Our group stopped in Abarkooh on our way from Eghlid to the caravan-serai at Zein-o-din. From the description, it didn’t sound like much. According to our trip notes: “Abarkooh is (a historical town) located in the desert valley beneath the Zagros Mountains.” Things we would see there? An ice house and an old mansion. After exploring …
architecture
Six Things to See in Shiraz
Many people, myself included, associate the name ‘Shiraz‘ with the wine. I think of vineyards and rolling hills. I guess I think of a Persian Tuscany. That’s not too accurate. Shiraz is no Tuscany, it is its own place. It is a place of poets, a lush oasis in the desert, and a thriving city …
The Ruins of Persepolis
Few places capture the imagination quite like Persepolis. Known as ‘Parsa’ to the Achaemenid Persians who built it, the city is known to the West by its Greek name, which means ‘City of Persians’. Creative, those Greeks. Founded around 518 B.C. by Darius I (whom we saw buried at the Naqsh-e Rostam necropolis) and constructed over the …
The Necropolis of Naqsh-e Rostam
Over 3000 years ago, the Middle East was experiencing a time of change. The Elamite and Assyrian empires were on the decline, and several Aryan tribes ventured down from what is now Russia, drawn by the prospect of new territory. These groups were the Medes, the Parthians, and the Persians. After a period of subjegation to the …
Tea on the Bosphorus
The old man pushes the tea at you; not like he’s a tout trying to sell his wares, which he is, but like you really need to try it, which you do. So you do, because you’re thinking of the Bosphorus and the fog of history that settles on it like a mist settles over the …
Six Things to See in Samarkand
The Crossroads of Cultures. The popular nickname for Samarkand is an apt one; the city is a storied Silk Road hub held in awe by travelers and dreamers alike, known for its bustling bazaars, towering minarets, and magnificent architecture. The former capital of Timur the Lame–who was known to the West as Tamerlane–Samarkand is a …
Sunset in Khiva
The sun was setting on my first full day in Khiva, and I was sitting on a ledge watching it sink behind a horizon punctuated by minarets and mosques. The day had been a full one, wandering through the Ichon-Qala fortress which encompasses most of the remaining Old Town. Now, merely sitting and watching the …
A Walk Around Khiva
I almost didn’t go to Khiva. Deviating from my planned Bukhara to Samarkand route to the tiny, northern desert oasis meant enduring a 10 hour shared taxi ride from Bukhara and a 14 hour overnight train onwards to Samarkand. It wasn’t until I read ‘A Carpet Ride to Khiva’ by Christopher Alexander that I decided to …
Ten Things to See in Bukhara
For centuries, Bukhara was a critical hub on the fabled Silk Road. Controlled by the Russians, the Bukharan Emirate, the Timurids, the Sogdians, and even the Mongols; it has long been caught up in the ebb and flow of power in Central Asia. Fortunately, many architectural legacies of its past have been preserved and/or restored, …
Bukhara: Mosques, Madrasahs, and Minarets
After my ridiculous taxi trip to Bukhara from the border between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, I took a little time and enjoyed a delicious breakfast at my B&B, Rustam and Zukhra. Afterwards, I felt surprisingly awake–enough to head out and start exploring the city in lieu of collapsing onto my bed. The sights started almost immediately …