Yazd-e Khvāst

Izadkhast stands on the road between Isfahan and Shiraz, where a fortified settlement crowns a narrow rocky ridge above a valley. Its tightly packed mud-brick houses rise within the walls, protected by steep ground on either side. A caravanserai and bridge below the castle served travellers on the great north–south route. The Safavid bridge and inn joined an older fortified site to the network of roads and stopping places that linked the royal capital with southern Iran.