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Taken on our recent trip to Esfahan (aka Isfahan) Iran.

This bazaar is totally amazing. We spent nearly two days (dazed) walking around it, above it and visiting the mosque. It encircles Imam Square, and you can gain access to the stupendous Imam Mosque from the square. The bazaar is apparently two kilometres long however, due to the crowds and amazing art, artifacts and food for sale, you’ll walk about 500m in approximately one hour, and that’s fast.

Parts of the bazaar are two stories high and you can go up there and see the artists making the souvenirs sold in the bazaar below.

Esfahan really is one of the MUST SEE cities on this planet.

We really enjoyed our trip to Esfahan and hope to go back there again someday.

Canon 7D
Canon Lens 15-85mm
Single photo – RAW converted to JPG

31 May 2010 Featured in Around The World

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Further info from http://archnet.org/library/sites/one-site.jsp?s...
The two kilometer bazaar is a vaulted street that links the old city, the Friday mosque and old maydan with Shah Abbas’ new maydan. The entry at the Maydan-i Shah is marked by a large portal that mirrors in form the entrance portal of the Shah Mosque. The iwan of the bazaar portal is flanked by galleries and crowned with the representation of Sagittarius in mosaic tile.

The portal accesses the royal bazaar, the royal mint and the royal caravanserai, leading to the major artery of the bazaar. Mosques, hamams and khans lead off this main street, much of which is lit by circular openings cut into the brick vaults, shafts of light dotting the passage at certain times of day.

Further details of EsfahanIsfahan below from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esfahan

Isfahan is located on the main north-south and east-west routes crossing Iran, and was once one of the largest cities in the world. It flourished from 1050 to 1722, particularly in the 16th century under the Safavid dynasty, when it became the capital of Persia for the second time in its history. Even today, the city retains much of its past glory. It is famous for its Islamic architecture, with many beautiful boulevards, covered bridges, palaces, mosques, and minarets. This led to the Persian proverb “’Esfahān nesf-e jahān ast” (Isfahan is half of the world).

Beautiful bridges in Esfahan below:
Si-o-Seh Pol – Esfahan – Iran – Daylight

Si-o-Seh Pol below at night

The next bridge along from this one is Ferdowsi Bridge:

Sheikh Lotf Allah Mosque – Esfahan

Inside Imam Mosque below:

Entrance to Imam Mosque:

If you’d like to see my work that has been FEATURED (WOOHOO!) in a Group then Click -→ FEATURED!

The links below will take you to various sets of my work:

1. Persepolis
2. Pasargadae
3. Persia
4. Esfahan – Iran
5. Shiraz – Iran
6. Time Lapse
7. Black & White
8. High Dynamic Range – HDR
9. Birds
10. Sydney
11. Luna Park – Sydney
12. Long Flat – NSW
13. Sofala
14. Fireworks