Cozy chambers that are meticulously laid out around a vast courtyard may easily evoke spirits of the past. It’s not hard to fancy the hustle and bustle of merchants bargaining on prices, recounting their arduous journeys to one another while their camels chewing hay! You can also conceive the idea of local architectural style and material in its heyday.

Passing major roads in the country, one may see crumbling caravanserais many of which abandoned for ages. In the Information Age, such guest houses have largely lost their actual usage.

However, a couple of years ago, Iran tourism body introduced a scheme to keep them alive and profitable; tens of caravanserais are ceded to the private investors for better maintenance. Now, some are exclusively renovated, repurposed into boutique hotels and tourist lodgings.

Caravansary is a compound word combining “caravan” with “sara”. The first stand for a group of travelers and sara means the building.

They often had massive portals supported by elevated load-bearing walls. Guest rooms were constructed round the courtyard and stables behind them with doors in the corners of the yard.

Iran’s earliest caravanserais were built during Achaemenid era (550 -330 BC). Centuries later, when Shah Abbas I assumed power form 1588 – to 1629, he ordered construction of network caravanserais across the country.

Here is comments of two international travelers to the restored Zein-o-din caravanserai in Yazd province, central Iran:

“A great way to experience Iran,” Paula G. from London posted to TripAdvisor in April.

“There are nearly a thousand of these caravanserai dotted all over Iran, some in disastrous states of disrepair some like Zein-o-din restored to the glory days when camel trains spotted here on the return from the Orient laden down with silk and spices. Sleeping arrangements are basic but the food is hearty & tea never ending. One can wander in the desert before locking up time (but beware, the local wildlife is speedy) & then watch the sun descend below the mountains from the rooftop as the sky comes alive with stars. Alternatively should the night prove too chill the central courtyard may be the place for entertainment until the eyelids become too heavy,” she wrote.

Another visitor to the caravanserai says, “We came across Zein-o-din Caravansary on our roadtrip. It has been a haven for wear travelers including us for hundreds of years. We had chai (tea) and great exploration of the building, and the needed bathroom break. We even took a peek at the different rooms. The bathroom is very clean and well supplied. I will definitely consider staying there on my next trip to Iran.”

From another point of view, caravanserais acted like a bridge facilitating travel, commerce and cultural exchanges for centuries between East, Central Asia, Middle East and the West.

The post Caravanserais and time travel to forgotten ages appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Latest data shows more than seven million holidaymakers toured Iran during the first eleven months of the year, which is seen as a remarkable rise from the same period last year.

The country is also a growing destination for health and medical tourists from Iraq, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, the U.S., European countries and the Persian Gulf littoral states. According to official statistics, the country hosted some 400,000 medical tourists during the past Iranian year 1396 (ended March 20).

Official data shows medical tourist arrivals nearly doubled in the first three months of the year, corresponding to spring 2018, from a year earlier.

Experts say that U.S.-led sanctions together with its anti-Iran propaganda campaign has lessened Western travelers to the Islamic Republic but the country is doing its best to attract more visitors from neighbors.

For instance, more than 2.2 million Iraqis visited Iran during the first nine months of the current Iranian year, which shows 113 percent year-on-year increase, turning the neighboring country into Iran’s largest source of tourists.

Contrary to Americans, European arrivals in Iran has decreased. Some 1,980 U.S. citizens visited Iran during the nine-month period, which demonstrates 82 percent year-on-year growth, based on data compiled by the CHHTO.

However, the situation is totally different when it comes to outbound travels. Iran’s outbound tourism fell by 30 percent in the current Iranian year as, according to official data, it fell by 30 percent during the nine-month period (started March 21, 2018) from a year earlier.

A total of 5,900,381 Iranians traveled overseas during the aforementioned period, as the figure stood at 8,483,317 a year earlier.

The main reason behind the decline is deemed to be the sharp rise in the value of foreign currencies against rial that has pushed up the costs of traveling abroad.

The 2019 Travel Risk Map, which shows the risk level around the world, puts Iran among countries with “insignificant risk”, a category where the UK, Denmark, Switzerland, Norway, and Finland are placed in.

Iran embraces hundreds of historical sites such as bazaars, museums, mosques, bridges, bathhouses, madrasas, mausoleums, churches, towers, and mansions, of which 22 being inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

The post Solid growth: A review of Iran’s tourism in 1397 appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The minarets are almost 17 meters in height from the ground level, and in a distance of about 10 meters.

The popular destination is in fact a burial monument surmounted by two brick towers that can be swung with little pressure; when one is shaken by the human force, the other starts to vibrate automatically.

It was originally built some 700 years ago as a mausoleum for “Amu Abdullah” who was a mystic figure in the Ilkhanid era (1256-1353 CE). Archeological studies suggest that the dual minarets were later added to the mausoleum during the Safavid era (1501–1736).

The unique characteristic of the shaking of the minarets, and the entire building, have been repeatedly studied. The findings of most of such researches indicate that the specific dimensions and proportions of the building and minarets and even the material forming the bricks used for the building contributes to the vibrations.

Following physical experiments, it was suggested that this phenomenon is similar to the mirror image vibrations observed when connecting two vertical identical pieces of string to a connecting horizontal one. Should the two vertical strings be of different lengths or weights the same results would not be achieved.

However, such a theory also has its skeptics and is dismissed as a mere coincidence under the guise that most buildings also have such vibrations (although on a smaller scale) and it’s only the height of the minarets that make it so visible in this particular case.

The city’s historical relics are standing almost close to each other but the “shaking minarets” are located on the outskirts.

Used to be one of capitals of the mighty Safavid Empire, Isfahan is a top tourist destination for good reasons. Unlimited visual appeals such as tree-lined boulevards, Persian gardens and majestic Islamic buildings has named the city a living museum of traditional culture.

The post Shaking minarets, enigmatic destination worth visiting once! appeared first on Iran News Daily.