Category: Authentic Travel in Iran
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Iran Trip Surprises: vast Class & Culture Differences
“Bacon” snacks & joyful shoe shiner; Irony everywhere“Bacon” sandwiches, 700-billion toman apartments and joyful sidewalk shoe shiners: it’s impossible to just walk for the sake of walking in the wealthy northern Tehran. Irony is everywhere.
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Internet in Iran: Tips for Tourists
Plan ahead before your arrival to stay in touchInternet in Iran can be tricky to use for newcomers. But contrary to the myth, you are NOT shutoff from friends and family after you arrive in Iran. You can easily call back home by voice and video if you have the right apps on your device. You should plan ahead before your arrival on…
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Nervous Going to Iran
Why am I nervous If I was happy 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…
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Too much history in Italy & Aching for Iran
As I overdosed on seeing too much history in too many museums in Italy, I remembered tourists in Iran complaining about seeing too many historical sites.
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Travel in East Azarbaijan: Persian Hospitality
Sometimes it’s impossible to walk away from Iranians making an offer you can’t refuseSometimes it’s impossible to walk away from tenacious Iranian hospitality, especially when there’s tea from a charcoal-powered samovar and unforgettable abgoosht.
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Memories of War: “It will never let me go”
The story of one Iranian exposed to Saddam Hussein’s mustard gasThe Iranian vets exposed to Saddam Hussein’s mustard gas (made with ingredients provided by the West) suffer to this day. Here’s one story.
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“War is Senseless” – the message of Iran’s History
A visit of priceless structures spanning three millenniums and a lesson on our temporal predicamentsAn 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.
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Iranian attitude to the West: Intoxicated!
Despite the state’s best efforts, Farsi is as Westernized as ever because acculturation is a way of life in IranIranians 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.
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Unearthing Iran’s Past, One Mansion at a Time
Restoration of Kashan’s historical mansions is the work of dedicated artists and architects.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. It’s also testimony to the…
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Fresh from Farm is Real in Iran
With the right connections, eating locally-produced is possible and affordableGetting fresh dairy and eggs in Iran is not about money; like much of life in Iran, it’s about politics. First and foremost depends on the quality of one’s connections: knowing a supplier whom you can trust, getting the right phone call when supplies arrive from the countryside and securing your share before they’re grabbed…
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The Splendor of Fresh Iranian Bread
You seek it out like your life depends on itYou see the creation of food at a primal level, men relentlessly clawing the doe, molding and shaping it, and then facing the sometimes unbearable heat of the open oven–in order to feed themselves and the world around them. This is real; Wall Street speculation is not.
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From Manual Laborer to Tourism Boss
“Whatever you put out, comes back to you.”Twenty-five years ago Mostafa Pour-Aliabadi, 44, was a manual laborer. Last year, he and his wife, Sakineh, hosted 900 tourists at Kalout Ecolodge, six rooms he built around his garden, in the village of Shafiabad, near Kerman. The village is the very last populated area before the road veers into the world-renown Kaluts area of…
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Shepherds of Iran: Aliakbar
“Without kids you’re like a blind man”“What matters in the world is having kids, leaving something behind of yourself. I’ve got three sons and five daughters. Without kids you’re like a blind man. When you die, nothing is left of you.” – Shepherd Aliakbar Dandashti, 58.
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Getting High & Low in Naiband, Part III
Our lesson on quest for “authentic travel”The morning after our rat-or-snake-infested stay in the village of Naiband, Saeideh wanted to just drive away and not pay for the room. I said we owe ourselves the experience of complaining and seeing where it takes us. We arrived at the home of the village chief Gholamreza Hassankhani and his wife Zahra in the…
