Rickshaw circus

In Yazd we met a travelling street circus too. Three people with a colourful rickshaw heading for India by land. They stopped all along the way to do shows and workshops for local children. Here is their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RickshawCircus?fref=ts.

Let's go to Iran with grandpa!

One night at the hotel we saw a group of three people coming in. They looked like a family: the grandson (about 20 year old) with the grandparents, who looked about 70 or older (his grandfather moved very slowly, with the help of a stick). A scene you could easily imagine on the border of a Swiss lake, not in Iran.

A beautiful hotel

The hotel was in a traditional house. The rooms were situated in a courtyard which had a fountain in the middle. So relaxing! The manager was a funny and kind old Indian man, who ended up in Iran after a complicated "business & love" story.

Doors for men and doors for women

In Yazd the doors of many old houses have two knockers making a different sound. Why? One was for men and one for women! So the ones inside could know the sex of the one at the door and decide accordingly who had to open (man or woman).

The wind towers

The wind towers are are a natural (and traditional) cooling system. A high tower catches the wind and distributes it to the rest of the building by means of a very sophisticated architectural and engineering design (inside the tower it is like being in a labyrinth). We visited the most preserved (and beautiful) wind tower in Yazd: it works really well!

Zoroastrian graves

Yazd is the centre of the Zoroastrian religion, the first monoteistic religion. On the edge of the city there are the Zoroastian graves (also known as "the towers of silence"): some bare hills on the top of which there were the temples used by Zoroatrians to put dead people, so that bodies could be eaten by vultures. Nowadays this method is not used anymore and only ruins remain. However it is a fascinating place.

Yazd

From Shiraz we took an overnight bus to Yazd. Yazd has a very characteristic city centre. Why? Because it is mostly made of mud! The houses are very low and the streets are very narrow. Some ancient palaces and mosques make a lovely contrast with the rest of the buildings.