Recent reviews Yazd
[koshkha, 04/05/2009] Iran has plenty of mosques and almost all of them are pretty spectacular. By the time we got to the Jami Mosque in Yazd we'd only seen two other mosques, neither of which was particularly typical of the Persian architectural style. The massive and as yet unfinished mausoleum to Ayatollah Khomeini in Tehran had resembled a concrete abatoir and the tiny old and rather decrepit mosque to the Twelve Imams which we'd visited in Yazd that morning was largely undecorated. Neither had prepared us for the visual onslaught of a top notch city mosque.
The Jami Mosque or Masjed-e Jameh is what's known
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[koshkha, 04/05/2009] Zoroastrians believe that fire is pure and sacred and must be preserved and protected along with water. The place where Zorastrians go to worship is called the Fire Temple or Atashkadeh which means literally the 'House of Fire'. There are nearly 20 fire temples in Yazd but the one on Atashkadeh Alley, off Kashani Street is most popular with tour groups. I've read that this isn't entirely typical of an Atashkadeh because it's less of an active temple and more of a tourist attraction but it's a good place to get an introduction to the religion and its iconography.
Zoroastrianism was the reli
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[koshkha, 04/05/2009] I've been intrigued about Zoroastrianism for a long time and I think it's fair to say that one aspect of this fascinating religion that excites the most morbid interest for many people is the way in which Zoroastrians dispose of their dead. Since fire is sacred and earth should not be contaminated by the dead, bodies are laid out to be stripped by vultures in what are known as Towers of Silence. Once the birds have picked the bones clean, the bodies were historically interred in rock tombs. Now I think you'll admit that's pretty fascinating.
One of my very favourite authors, the Canadian-In
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[koshkha, 15/02/2009] On a group tour of Iran, we spent two nights at the Caravan, a large hotel located a few miles outside the ancient desert city of Yazd. The Caravan is close to a large but surprisingly quiet road and takes the form of lots of small white single-storey apartment-style chalets set back from the road and surrounded by gardens. There was nothing else anywhere near the hotel so be aware that once you are there, unless you have transport, there's nothing to see or do nearby. Pulling off the highway from the airport, the driveway brought us past a large building that housed the reception, the restaur
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