Northwest Iran & Azerbaijan

1	2	3 Martine: Morning ritual	4 Kandovan: Village carved out in volcanic rock	5 Kandovan man	6 Kandovan
7 This is Nilofer	8 Lake Urmia: Drying up, leaving a barren salt plain behind	9 Lake Urmia	10 Lake Urmia: The remaining water has turned a deep pink due to halophilic ("salt-loving") bacteria	11 Random Iranians saying 'hi'	12 Lake Urmia at sunset
13 Lake Urmia at sunset	14 Qareh Kalisa (church of St Thaddaeus) near Maku	15 Qareh Kalisa	16 Qareh Kalisa: The sun breaks through the clouds	17 Difficult to find: Dzor-dzor chapel and Barun lake	18 Dzor-dzor chapel
19 On the road: Bridge with flags	20 Jolfa: Monastery of St Stephanos	21 Martine in the monastery of St Stephanos	22 Araz River valley: Historic hammam	23 Tabriz: Home of one of the oldest and largest historic bazaars	24 Tabriz bazaar
25 Tabriz bazaar	26 Tea vendor in the bazaar	27 Tabriz bazaar	28 Bazaar: Pigs' feet	29 Tabriz bazaar	30 Salesman in the bazaar
31 Tabriz: Jameh Mosque	32 Jameh mosque	33 Kabud mosque	34 Salesman in Tabriz	35	36 On the road: Village mosque in market compound
37 On the road: Amir making green tea with ginger and explaining to the locals how to do that	38 Martine in her dashing new Iran outfit	39 Men in Sanandaj	40 Men in Sanandaj, wearing Kurdish trousers	41 Kurdistan's lovely landscapes	42 Kurdistan's lovely landscapes
43 Kurdistan's lovely landscapes	44 On the road	45 Martine watching the sun set over the town of Paveh	46 Mr. Sadegh in front of his house in Hajij village	47 Mr Sadegh	48 Reservoir near Hajij
49 The cliff-side village of Howraman	50 Howraman	51 A fair sample of Howraman's finest	52 Shop in Howraman	53 Tree	54 On the road: Zagros mountains
55 Palangan: Cliff-side step-village	56 Palangan	57 Iran's Stonehenge: The 3000 years old Zoroastrian sanctum of Takht-e Soleyman	58 Takht-e Soleyman complex, built around a crater lake	59 Takht-e Soleyman	60
61 Zanjan's bazaar	62 Zanjan's bazaar	63 Zanjan's bazaar	64 Oljeitu's enormous mausoleum in Soltaniye, the capital of the Mongols in Persia	65 Lots of interesting modern architecture in Iran, this dental clinic being on the cheesy end of the spectrum	66 The cliff-side village of Masuleh
67 Masuleh: Three-dimensional maze of alleys with snug tea houses and merry tourists	68 Masuleh	69 The quite uninspiring Caspian Sea coast	70 Ardebil: Sheikh Safi mausoleum	71 Ardebil: Details of the Sheikh Safi mausoleum	72
73 Astara: Iran / Azerbaijan border crossing	74 Bus to Baku	75 Baku: Old City and the Flame Towers	76 City walls and the Flame Towers	77 City walls and subway station	78 One of the Flame Towers and Sahidlar Xiyabani mosque
79 The Heydar Aliyef Cultural Center, designed by Zaha Hadid