Yazd Bazaar

The trading rows of the old town, stretching between Amir Chakhmaq Square and the Jameh Mosque. This is not a single market but a chain of separate arcades and caravanserais from different centuries that have grown together into one route: Bazar-e Khan, Panjeh-Ali, Zargari. The galleries are covered with brick vaults with round openings at their apexes, which give an even light and draw off the hot air — in the climate of Yazd this is not decoration but a way of making trade possible in summer. Yazd lived on silk and cotton for centuries, and textiles remain the main goods here: they sell termeh — patterned woollen throws woven in these same quarters — and make the famous Yazd sweets, above all baklava and kaseteh. Besides the shops, old bathhouses, mosques and cisterns with wind towers are hidden away in the rows. There is less of a crush here than in the bazaars of Isfahan or Tabriz, and the bargaining is calmer.

On the map