Holiday in Shiraz

About Shiraz

Shiraz is the city of poets, roses, and gardens — one of the oldest and most cultured cities in Iran, regarded as the cultural heart of Persia for over 2,000 years. In this city rest the greatest poets of Persian literature, Hafiz and Saadi, and their tombs are still pilgrimage sites for millions of Iranians who know their verses by heart and recite them over tea and rosewater. The Nasir-ol-Molk Mosque, world-famous as the Pink Mosque, offers a spectacle in the early morning that is unparalleled: When the sun shines through the colorful stained glass windows of the west facade, the prayer hall transforms into a kaleidoscope of pink, violet, blue, and gold that dances over the Persian carpets. Built between 1876 and 1888, the mosque is one of the most photographed buildings in the entire Middle East. The Eram Garden (Bagh-e Eram) is one of the nine UNESCO-protected Persian Gardens and is an oasis of tranquility: Cypress trees, orange trees, roses, and water channels surround a Qajar palace with colorful tile mosaics. Iranian garden art, which has been replicating paradise on earth for over 2,500 years, reaches one of its most beautiful forms here. The tomb of Hafiz (Hafezieh) under an elegant dome in the midst of a rose garden is the most visited memorial in Iran: In the evenings, families, couples, and students gather on the steps, read poetry, and randomly open the Divan-e Hafiz (poetry collection) to receive a prophecy — a custom known as Fal-e Hafez. Only 60 kilometers to the north lies Persepolis (Takht-e Jamshid), the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire and a UNESCO World Heritage Site: The monumental reliefs, column halls, and staircases built by Darius I around 515 BC are among the most impressive archaeological sites in the world.