"The holiest of holy" Mashhad by trekking_tsar

Today I took the flight from Tehran to Mashhad. A nice flight with beautiful views over the fields and mountains of iran.
Mashhad being an out-of-the-way city (except when travelling to Turkmenistan or Afghanistan), but also an important city for Iran. Mashhad is home to the shrine of Imam Reza, the 8th Imam of Islam and that makes it the holiest city in Iran. At some times the city is overcrowded with pilgrims, but always are there pilgrims about. About 12 million visit the city each year.

In the plane I already had a touch of the pilgrimage going on. I met a 72-year old man from Baghdad, who had taken the bus to Tehran (and now the plane to Mashhad) to visit the shrine (and bring his ravaged book collection to the right level again ;-)
The city ityself is built around the shrine which I, as being a non-muslim, cannot visit. Tomorrow I can get a limited tour from the built-in international tourist office. Looking forward to that!