Kan­dovan is the Iran­ian ver­sion of Cap­pado­cia. True, with­out bal­loons … but with­out crowds of tourists. Kan­dovan remained as ancient as it should be. The rock hous­es in this vil­lage are over 700 years old. And peo­ple live in them all the same, in the old fash­ioned way. From the ancient Per­sian “kan­dovan” means “bee hive”. Indeed, the rock for­ma­tions in this area resem­ble either a ter­mite mound or a bee house.

Wind­ing streets turn into court­yards of hous­es. Carved bal­conies and low doors some­times find them­selves in the most unpre­dictable places. Kan­dovan is authen­tic like all tra­di­tion­al vil­lages in Iran. Such set­tle­ments are no longer to be found in the civ­i­lized world.