabad, Dasht-e Lut Desert – in pictures Pics from our stay on the edge of the Dasht-e Lut desert]()
Village of Shafiabad, Dasht-e Lut Desert – in pictures
Pics from our stay on the edge of the Dasht-e Lut desertShafiabad, the last populated area before the road veers into the Dasht-e Lut desert, is home to an ancient and very big caravanserai – Shafiabad Caravanserai– which has been under renovation for years. Plans are to turn it into a hotel. Shafiabad (sha-FEE-awe-bawd, also spelled Shafi Abad) is home to a growing number of lodges,…
