The Wheel and Axle

Incredible Isfahan
Isfahan, Iran
26-27 September 2017

The centuries-old City of Isfahan (also known as Esfahan and Sepahan) is so beautiful that the Iranians we spoke to in Tehran and Shiraz, whenever we mentioned we would be going to this city, would always exclaim in amazement and praise its grandeur.

They are not wrong.

Isfahan is not only a green city, full of tree-lined streets, but it is also a center of art, history, and architecture. It is a fabulous amalgalm of ancient Persia and modern Iran, a city of absolute beauty.

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Nasir-ol-Molk: The Pink Mosque
Shiraz, Iran
25 September 2017

Nasir-ol-Molk (also known as Nasiralmulk) Mosque is a mosque in Shiraz near the Shāh Chérāgh. Built during the Qajar dynasty in the late 1800s, it is known as the Pink Mosque because of the pink tiles that are used around the structure. It also utilizes a lot of five-concaved design elements known as Panj Kāse.

The mosque is also perhaps even more famous for its stained glass windows that provide a glowing mosaic of colors across one of the rooms when the early morning sunlight hits them. It gives you an almost spiritual feeling of both awe and serenity when you experience it. The best time to visit is early morning, around 7:30AM when it opens to the public, when the rays of light pass through the windows. Come in as early as possible to avoid the crowds of tourists that come in so you can, at least temporarily, enjoy some personal meditative or reflective moments.

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Naqsh-e Rostam
Fars Province, Iran
24 September 2017

Just a short ride from Persepolis is Naqsh-e Rostam, an ancient necropolis housing the tombs of several kings of the First Persian Empire. Their sarcophagi are enshrined in separate massive chambers, with giant crosses cut into the mountain side serving as entrances to the respective tombs.

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Persepolis
Marvdasht, Iran
24 September 2017

Just a couple of hours outside Shiraz are the ruins of Persepolis.

Literally “The City of the Persians,” Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire. Initially built by King Darius I, it is a city complex set upon a platform in what is now Fars Province. Among its structures were the Gate of All Nations, the Apadana, the Throne Hall, and the Tachara. It is also known as Takht-e-Jamshid (Throne of Jamshid) due to the belief of late antiquity Persians that it was built by the mythological king Jamshid.

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Exploring Shiraz
Shiraz, Iran
23 September 2017

The ancient City of Shiraz is a center of poetry and literature. It was once the capital of Persia, during the Zand Dynasty, and currently it is the capital of the province of Fars. It is a wonderful city that combines the ancient and the modern, where the brick-walled homes and fortresses blend with and around majestic and beautiful mosques and gardens.

On our first day in Shiraz, we went to Shāh Chérāgh (“King of the Light”), the most important pilgrimage site within this city. We learned more about this funerary shrine and mosque from our tour guide. It houses the graves of the brothers of Ahmad and Muhammad, brothers to Ali al-Ridha, the eighth Shi’ite Imam. The brothers had taken refuge in the city to escape the persecution of Shia Muslims sometime around 900 AD. Their graves had been lost to time until Ayatullah Dastghā’ib saw, from a distance, a light coming from the area; upon investigation of the source of light, the graves were found, inscriptions indicating who were buried there.

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Golestan Palace
Tehran, Iran
22 September 2017

A UNESCO World Heritage site, the Golestan Palace complex includes palaces, museums, halls, fountains, and lush greenery. With a history within Tehran’s citadel going back to the 1500s, the palace later became the seat of the Qajar dynasty. The palace was rebuilt in 1865 and stands proud to this day.

With our limited time in Tehran, we chose to enter only specific buildings in the vast complex. The Main Hall is a spectacular palace, filled with relics and artifacts from Persia, India, and Europe from a few hundred years ago. Other than the Main Hall, we went inside the museum in Shams-ol-Emareh (Edifice of the Sun), with its clock tower standing tall between twin symmetric towers and with its highly-polished mirror “walls” that reflect the sunlight beautifully.

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Touring Tehran
Tehran, Iran
22 September 2017

My friend Bj won two AirAsia tickets for Tehran through an online contest. He asked me to join him, and of course, how could I say no to an opportunity to visit Persia, a land where ancient civilizations flourished and where history was sure to be palpable in the air?

Now of course people were concerned that we were off to Iran, and it would be a lie to say that we ourselves had no initial apprehensions. However, our friend Jeff had ventured into Persia (alone!) last year, and he had nothing but praises for his visit. Armed with visas which we processed via the embassy in Makati, we were off to the land of the Persians.

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En route to Tehran, we had a layover in Kuala Lumpur. This was actually my second time transitting through Kuala Lumpur this year, the first time being on the way to Yangon last February.

Whereas last time I had an entire overnight to see some places in the city, this time we had roughly five hours before we needed to check-in for our next flight. The great thing is, the KLIA Ekspres can bring you from the airport to the city proper within half an hour, where the connecting KL Sentral train can then bring you to the famed Batu Caves in another twenty to thirty minutes. Dammit, I wish we had such efficient train systems in the Philippines.

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Now that’s a real Prince Charming.

… and the horrors wrought upon her by man.

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