Dec 15, 2013

Travel Diary Iran 2013 - Day 14 (Country Side)

This the last day of the stay but the we had all the day as the flight was at 3:30 after midnight.
With a couple of friends we went to explore some of the country side. The scenery was beautiful, quiet, and powerful.





This was the last day in Iran for this time and 3:30 after midnight I left Iran from Shiraz International Airport. The full travel route inside Iran was:


All 360 Panoramas and virtual tours at stockholm360.net

Travel Diary Iran 2013 - Day 13 (Shiraz)

Back in Shiraz and tired of all the trips I decided to stay in there and have a slow pace. I went to the old parts of the town, where my parents lived when they were small children. It looked really old and decayed. It showed that the areas are part of a big city planning project and sooner or later all the buildings there must be demolished and give place for new streets and malls. Nobody knows how long they will stay but here and there you can see big empty plots between houses, like in the mouth of a poor old man, who has lost some teeth without replacing them between other sporadic survived teeth. Really sad. They have been houses that have been sold to the city, demolished to the ground with all rubble carried away. No new houses are allowed to be built there until all houses around can together be used to reform the area.





18mm, f/8, 1/200


21mm, f/8, 1/100s


28mm, f/8, 1/20s

18mm, f/8, 1/1250s

Astaneh
See a 360° VR Panorama from this place here!

Souriha Alley
See a 360° VR Panorama from this place here!

Shah Dayee-Allah
See a 360° VR Panorama from this place here!

Travel Diary Iran 2013 - Day 12 (Tehran)

I had only half day as I had to fly to Shiraz in the afternoon. I started the day in the Grand Bazar of Tehran, and visited Emam mosque. After that went past Shamsol-emareh Palace again, which is just a few hundred meters from the Bazar entrance. I continued walking a few kilometer, about 30 minutes or so to get to the Sar-dare Baghe Melli and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Both historical buildings from early Pahlavi era.
The ministry buiding is a smaller copy of the Apadana Palace in Persepolis and Susa and therefore very interesting.


Emam Mosque,
 Emam mosque in the Tehran Grand Bazar (Masjed-e Shah until the Islamic Revolution)

Shamsol Emareh
Shamsol Emareh Palace from Nasser Khosrow street, part of the Golestan Palace compound from Qajar era.

Sar Dar-e Bagh-e Melli
Sar dar-e Bagh-e Melli (Meydan-e Mashq) from early Pahlavi era by the order of Reza Shah Pahlavi.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a copy of the Apadana Palace of Persepolis and Susa .

Time was now short and I decided to start moving towards the airport, but on my way I decided to stop by the Tehran City Theater, situated in the a Danesh-jou Park, a cultural center with a unique architecture.

Tehran City Theater

The theater is in a very nice park with a cafe there you can drink beverages or get some ice cream in a green harmonious environment. After this visit and the ice cream I had to head to the airport. On my way to the airport I did a last stop at Azadi square, the most famous landmark of Tehran. 
Azadi (former Shahyad)
This was the last I saw in Tehran for this time.

All the visited places can be seen as 360 degrees VR panormas at "stockholm360.net/list.php?id=tehran".

Dec 5, 2013

Travel Diary Iran 2013 - Day 11 (Tehran)

golestan-wind-catcher-outNext stop Tehran, the capital city of the country. Took the flight from Shiraz to Tehran. A monstrous city with more than 14 million people in its metropolitan area. The city is boiling with high pulse from early morning to hours after midnight. My main target was the Unesco World Heritage Site Golestan Palace, the seat of Qajar kings. Golestan Palace (The Rose Garden Palace) belongs to a group of royal buildings that were once enclosed within the mud-thatched walls of Tehran’s Historic Arg (citadel). Golestan Palace Complex consists of 17 palaces, museums, and Halls. Almost all of this complex was built during 200 years of Qajar kings ruling. These palaces were used for many different occasions such as coronation and other important celebrations.


Marble Throne (Takht-e Marmar), panorama at golestan-takhtmarmar


Wind Catcher Pavilion (Emarat-e Badgir), panorama at golestan-wind-catcher-out


Wind Catcher Pavilion (Emarat-a Badgir), panorama at golestan-wind-catcher

 These are only three images of all the panoramas from the different palaces in the compound. See all the 360 degrees VR panoramas at stockholm360.net/list.php?id=golestan

In the afternoon I visited the Archaeological Museum, a truly amazing museum if you are interested in the history








Sep 21, 2013

Travel Diary Iran 2013 - Day 10 (Bishapur)

After one night's sleep in Shiraz, we drove to the ancient city of Bi
shpur. The road was went mountains. Beautiful views and very warm.



After two hours driving we were at the ancient city. The modern road cuts the ancient city in two parts, the main part of the city is on the southern side of the road and the smaller part including the monumental rock reliefs on the northern side of the road.

Palace of the Bishapur City

Temple of the Anahita City
Corridor of the Temple
Rock Relief of King Shapur I's triple victory over Roman 3 armies/emperors
1. Emperor Gordian III killed during battle as dead under the king horse's hoofs
2. Emperor Philip kneeling in front of the king horse begging for his life
3. Emperor Valerian who was captured during war and held captive until dead


Aug 31, 2013

Travel Diary Iran 2013 - Day 9 (Esfahan)

We started this day with a visit to the Naqsh-e Jahan Square again to see in the day and it was beautiful in daylight too.


Now went and visited the monumental buildings around it, the Alighapoo Palace, the Masjed-d Shah and and Masjed-e Shek Lotfollah. All them were beautiful but the most impressive one was the Shah Mosque (Masjed-e Shah). This is a mosque worth seeing, there are three panoramas from this mosque and some other from the other buildings in at Esfahan gallery.


After the buildings and the square we headed to an old hamam (Aligholi agha), which is a museum now and then to the Shaking Minarets mosque (Monar Jonban) before leaving Esfahan for this time.

Panoramas from all the visited sites with interesting information about each sites can be seen at the http://www.stockholm360.net/list.php?id=esfahan back to Shiraz.

Aug 20, 2013

Travel Diary Iran 2013 - Day 8 (Esfahan)

After the breakfast we went out to the town center and to our first destination the beautiful Chehel Sotoon Palace and its garden, which is one the 9 gardens that together form the Unicef World Heritage "Persian Garden", see the UNICEF's description here http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1372/.

The Palace and its garden was built in the first half of seventeenth century during the Shah Abbas II of the Safavid dyansty.


There are three panoramas of this palace the garden, the iwan (verandah) and the audience hall of the palace in the Esfahan Gallery at http://stockholm360.net/list.php?id=esfahan

After that we headed to the grand bazaar of Esfahan, a historical market in Isfahan, Iran, one of the oldest and largest bazaars in the Middle East, dating back to the 17th century. Here you can find all kind of handmade pieces of arts from a variety of material, carpets, copper ware, sliver ware, woodwork, paintings, painted vases, dishes etc and many many other things.

 There are two panoramas from two shops/workshops with artisans working in the Esfahan gallery http://stockholm360.net/list.php?id=esfahan; one from a fine copper workers and another from a group of artists painting on the vases.

In the bazaar we also visited the Friday Mosque (Masjed-e Jom-eh) , which is the largest one in Esfahan too. This is a mosque from the Great Sljuk era, when Esfahan was the capital of Persia for the first time around 1050 AC.



In the evening we visited the Naqshe Jahan Square, a magnificent and beautiful square, which is another Unicef World Heritage site of Esfahan. This square and all its surrounding including the monumental buildings were built during the Safavid era, when Esfahan became the capital of Persia for the second time around 1600 AC.

 It was pleasant to just sit there and enjoy the nice weather and the calm of the square and its beauty under the moon.

Jun 7, 2013

Travel Diary Iran 2013 - Day 7 (Yazd - Isfahan)

After last days extensive and long day in Yazd we decided to leave Yazd for Esfahan today. So after breakfast we packed and left the hotel in Yazd for this time and visited some two more places before hitting the road. One of the places was the Zoroastrian Fire Temple of Yazd.





The road from Yazd to Esfahan passas just the edge of the desert revealing what is surrounding Yazd, bare sandy desert.


Afer 4 hours of driving the 320km of road we arrived in Esfahan at about 2pm (point B to C on the map). The change of climate and temperature between the previous city and this one was nothing than obvious.



The first thing to do was to find a restaurant and we found a good one which was very poplular and had a lot of beautiful classic paintings and on its walls with good food too. After the restaurant we found our hotel, which also was very beautiful.

After checking in we head out to the see a pair of beautiful bridges that over the Zayandeh river that flows through the city. We spent the rest of the day walking along the river and around the two bridges (Si-o-seh Pol Bridge and Khaju Bridge).

Si-o-seh Bridge


The Khaju Bridge (Pol-e Khaju )

See all the panoramas from the restaurant, the hotel and the bridges in the Esfahan Gallery at http://stockholm360.net/list.php?id=esfahan