Yazd

Atash Bahram Zoroastrian temple

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I flew to Yazd on Iran Air. It is a 55-minute flight from Tehran. I arrived at 10:35 PM and took a cab to a beautiful hotel called Safayieh. This city is about 3,000 years old and is situated directly on the Silk Road and is the center of Zoroastrian culture. The first site I visited was a Zoroastrian Atashkadeh (fire temple). The fire in this holy site has been burning since year 470 A.D. Another Atashkadeh that was younger (only 1, 250 years old!!) allowed me to go inside and I visited with the holy man in charge. He told me a few stories and epics of this great religion and I videoed him during one of the stories. Later I visited a few Caravanserais. Next day I drove some 100 miles to a holy Zoroastrian temple called Chak Chak. Click HERE to watch a video of the road to Chak Chak. My guide told me that this is like Zoroastrians’ Mecca and once a year in March it is closed to non-Zoroastrians for their holy rituals. The story is that Nikbanou, the daughter of Yazdegerd the Third, escaped from invading Arabs and came to this place and hit the ground with her walking stick and disappeared. That walking stick is now a massive tree around which (literally) this temple is built and from the rocky roof, there is the drip (Chak Chak) of water. Indeed this place has spring water that is ice cold. This water is collected in a brick storage facility with a few faucets for people to take this holy water home (no charge). Click HERE to watch a video of Chak Chak. Yazd looks so peaceful and calm. Mr. Khatami, the former president of Iran lives in the nearby city of Ardakan. People of Yazd are famous for being very family centric. According to the Iranian Statistical Center, it is among the 3 cities with lowest divorce rates. Next day I took the bus to the nearby city of Maybod to visit one of the oldest castles in Iran called Narin Ghaleh which dates back from Sassanid Empire.  Click HERE to watch a video of Narin Ghaleh.

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