Mahan, Iran

The credits for this one go to another postcard fairy....Herbert and his surprising destinations =)

Sometimes when I receive these cards and I see the destinations you guys are travelling to....I find my own destinations from where I send you cards rather traditional...but then again, something is better than nothing...and for me, I just want to see the world as much as I can, and experience it from my own point of view... even though the side-effects of it are huge amounts of numbness and apathy once I come back home...but well, some sacrifices have to be made...

back to this card....here you can see the beautiful mausoleum of Shah Ne'Matollah-E Vali (a renowned Iranian mystic and poet) in Mahan, Iran.

Shah Nematollah Vali died in 1431 aged over 100. In 1436 a shrine was erected in his honor and became a pilgrimage site.
The mausoleum has a dome-shaped arch which is adorned with paintings and has two shells. This blue girih tiled dome contains stars with, from the top, 5, 7, 9, 12, 11, 9 and 10 points in turn. 11-point stars are rare in the geometric patterns of Islamic art.

Herbert says that Iran is the paradise of hospitality...I hope I'll get the chance to experience it myself one day :)

the stamp on the left was issued in 2014, where you have stamps (for some reason issued on different days), and each stamp shows a different letter of the Persian alphabet...if I got it right, this one shows Yodh, the tenth letter of the alphabet.
The other stamp says it is a customized one so no information on it, though i really wonder who this guy is...google gives me some information saying it is a stamp dedicated to student mobilization and mentions some name like Ghadir...but I dont know how much I should rely on this image search/google translate combination..

Big thanks to the CG a.k.a Herbert for this lovely surprise...as always :)

Persepolis, Iran

Ill close this update today with another UNESCO...sorry if it seems too short, but i need to be rushing back to work in a while...i just didnt want to leave this for tonight coz i know that as usual i may get carried away with other stuff and wont do it...

Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire during the Achaemenid dynasty. It is situated 70 km northeast of the modern city of Shiraz in the Fars Province of modern Iran.  In contemporary Persian, the site is known as Takht-e Jamshid (Throne of Jamshid) and Parseh. To the ancient Persians, the city was known as Pārsa, which means "The City of Persians".
Persepolis is near the small river Pulwar, which flows into the river Kur. The site includes a 125,000 square meter terrace, partly artificially constructed and partly cut out of a mountain, with its east side leaning on Kuh-e Rahmet ("the Mountain of Mercy"). The other three sides are formed by retaining walls which vary in height with the slope of the ground.
The first westerner to visit the ruins of Persepolis was Antonio de Gouveia from Portugal who wrote about cuneiform inscriptions following his visit in 1602.
The buildings at Persepolis include three general groupings: military quarters, the treasury, and the reception halls and occasional houses for the King.

Shiraz, Iran

My second card from Iran....


Shiraz is the 5th most populated city in Iran, and the capital of Fars Province. It is located in the southwest of Iran, on the Rudkhaneye Khoshk seasonal river.

What you see on the card is the Hafez Tomb. Hafez was a Persian mystic and poet. His lyrical poems known as ghazals are noted for their beauty and bring to fruition the love, mysticism, and early Sufi themes that had long pervaded Persian poetry.
Unfortunately very little credible information is known about his life.

Esfahān, Iran

I still find it hard to believe i have a card from Iran (well, two actually, but ill post the other one some other time)


And the view here is just amazing!
This is the Shah Mosque, situated on the south side of the Naghsh-i-Jahan Square, which is one of the everlasting masterpieces of architecture in Iran and all over the world. Both the mosque and the square are registered as a UNESCO whs.
The Shah Mosque is said to be the most glorious sign of flourishing architecture during the Safavid dynasty.

The sender says that Esfahān is the most beautiful city in Iran and she had been there 11 times!

Well, if we are to judge by the view here, than i dont doubt at all!