Blogs from Iran, Middle East - page 6

TEHRAN IRAN February 27.2017 Well after two days of flying, we saw the lights of Tehran. It was about 4:30 am and the sun was just rising on the horizon. As we got nearer to the airport, there was a denser layer of white smog covering the city. The tall mountains north of the city were covered with snow. As we landed a little car with flashing light on top and a “FOLLOW ME” sign in the back pulled in front of the plane. There were no ground crew holding red lights guiding the plane it. We arrive at the jetway and got off the plane. The plane was not full. Only four people in first class. Coach was only about 1/3 full. The signs leading you in to the officials were clearly marked. There were ... read more

Drink wine and look at the moon and think of all the civilizations the moon has seen passing by. - Omar Khayyam Our second day in Iran began a bit earlier, and we were picked up by our guide and his driver to make the journey outside the city to several ancient historical sights – particular highlights for Clement. We began at the Necropolis, the dynastic burial place of four Achaemenid kings, Darius II, Artaxerxes I, Darius I and Xerxes I (from left to right). There are bas-relief renderings of their palace facades carved above the tombs, and the openings lead to funerary chambers, where bones were stored after vultures had picked them clean. All the tombs had been ransacked by the Greeks – a common practice at the time for invading powers – but the ... read more

This place where you are right now, God circled on a map for you. - Hafez Within moments of entering the Islamic Republic of Iran, the secret police were on our trail. A man stopped our guide, whom we had only just met, before we had gone more than ten paces from passport control, and asked him in Farsi for his credentials and for details about our trip. It was a routine inquiry; American, Canadian and British tourists must be accompanied by a guide at all times while in the country, and even taking oneself to one’s hotel from the airport unaccompanied is illegal. I was so pleased to be waived into the country after weeks of nail-biting about potential visa retaliation against US citizens, given Trump’s executive order banning Iranian visitors to the US, that ... read more

TEHRAN TO YAZD, MARCH 2, 2017 Today we are on our way out of Tehran to drive to Yazd. We are first going to stop at the National Archeological Museum. It is here that you really appreciate the history of Iran. Mr. Hadi guided us through the various civilizations that have inhabited Iran and their contributions to the culture. The artifacts on display were fascinating covering a period of about 5000 years. As the civilizations progressed the artifacts increased in complexity and new techniques were discovered. It was really fascinating. One of the most interesting displays was “salt man.” This is the head, complete with hair and beard, and the leg still in a boot, of a 20-30 year old man who was killed in a salt mine accident and was buried in the salt mine. ... read more

TEHRAN, IRAN February 28, 2017 Well, we woke up at 2am and couldn’t get back to sleep. We’ll get this all sorted out in a day or two. We met our guide Hadi today and went to see the Niavaran Palace. This is a huge complex that covers 500 acres and has multiple parks and buildings The palace was started under the rule of the Qajars but completed under the Pahlavis. We toured two of the buildings which had been restored to their former glory and were filled with objects from the Pahlavi’s time. We then stopped for a cup of tea and then got back on our minivan and rode back toward the center of town for lunch. We stopped at a pizza place and had a good pizza and then went next door to ... read more