Once again, after Lusitanus on Focus and Brazil On Focus and Sicily on Focus, the international photographer Paula da Silva organizes a photographic tour of a historical country, with a very ancient culture and horse breeds that few know about: Iran.

A journey full of exoticism, horses of ancient and rare breeds, millenary architecture.

 The trip will last 19 days, but a shorter tour of 12 days can be also organized. 

We will be exploring beautiful cities like Kashan, the first great oasis on the edge of the great central desert, with Fin Garden,  one of the oldest and most beautiful cultural gardens in the world, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

An then there is Isfahan, a city of art and architecture, with a square (Naghsh-e Jahan) which is a UNESCO heritage site. Shiraz in the mountains (1486m), second literary city in the world and cradle of poets and writers, with bookshops full of treasures for those who love books.

Persepolis, a UNESCO site, which still presents the ruins left by the army of Alexander the Great who had it destroyed to symbolize the end of the Persian Empire.

We will also visit two tribes of nomads, one of them rarely photographed, and we will spend a day or two with them, to learn about their traditions and talking about their horses.

We will meet Ali, president of the Archery Federation of Iran, multi champion of the world of archery on horseback. He has the only academy of this discipline in the world, we will spend a day with him. He is also a person of great charisma.

Breeds of horses that we will find and that at least in one place can be ridden out in the trail: the  Caspian horses, Hamdani family of ASIL horses (which can be found only there),  Kurd horses, Turkmen horses (Akhal Tèké, the “metallized” horses) and finally a local breed called Darreshour, very interesting too.

We can bath in the thermal waters in Ardabil, and even spend a few hours in a spa to reinvigorate body and soul in a serene and harmonious environment.

The VISA might take 4 or 5 months to get, and the trip will be at the end of September (starts on the 22nd). They don’t put stamps in the passport, but give the Visa in a separate paper. Brazilians and Portuguese do not have any problems to obtain the Visa. At this point it is impossible to get a Visa for US citizens.

The stay will be very comfortable, surprisingly comfortable but not luxurious, the guide is a very well known photographer abroad who is also certified guide by the Government, one of the few.

There are many more things to know and explore, time to shop for Persian carpets and other handcrafts in the bazaars, meetings with the local population, and a varied gastronomy of ancient origins.

The population is very affectionate, the country very clean and well organized, security is absolute because there is no criminality.

A working group has been created in FB to pose doubts and share informations and opinions, please contact me if you are interested to join it.

Photos in this page by Hamid Shokoui

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