All posts related to travel and touring in Iran.
It’s a joy to be just a tourist in Iran. Outsiders aren’t treated like treated as the irritating mobile cash machines who brave the streets of Rome and Paris and Barcelona. But to live in Iran, it takes time and nerves to find your routine. What the ef am I going to do for my zoom meetings with the crappy Internet over there? But then if Iran is so bad, what made me so happy when I live there? I ask myself. Gotta go back to find out.
FLORENCE, Italy – Today I saw Hercules, with his penis in full view, beat the living daylights out of Cacus (also with his penis out). Then I saw Hercules beat some other poor fellow down the street. An hour later, I saw him again crushing a centaur at the world famous Uffizi Gallery. Too much..
Sometimes it’s impossible to walk away from tenacious Iranian hospitality, especially when there’s tea from a charcoal-powered samovar and unforgettable abgoosht.
The Iranian vets exposed to Saddam Hussein’s mustard gas (made with ingredients provided by the West) suffer to this day. Here’s one story.
Stunning example of globalization: in tiny Iranian village I find Chinese knickknacks and villagers crazy about Korean soaps they watch on satellite television.
An ancient wartime shelter tells us Iranians have survived the enemy for thousands of years. Regardless, war is senseless. Let’s set aside the fighting and live in peace, say locals in Sabzevar, Iran.
Despite the state’s best efforts, Farsi is as Westernized as ever because acculturation is a way of life in Iran. Iranians are enamored with all things Western. Tourists quickly discover that from the way the locals greet them in the streets and boldly initiate conversation. Sometimes total strangers ask to have selfies taken with tourists they met seconds earlier.
The furnishing of their homes, the pictures they put on their walls, the brands they put on display at every opportunity, the media they consume, even television news on state networks – much of life here one way or another originates outside Iran.
I have a soft spot for staying in village homes in Iran. I appreciate the simple architecture using rustic material, the thick walls, the thatch ceilings, everything weather-beaten. Furniture, if there is any, is usually the bare necessities. The decoration minimalist and fascinating, as in pictures of dead relatives on prominent display in antique frames…
It’s amazing how much of Kashan you can see in a single day, the bus ride from Tehran included, provided you make it to the bus station early. The town is small and taxi rides cheap and plentiful. I did have the advantage of being accompanied by a guide who swiftly took me from site..
The before photos remind me of post-war Germany. No bombing necessary, though. Disinterest in one’s past did the job. No after photos necessary either. The impossible stood in front me; the 230-year-old Ameri House of Kashan (kaw-SHAWN) back in its full glory, a veritable witness to persistence, thoughtfulness and love for Iran’s heritage. Before and after of Ameri..
One of the unique things about Mashhad is that it’s surrounded by fascinating landscape, only minutes outside the city. The stark landscape north of Mashhad is dotted with endless hills, lonely villages and gorgeous rocky outcrops. The area is known for its wild cherries. Winters are relatively mild in the plains. The snow stays on..
Bagh-e (Garden of) Akbarieh (or Akbariyeh), ancient home to the rulers of the area, today is the site of two museums, in Birjand, the capital of South Khorasan province, in northeast Iran. The garden is one of nine in UNESCO’s “Persian Garden” collection.