yazd

Yazd is a relaxed city surrounded by a lot of desert. The city has numerous interesting sights. Too bad, the first day we were here the only thing I've seen was the toilet in my hotel room.

The second day, I was feeling alright again and eager to see the other sights of Yazd. We started with a visit of the Mashed-é Jameh or Friday Mosque. This mosque has the highest minarets of Iran, which can be seen from far away.

We've seen quite a lot of mosques in Iran, but we can say that this is one of the most beautiful. The mosaics are superb in their dazzling colours.

In the middle of the court is a stairway which leads down to the qanat-system. Unluckily, the caretaker of the mosque was away and the man who replaced him couldn't find the key. The key to the roof also happened to be missing, so we didn't see the pretty view over the old city.

Yazd is the center of present day Zoroastrian religion. There are about 150.000 Zoroastrians in the world, of which 65.000 live in Iran and 20.000 in Yazd. The Atashkadeh is the most important fire temple. Zoroastrians from all over the world come here to see the sacred fire that has been burning without interruption for 1500 years.Very close to the Friday Mosque we found this Internet Café. So we thought, let's send an email.

As a matter of fact, this turned out to be impossible at first, because of a power failure. A few minutes later power was restored, so we could send a very short message: "Hello, we are in Yazd. We have to go now, the bus is leaving".

A year after we returned form Iran, we received an entry in our guestbook from Mozi, who works in the Internet Café. Great to hear from him. Keep up the good work, Mozi !