Dominating the views of the Old City of Jerusalem is the gold ‘Dome of the Rock.’ It is positioned in the middle of a large area usually refered to as the Temple Mount but for Muslims its known as Haram esh-Sharif / the Noble Sanctuary. The Al Aqsa mosque is also situated on the Temple Mount and it is considered the third most holy place in the world for Muslims (after Mecca and Medina). For ca. 3000 years the Temple Mount has been the […]
Mosques
Esfahan
Esfahan is home to about 1.8 million people and is Iran’s number one tourist destination – and with good reason. It is a beautiful city and we were lucky to see it when the river was full of water (not always the case!). The first night we were there our lovely couch surf host Mohammad and his sister took us into town where we walked along the Zayandeh River admiring many different bridges, old and new. The Si-o-seh bridge (pictured below) was built between […]
Yazd, Iran
Most places we went to in Iran were above amazing, all with their own delights and highlights, so it’s hard to pick a favourite. But if I had to, Yazd would certainly be vying for the prize! For starters there was the hotel we stayed in. It was cheap; $20 USD per night for a private room, with 3 toilet shower rooms shared with one other couple and a decent free breakfast. Ok the room was not soundproof at all but we are good […]
Kerman, Iran
Kerman province in Iran’s South East had so far treated us well- with great stays in Shahr-e-babak and Rafsanjan, also Meymand Cave village. Now it was time to check out the big smoke, the city of Kerman itself. After a slow trip there followed by lovely hospitality from the driver who picked us up, we eventually got dropped off in the city at a mobile phone shop our couchsurf host, Amir, owned. His shop was in a street with lots of other mobile phone […]