Shiraz: roses, poetry and nearby Persepolis

City of poets and Persian gardens, Shiraz remains the most convenient starting point for visiting Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid empire.

A car or taxi remains necessary to reach Persepolis.

The Nasir al-Mulk Mosque, known as the 'Pink Mosque', illuminates every morning with vivid colors when sunlight passes through its stained glass windows.

A short walk away, the Tomb of Hafez, the fourteenth-century Persian poet among the country's most venerated, houses a pavilion where visitors still read his poetry aloud today.

In the afternoon it is advisable to reach Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire founded by Darius the Great in the sixth century B.C. and burned by Alexander the Great.

Among the ruins of Persepolis, the still-visible bas-reliefs depict delegations from throughout the Persian Empire bearing gifts to the King of Kings during annual celebrations.

Alexander the Great set fire to Persepolis in 330 BCE, according to some ancient sources as an act of revenge for the Persian burning of the Acropolis in Athens a century and a half earlier.

Iranians continue to visit Hafez's tomb as an almost sacred site, often consulting his verses as an oracle for making important personal decisions.