Isfahan City
Isfahan, known as the jewel of Iran’s tourist attractions and a pearl in the Middle East, is the most wonderful city for tourists who intend to spare no time in enjoying a place. Situated in central Iran and the south of capital Tehran, this city is home to some of the prettiest historical monuments including UNESCO's World Heritage Sites such as Naghsh-e Jahan Square and Jame Mosque that there’s no doubt in their grandeur along with many beautiful boulevards, palaces, mosques, and minarets.
With its immense beauty and unforgettable experiences, Isfahan has been dazzling travelers for ages; one that earned the accolades of most westerners as the truly Persian character that the city has retained as reflected in the most popular rhyme Isfahan, Nesf-e Jahan (Isfahan, Half of the World) showing the praise lavished by the inhabitants and poets on their city.
This city is the richest in historical and architectural wealth and belongs to those very few cities of which one can say that the more you behold them, the more they surprise and fascinate you. That is why a visit to Isfahan is an incomplete journey. In Isfahan and its surroundings, one will encounter a number of destinations that can satisfy the most exacting demands. The sight worth spending hours of strolling is the city's historical roofed Grand Bazaar, with its majestic Qeisariyeh Portal in Naghsh-e Jahan Square.
This artistic and craft center is renowned for its handicrafts, world famous fine carpets, and textiles which bring back to life the vibrant soul of ancient civilizations in their heyday. Since it would take a while to visit this city, tourists will be given with a number of choices in terms of accommodation there ranging from the best traditional to modern hotels with revolving restaurants on top having a panoramic view of the whole Isfahan City, making their stay even more enjoyable.
Regarding the food, one thing is for sure, Iran and to be a little more specific, Isfahan, has some of world’s most delicious foods, particularly Beryan (a local food consisting of meat plus some kind of spices) that tasting it is definitely one of the turning points of tourists’ memoirs.
As Robert Byron, the author of the travelogue The Road to Oxiana, was slightly more geographically specific when he ranked ‘Isfahan among those rarer places, like Athens or Rome, which are the common refreshment of humanity’. Likewise, Andre Malraux, the famous French author and adventurer says: "Who can claim to have seen the most beautiful city of the world without having seen Esfahan?" Therefore, do not hesitate to visit the Florence of Iran whose well-proportioned mosques with turquoise blue domes and minarets rival the color of the sky.
