Shiraz, with its wide, tree-lined avenues, warm climate and easy-going
inhabitants, is a pleasant place to linger. City of roses, nightingales
and learning, and where the eponymous grape is said to have its
roots, Shiraz was in mediaeval times the heart of the Islamic world.
Hafez and Saa'di, Persia's best-loved mystic poets, are buried here,
both in beautiful mausoleums.
One of the delights of Shiraz is its
shady, enchanting gardens where fountains play - here, sipping tea,
eating orange-blossom ice cream and smoking the water pipe amid
the strains of classical Sufi music, you can lounge away the afternoon
in the cushioned and carpeted alcove of a tea pavilion. Be amongst
the pilgrims who journey to the King of Light shrine with its thousands
of glittering mirrors and intricate tilework.
Take the time to visit the mediaeval Vakil mosque, a relic of the
Zand Dynasty, the charming Bagh-e Eram Gardens of Paradise planted
with cypress, pine, orange and persimmon trees, and Narenjestan
Palace.
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