I started my 11-day tour of Iran in April in the ancient Persian city of Persepolis, where 3,000-year-old palaces and gateways built by Xerxes and Darius the Great still stand. Although the city was looted and partially destroyed by Alexander the Great in 331 B.C., many of the original structures remain in a somewhat diminished but rehabilitated form. Persepolis, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lay dormant for centuries until the 1930s, when restoration efforts began. Although it is the chief tourist attraction in Iran, it is only one of many joys I experienced.