Ardashir’s Palace: A20-minute drive away, Ardashir’s Palace is a much grander structure built beside a spring once Ardashir felt more secure. Given it is almost 1800 years old, its domes, clean, stable lines – which set the tone for all Sassanian architecture- remain hugely impressive.

Beyond Ardashir’s Palace once lay his city, which in its current form is an archaeologist’s dream, but requires plenty of immigration. With its perfectly circular plan, divided into equal sectors and separated by high walls, Gur was a hugely ambitious town-planning feat. The only existing building is the 30m-high ‘minaret’ that marked the center of the circle. Gur is about 3km along the sealed road between Firuz Abad and Ardashir’s Palace.