It is a port city and the capital of Hormozgan province, on the southern coast of Iran. The city dominates the Persian Gulf and occupies a strategic position in the Strait of Hormuz. The earliest traces of Bandar Abbas date back to the reign of Darius the Great (522-486). Darius’s commander, Silacus, sailed from Bandar Abbas to India and the Red Sea. During Alexander’s conquest of the Persian Empire, Bandar Abbas was known as Hormirzad.
Arak
Arak is the capital of the Marazi province. Originally called Soltán Abad, the modern city of Arak was founded in 1808. Arak is surrounded by mountains to the south, west and east, and its average altitude is about 1,750 m above sea level. It is located 260 km from the city of Tehran.
The main agricultural products of the city are wheat, barley and fruits such as grapes, apple, walnut and almond. Arak also exports hand-knotted rugs, known as Sarouk rugs, named after a small town on the outskirts of Arak.
Abadan
The capital of the county of Abadan, province of Khuzestan, is located on the border of Mesopotamia inferior. It is a vast plain at the foot of the Zagros Mountains, overlooking the Persian Gulf.
It is located on the island of Abadan (68 km long, 3-19 km or 2-12 miles wide), bounded by the Shatt al-Arab River to the west, the Karun River to the north, and the Persian Gulf to the south. In medieval times it served as a source of carpets, woven straw, a supplier of salt and a navigation center for travelers and sailors.
The modernization of the city began in 1910 due to the oil industry. The first oil refinery, opened by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1912, with an annual capacity of 120,000 tons, became one of the largest refineries in the world in the 1960s. In 1948, the refinery’s employees accounted for one third of the city’s population, which was about 100,000, making Abadan the fifth largest city in the country.
Ahvaz
Ahvaz, the capital of the Khuzestan province, is the seventh most populous city in Iran, which is located on the bank of the Karoon River. With 9 bridges, Ahvaz has the largest number of bridges between cities in the Middle East which has led to it being known as the “city of bridges”. The Karoon River, located in the middle of the city, is the only navigable river in Iran.
In the past, Ahvaz used to be one of the centers of Christianity in Iran and with a daily oil producing capacity averaging 750,000 barrels it ranks among the cities with the highest oil production capacity. Ahvaz’s climate is desert and subtropical with long, hot summers and short, cool winters. The months of September, October, March and mid-April are the best to travel to this city. The white metal bridge built over the Karoon River with 501 meters long and 9 meters wide is not only the eighth largest suspension bridge in the Middle East, but also the fourth that was inaugurated in the world in 1936.
Urmia
Orumiyeh or Urmia is a city located in the northwestern part of Iran, dating back to the second millennium BC. according to historians. Its name means city of water in the Assyrian language, due to the existence of Lake Orumiyeh. Azeris make up the majority of its population, while the minority is made up of Kurds, Christian Assyrians and Armenians. As many Armenians and Assyrians used to live in this city, it has many spectacular old churches. Around the year 1900, Christians made up more than 40% of the population of Urmia, although most of them fled in 1918 due to the occupation of the Persian campaign in World War I and the Armenian and Assyrian genocide by the Ottoman Empire. Among the historical monuments and natural landscapes of Urmia we can mention: Lake Orumiyeh, Lake Marmisho, Jomeh Mosque, Seh Gonbad (three domes), the Cathedral of Mother Mary and the Cathedral of Saint Mary. Urmia usually has a cold climate and spring and summer are the best seasons to travel to this city.
Kerman Province is the largest province in Iran in terms of area, located in the southeast of the country and the historic city center of Kerman is the 10th most populous in Iran. This desert city was founded in the 3rd century BC. by the first Sassanid monarch Ardashir I, it was one of the obligatory stops on the Silk Road, since it served as a perfect communication hub with the Indian subcontinent. Marco Polo passed through this city in 1271 and recorded the quality of the goods that were sold in the bazaars. Its economy is based on the cultivation of pistachios, the making of carpets and the extraction of minerals.
The northern part of the city is in a desert area, but the southern part has a more moderate climate. Many of the attractions of Kerman can be found in the city itself, but the landscape that surrounds the city is also captivating, with patches of desert and large mountains, which appear snowed for much of the year. Kerman has more than 600 historical monuments of which 6 are registered with UNESCO: Lut Desert, Garden of Prince Mahan, Bam, Meymand village, Ganjali Khan Ensemble and Qanat.
Kermanshah
This historic city, dating from the 4th century BC. is surrounded by the Zagros mountains, on the border of Iranian Kurdistan and Iraq, and with the Behistun as the highest peak it becomes one of the most picturesque cities in the country. Due to its pleasant and temperate climate, Kermanshah was the second capital during Sassanid times. Some pieces of stones discovered in the Kermanshah caves are estimated to be 200,000 years old, belonging to the primary human beings.
This city serves as a base to know the prodigious reliefs of Behistun, remaining from the Achaemenid period, registered as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2006. From an economic point of view, Kermanshah is an important commercial center in the west of the country, focused on agriculture and industry. The region is an important producer of wheat, vegetables and fruits, and also contains agri-food factories (sugar, oil, flour), cement and textiles.
Bojnurd
Bojnurd is the capital of the North Khorasan province in northeastern Iran. The city of Bojnurd is located north of the Alborz mountain range and south of the Kappe Daq Mountains. In the northwest area, present-day Bojnurd, there is a hill that has been home to several historical works. The history of this city dates back to the Sassanid period. Then the city became home to various mystical and scientific figures. Due to the emergence of many towns around this city, Bojnurd is one of the main tourist destinations in Iran.
Ardabil
Ardebil, capital of the province of the same name, whose prominent archaeological sites and pleasant, cool climate during spring and summer attract many tourists annually, is located in northwestern Iran. The language spoken in Ardebil is Azeri from the Oghuz branch. Ardebil contains 8 hot springs and the Sabalan stratovolcano with a height of 4848 meters of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range is located in this province. Among the tourist charms of this province we can mention: the mausoleum of Sheikh Safi Al Din, the church of Santa Maria, the caravanserai Shah Abbasi, Shorabil Lake, Khosro Castle, Dokhtar Castle, and the lovely vaulted bazaar.
Hamedan, the first capital of the Medes, was founded in the 7th century BC. by order of the first king of Iran, Deioces. The Medes called this city Hegmataneh, while the Greeks called it Ecbatana, which means meeting place, where they met and chose Deioces as the first king of Media. The minority of the population of Hamedan was made up of Christians and Jews for the reason that the tomb of Esther and Mordechai, two Jewish characters whose tomb is the most important pilgrimage site for Jews in the country, is located in this city.
Among the Hamedan handicrafts, one can refer to pottery dating back seven centuries. The cities of Hamedan and Lalejin are the centers of pottery made in Iran.
Initially, the western borders of the independent Median principalities did not extend much beyond the western borders of the Hamedan plain. Its original territory of communication, as the Assyrians knew it during the period between the last third of the 9th century and the beginning of the 7th century BC., was very delimited by the north and the northwest. The Medes had no choice but to expand their territory to the southwest and occupied the Zagros valley.
This city is famous for the great scholars who were born and raised in it, such as Baba Taher, Mirzadeh Eshqi and Avicenna.
