Blogs from North, Iran, Middle East - page 10

SJan16 – Yek Shanbe Got a good night’s sleep – as far as I remember – and up early as a result. I take advantage of the metro, walking west along Taleghani to Moffateh St. to get the Taleghani Station and I casually make my way to Behest-e Zahara cemetery where most Tehranians or Iranians are buried, including those killed in the 1980-88 Irag-Iran war. First, I visit the Holy Shrine of Imam Khomeini. The Shrine is not a particularly pretty site to visit but I try to make the best of a bad thing. I enter a Mosque for the very first time (first ever as a Muslim, sshhh?). I take off my shoes, check in both Canon cameras, but not the iPhone, which they allow everyone to retain. I walk around and am actually ... read more

Most of yesterday involved taking it easy and/or getting ready for the next leg of this trip -- Tehran! I think this will be the most difficult part of this holiday, but I am optimistic nonetheless. I arrive in Tehran Jan 13 (Thurs) – panj shanbe at 4:00am -- and, fortunately for me, my pick-up has been arranged, for what could only have been otherwise described as a 'most' difficult task -- imagine, travelling into 15 million population city, to the downtown, alone, in the middle of the night to the Hotel Atlas. (Read later blogs to get more on just how difficult getting to the Atlas can actually be for a tourist, even when I am from one part of the city to another in Tehran.). Luckily for me, Elham D. is waiting to deliver ... read more

I'm just going to summarise Iran as oppose to a day to day account as there was quite alot of driving and to honest I can't really remember what happened! We left early in the morning for the border us ladies looking stunning in our full on muslim gear including headscarf and my gay wizard outfit! We said goodbye to our european bus driver Martin and crossed over into Iran which was surprisingly easy just more fingerprints and luckily no searches! Got our new bus and drivers and our Iranian guide who made us feel ridiculous as she was wearing jeans, a hoody and a scarf casually draped over her head! First night we stayed in Tabriz and to be honest not as scary as we all thought it would be and everyone here and in ... read more

Hamadan Hamadan, was known in classical times as Ecbatana - the ancient capital of the Medes - and was once one of the greatest cities of the ancient world. Nope, I'd not heard of it either! More often than not, travelling in Iran makes you shamefully aware of your own ignorance about things removed from that speck land at the end of the Eurasian land mass known as Europe. To a self-described history buff such as myself it is equally embarrassing and irritating to come across something such as Ecbatana for the first time and know absolutely nothing about it. Zilch. Heavy sighs for a classical education.... According to my LP guide book the ancient city of Ecbatana once had seven layers of walls - as long as classical Athens and two of which were coated ... read more

Sa-lam again from Iran and chet-ou-rey? - how are you? I’m having a wondrous time here in Iran, this place ticks all of the boxes; good weather, layers upon layers of history with accompanying ancient ruins, inquisitive people, friendly people, hospitable people, that happened to be rather oppressed because of a culture dictated by religious fundamentalisms and utterly foreign to a Western traveler like myself. I’m in my element. Travelling south from Tehran on a modern Volvo coach I headed for the town of Kashan, bypassing the city of Qom. Why? Its where the hard-line mullahs who run Iran all live and thus is a conservative place for anyone to stay. When I say conservative I mean unsmiling sombre mullahs in beards and robes walking around and women covered form head to toe in black chadors ... read more