Bahia Bustamante is one of the Holy Grail destinations for ornithologists.
Our brief tour took us from Tehran to Mashhad in the north east, Iran's holiest city, destination of 20 million pilgrims each year, on to Isfahan, Abbas's glorious capital and spiritual home, and back through Qom, the city of mullahs and fatwas.
Both Afghan and American officials believed that the three soldiers driving the holy books to their destination had little or no understanding of what they were carrying.
From nuns and businessmen to writers, secretaries and mail deliverers, many said they had confidence that mail sent from this holy city would reach its destination safely.
Correction: April 26 , 2000 Wednesday An article on Sunday about pilgrims in Rome for the Catholic Church's Holy Year celebrations misstated the destination of the pilgrims in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales".
Its destination, he said, was "the Holy City".
"With him winning the Varanasi seat, I am also confident about the development of this millennia-old city as a tourist destination," he added as bearded holy men dressed in saffron robes queued elsewhere to cast their votes.
The holy city of Varanasi is a popular tourist destination, but it is also known for its poor infrastructure.
For any driver, Ferrari is the holy grail of Formula One teams, the most coveted destination.
Ajmer is a couple of miles from Pushkar, a renowned pilgrimage destination for Hindus, surrounded by temples and holy ghats.
