A Reflection of Persia

Trip highlights

• Golestan Palace and the Grand Bazaar in Tehran on the first day, before the historic cities ahead
• Kashan's Qajar-era mansions, Tabatabaei House and Boroujerdi House, with their wind-catchers and painted courtyards
• Fin Garden in Kashan, one of the nine gardens on the UNESCO Persian Garden list
• The mudbrick old town of Yazd, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth
• Dowlat Abad Garden in Yazd, another of the nine UNESCO-listed Persian gardens
• Pasargadae, the tomb of Cyrus the Great and the first capital of the Achaemenid Empire
• Persepolis and Naqsh-e Rostam, the ceremonial capital and rock-cut tombs of Persia's ancient kings
• Nasir al-Mulk Mosque in Shiraz, best seen in the morning light through its stained glass
• Naqsh-e Jahan Square in Isfahan, flanked by Imam Mosque, Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque and Ali Qapu Palace
• Si-o-se-pol and Khaju, Isfahan's historic bridges over the Zayandeh River
• Abyaneh, one of Iran's oldest living villages, its red-mud houses little changed in centuries