Iran

Visited: September 2004

Duration of visit: 25 days

Capital city: Tehran

Population: 75 million (2004)

• Despite negative publicity in media, I was feeling save and secure on every step.
• Iranians are eager to show hospitality to all visitors: could be talking, inviting for a cup of tea, opening doors of their homes or just helping with an advice on a street.
• Impressive mix of history, culture, religion and architecture.
• Being invited to a house of new friends in Teheran and Rasfanjan.
• Historical cities of Esfahan, Shiraz, Yazd and Qom with mosques, tombs and museums.
• Observing pluses and minuses of Iranian Revolution, impacting lives of a country with one of the youngest population in the world.

Iran is one of those places, where I wouldn’t go, if l had listened to the news or advices from my friends back home. One of those few countries in the world that are big enough to survive independently, proud enough to sacrifice everything for the cause of its leaders, while on the other side regular, humble people, who are so welcoming that they would do anything to make a visitor happy. The friendliest people beside Syrians and Sudanese that kept me inviting to their homes, eager to talk, share experience and help at any step.

Iran was part of my overland trip from Europe, through Middle East and East Africa – the Big African Tour in 2004. During this trip I visited the most important regions of the country and spent almost a month travelling around by buses, trains and private vehicles.

Iran is a country with a population of 75 million people (in 2004). After decades of rule by Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, in 1979 the internationally disputed Ayatollah Khomeini plunged the country into the Islamic Revolution that continues today. The main components of Iranian revolution are: Allah, Islam, the atomic bomb, covered women with limited freedom, restriction of freedom of speech and/or rights.

The most visible result reflects in women appearance in public life. They are obliged to cover with clothes that eliminate body curves and hide femininity – chador is a full-body cloak in 99% black, covering women from head to toe. In some more liberal cities, black is replaced by blue, green and even red, which is a real deviation.

For young men and women is forbidden to socialize, drink alcohol, dance, listen to dance music, visit (non-existing) night clubs and bars. In short, young people have very limited freedom in Iran – the country with the youngest population in the world.

On the other hand, the Revolution laid the foundations for free education for everyone. In 20024 for the first time, more female than male students were enrolled in universities. I can only guess what the girls do when they finish their studies, as the vast majority of jobs in practice are dedicated to men.

In order to impose the controversial revolution, the ayatollahs always wanted to possess an atomic bomb to blackmail Americans, just like North Korea does. It is true that Khomeini died many years ago, but the new religious leaders, with the support of some 3 million soldiers, police and secret agents, continue practicing his doctrines. Up to 10 newspapers are shut down every year, satellite dishes are ferociously removed from time to time, while the internet access is allowed, but certain web sites and contents are blocked.

I applied for an Iranian visa at the consulate in Ankara at 9:00am. After filling out the forms and meeting an Iranian, who invited me to visit him, when I would be in Iran, a friendly consular officer gave me a map of Iran and told me I could get a tourist visa in 2 hours. And so, it happened. I got my visa in only 2 hours (usually period of waiting for other countries was 1 to 2 days). I was happy with very promising first, positive impressions.

I crossed Turkish – Iranian border with my girlfriend and we were welcomed by kind police officer who wished us a nice stay in his country and warned us that women in Iran need to cover the whole body all the time.

While looking for transport options to Tabriz, Hashem – an owner of Volkswagen van approached to us and offered free transport. A kind of surprised, I accepted an invitation and spent the next four hours listening to hypnotic chest – beating and singing music and dancing, while Hashem was trying to overtake any vehicle in front of us. I little bit scarred, but extremely thankful, I got off the car in Tabriz and started to look for accommodation.

It wasn’t easy to find inexpensive guesthouse and most of the hotels were well over my budget. At the end I stayed in Darya hotel, which was actually more a cheap guesthouse than a serious hotel. An older owner, who reminded me on a French actor Luis de Fines, was extremely helpful.

I filled-up the forms and gave him our passports. He took it in his hands and put it off in a table drawer. I was shocked, worried and not willing to leave my passport in a drawer where it would be exposed to any person passing by, while he would fall asleep or go to another part of the guesthouse.  We were discussing the issue for a few minutes before the boss opened the drawer and showed me a pack of 20 other passports and documents from all guests in the hotel.

“You are in a very safe country and if I lose your passport, I will go to jail. A person that would dare to steal it, could be in big troubles! You will get you passport back, when your check-out from the hotel.”

The conversation was finished. I calmed down after seeing so many other documents and later went through the same procedure of giving away my passport to managers in all hotels in Iran.

A daily visit to Kandovan reminded me a lot on Cappadocia in Turkey. Manmade cliff dwellings, excavated in volcanic rocks with cone form of the roofs that were probably shaped due to erosion, wind and rain, are distributed throughout the hill.

The biggest difference with Cappadocia is today’s usage of the buildings. While in Cappadocia most of the structures are dedicated to tourist accommodation, restaurants or souvenir shops, Kandovan is actually a place where locals live.

They have been living in similar way for 700 years; hiding and living in the caves that proved to be a good shelter and energy efficient homes. A local family invited me to their house, showed me around and offered me tea, bread and cheese. It was all so natural and spontaneous that we got along as good old friends.

When I was ready to get back, I acquainted a group of volunteers from the holy city of Qom. A group of young students and his teachers invited me to join them in a bus to Tabriz. It was an interesting trip full of singing and fun. At the end I was invited to visit them in Qom.

On the way to Tehran, I stopped in the city of Qazvin. It used to be a capital of Iran, but these days is more famous as textile center, well-known for carpets, poets, seedless grapes and baklavas. I was impressed by magnificent evening atmosphere with many lights, people and families walking around, eating, drinking tea and relaxing.

I visited active Jameh Mosque of Qazvin, one of the oldest mosques in Iran and a mosque with the grave of Imamzadeh Hossein, built in the mid-16^th century as a pilgrimage center. These were the first holy structures that I explored in Iran and they impressed me with architecture, colors and commitment of believers.

As everywhere in Iran, the separation of men and women is a normal procedure that can be frustrating and difficult to understand from European (liberal) perspective. As a foreigner and temporary visitor, I probably don’t have the right to judge what is better and what the impact on society is. But it has been very obvious that people of Iran are extremely friendly, warm and treat themselves nicely. Therefore, I would say that limitation and prohibition of gender mixing is a hard restriction that most of them wouldn’t agree with.

The capital city Tehran is one of the biggest cities in Middle East. From Grand bazaar and fashion shopping malls to art galleries and traditional tea houses or coffee shops, traffic jams and chaos on the streets, to packed metro trains at rush hours; it is also a center of manufacturing facilities for cars, arms and heavy industry. I spotted women completely covered with black chadors and young girls hardly hiding their beautiful hairs. Modern and traditional society, predominantly secular, but sometimes also liberal city. The city of extremes.

I was riding in the front part of a local bus that was dedicated to male passengers and carefully watching the surroundings to get off at the right station, when I suddenly heard the screaming of my girlfriend in the rear side of the bus, reserved exclusively for women: “Get off the bus at the next station!” She didn’t know where I was planning to stay in Tehran, so I was surprised that she was giving me instructions where to get off the bus.

When leaving the bus, I noticed that she was accompanied by an elderly woman who invited us for a lunch to a canteen of Iranian Central Bank. Employees were looking a little bit strange at me, smiling and saluting. The food was good, incredibly cheap and access obviously allowed also to well informed or invited foreigners.

Tara, as the old lady introduced to me, is retired, lives together with his son Keyvon, speaks pretty good English and does not support the current system in Iran. I would say she is not as much devoted as I believed every Iranian Muslim is. She invited us to her home, where we stayed for the next four days, eating, sleeping, having conversation and infinite number of cups of tea. Keyvon is currently unemployed college graduate, who likes to play computer games and often complains about repressive policies of religious rulers.

We watched a concert of Jennifer Lopez from a pirate CD, played video games and discussed about secret, underground parties.

Everybody knows about hot Iranian girls who apparently party long hours in secret underground places, where being caught by secret police or security forces would lead to catastrophic consequences for lifetime. But many young people just can’t resist the temptation of alcohol, sex and drugs, which are prohibited.

Even a Slovenian ambassador in Tehran told me about crazy parties that he was invited to as an official representative of the country. He couldn’t help me with a recommendation letter for Syrian embassy or getting Syrian visa, but he offered me a glass of prohibited liquor at the Embassy and put into words underground activities in Tehran.

Friday prayers in Iran and in general in Islamic countries is the most important weekly ritual. Muslims believe Friday was chosen by God as a dedicated day of worship. In addition to the prayer itself, which is shorter than the usual midday prayers, Friday services include a sermon, usually given by a professional male Muslim clergy member.

Being in Tehran on a Friday, I wanted to attend the main prayer where the supreme leader Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei was going to lead the praying and giving a speech. Keyvon was my translator and supporter while trying to get a special permission to enter the restricted area in downtown. I filled all the forms, added my photo and tested my patience.

After two hours of waiting and asking questions to security guards I gave up and returned home. There were already so many men passing the checkpoint that I was not going to come close enough to see anything, even if I had been given a permission.

Mosques, museums, parks and main squares in Tehran are not as imposing as in Esfahan, Yazd or Shiraz, but The National Jewelry Treasury in Central Bank is one of the most dazzling collection of diamonds, gemstones and jewelry known in the world.

I don’t remember seeing similar collection of precious stones that would have had such a powerful impact on me. Recorded history of the Treasury of jewels began with the Safavid monarchs in 16^th century and ended with Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was the last shah (king) of Iran, until his overthrow in the Iranian Revolution on 11^th February 1979. Valuable rubies, precious gemstones, priceless crowns, countless diamonds, expensive swords and shields decorated with jewel are few examples of what is exhibited in the museum. Located in an excusive position of exhibition is the Sea of Light Diamond, one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, weighing an estimated 182 carats (36 grams).

Mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini is located on the southern outskirts of Tehran. Construction begun in 1989 following Khomeini's death on 3^rd June of that year. It was still under construction when I visited it and it will probably take decades to finish this ambitious project, which will be spread over 20 square kilometers. Beside Ayatullah Sayyid Imam Ruhallah Musawi Khomeini tomb, it will be also housing a cultural and tourist center, a university for Islamic studies, a seminary, a shopping mall; all together budgeted at 2 billion US dollars.

I was not very impressed at what I saw under construction and many other shrines or tombs around Iran were more outstanding at that time.

The Shrine of Fatima Masumeh in the second most sacred city in Iran – Qom, was probably the most beautiful landmark in Iran for me. Just standing in front of this mosque and observing pilgrims, who pray for hours to their honored saint buried in one of the most significant Shi'i shrines in Iran, is absolutely stunning. The golden dome above the mausoleum, decorative muqarnas vaulting in the entrance of the shrine and Islamic architecture. Pilgrims at the Shrine of Fatima Masumeh follow rituals that have been passed down for centuries.

During Ayatollah Khomeini's 1979 Iranian Revolution, Qom was named the birthplace of this movement. Khomeini studied in Qom and lived there at the beginning and end of the Revolution. He used images of the Shrine of Fatima Masumeh in posters, money and stamps created during the Revolution. There are thousands of pilgrims that look pretty fanatic camping around the mosque.

It was a comfortable ride in a new Volvo bus with air condition that brought me to Esfahan, by far the most beautiful city in Iran. Negotiations with taxi drivers for a lift to the hotel were hard and finally the service was bad. It was the only time during my trip that I had to exchange some hard words with anybody to finish the unpleasant conversation.

A famous Amir Kabir Hostel was a dump, where I ended, even though I didn’t want. Somehow, I just didn’t manage to find a better option. It looks as they don’t fix anything, if it doesn’t fall on your head or cause damage to visitors in general.

The general atmosphere in the city is very different from what I have experienced so far in Iran: a lot of young people on the streets seem much more relaxed, tourist groups are present, much less chaotical traffic on the streets and pedestrian zones, while girls cover their hair with more colorful scarfs that tend to fall off their heads very easily by coincidence.

Esfahan is famous for its Perso–Islamic architecture, grand boulevards, covered bridges, palaces, tiled mosques and minarets. In addition to being an important regional and provincial capital, the city is one of the most important architectural centers in the Islamic world.

Once the magnificent capital of Shah Abbas’s Safavid Empire, Esfahan is brimming with historic delights, some of which date back to pre-Islamic Iran.

Imam Square is the overwhelmingly impressive central attraction of Esfahan, which features a number of architectural wonders: many historical buildings, monuments, paintings, artifacts and legendary Shah Mosque: blue tilework mosaics, splendid Quranic calligraphy, outstanding minarets, and perfectly geometrical floral motifs are some of the features that defies it as one of the most beautiful mosques in the world.

While the Shah mosque was built for the public, Sheikh Lotfollah mosque was more of a private mosque for use by the royal court. The structure itself is smaller, but all architectural and designer details of the inner dome takes your breath away. Looking above at the center of the dome at the sunset, the light gives you the illusion of seeing a peacock tail.

Esfahan’s Grand Bazaar with alleys, domes, high ceilings and one of the only teahouses on Si o Seh Bridge, were places that I visited several times.  The name of the bridge means “33” - due to its 33 arches that stretch across the Zayandeh River. A fine example of Safavid bridge-building, built at the turn of the 17^th century, is almost 300 meters long, beautifully symmetrical, and especially atmospheric when lit up at night.

On 30^th September 2004 Iran celebrated Imam Mahdi's Birthday. It is a national holiday; people decorate and light up streets, gather inside mosques and other religious sites across the country.

The most memorable was an evening celebration when many public kitchens were opened on the streets of Esfahan. People were gathering around large pans, containers and baskets, where free meals for everyone were donated. I was invited to join the queues and taste delicious vegetable food with traditional bread and tea that was offered with sweets for the kids.

In Shiraz we settled down in a hotel where only local guests were staying. Receptionists couldn’t speak a single word in English, but we manage to communicate about everything. I noticed juice stands for the first time after Tehran, but they were not as tasteful as in the capital city. Women in Shiraz are dressed even more liberal than in Esfahan. They are not ashamed to talk, almost uncover their beautiful hair and show perfect make-up on attractive faces.

Shiraz was the capital of Iran during the Zand dynasty (AD 1747-79) and arguably the most important city in the medieval Islamic world. Admiring stunning mosques, wander its streets, get lost in its gardens and numerous bazaars, kept me busy for two whole days.

The Nasir-al-Mulk, better known as the Pink Mosque, is the top landmark in Shiraz. Dazzling stained glass, thousands of colorful (also pink painted) tiles on the ceiling and Persian rugs covering the floor, give it a peaceful atmosphere. Especially in the early morning, when the sun reflects the stained-glass patterns onto the floor.

Shah-e-Cheragh Shrine is one of the most important pilgrimage centers and the third most important shrine in Shia Islam in Iran (after the shrines of Imam Reza in Mashhad and Fatima in Qom), well-known for being home to the tombstones of the brothers Ahmad and Muhammad. The walls and the ceiling are decorated with millions of tiny pieces of glittering mirrors and the floor is covered by light green marbles. The exterior is equally stunning – onion-shaped dome is made from thousands of pieces of crafted tiles. There are also two short minarets, located at both ends of the main column of the temple, which contribute even more to its grandeur.

A daily detour to Persepolis was extremely awarding. One and a half thousand years old ruins of the city are very well preserved. Horse sculpture, aggressive tigers, columns, carved motives of kings and interesting museums inspired me to take a bunch of photos.

The distance between cities of Shiraz and Yazd is approximately 450 kilometers. The trip could be easily done by a luxury bus (Volvo) in less than seven hours. Unfortunately, Volvos only drive on this route at night, while I fancied daylight option, starting at 7:30 in the morning by a regular bus. A slightly longer alternative that would take nine hours.

Without air conditioning, television or other perks, I was happy with a seat in the front row, supervising a crew of an experienced driver and senior assistant. After a good hour of driving, the bus started to smell on burnt plastic, drivers from cars that were overtaking us, were waving and calling attention. When our driver finally realized about unusual smell, he stopped.

It turned out that 2 tires exploded at once. The senior assistant prepared all the tools and jumped on the roof like a spider to search for the second spare tire. Because of his skills, he was immediately given a nickname Spiderman.

Unfortunately, the second spare tire was without a rim, so the driver stopped the first passing pick-up car, loaded punctured tires and drove to the nearby vulcanizer. We waited for about two hours for the driver to finally show up again. Meanwhile, the locals jumped into a nearby corn field to stockpiled with corn (the women used their spare scarves for it) and I had an interesting conversation with fellow students.

After the break, our driver drove like crazy, overtook all moving vehicle on the highway to compensate the lost time. Half-hour lunch break was reduced to a 15-minute fast feeding with rice and sauce. In the afternoon we turned into a 200 kilometers long desert belt and just when we were somewhere in the middle, the smell of roasted rubber manifested again. We stopped in the middle of desert, this time with only one flat tire. No problem for Spiderman. We were all happy to board the bus after 20 minutes and for precaution the next two hours we reduced travelling speed from 120 kms per hour to 50 kms per hour, hoping the feeble tire would hold up.

We arrived in Yazd at night, finishing 12-hours adventure, desperate for a comfortable bed, delectable dinner and relaxing stroll through a night market with silk, carpets and unique jewelry stores. Unfortunately, many hotels were full or not accepting foreigner, therefore I walked around for an hour to find a suitable place to spend the night.

Next two days I enjoyed Yazd highlights, above all imposing three-story building with symmetrical sunken alcoves - Amir Chakhmaq Complex, and old town traditional architecture with brown mud-brick buildings and rooftops with unforgettable views and sunsets.

Bam is a small city in Kerman province, known for its dates and citrus fruit, old city surrounding the Bam citadel and a powerful earthquake that struck the city in 2003. When I visited Bam less than a year after earth tremor stabilized it looked as apocalypse.

Approximately 34,000 people died and over 200,000 were injured during the fatal event. The impact on local community was so strong predominantly due to the use of mud brick as the standard construction medium. The old town was practically completely collapsed.

It was tremendously sad feeling observing all destroyed structures, citadels, houses, mosques and markets, that were only a bunch of collapsed mud bricks. No renovation had started yet, only a narrow wooden observation desk and path were installed. On a huge poster there were two images: Bam before and after earthquake. Good moment to reflect on power of nature and insignificance of human race in space.

Another interesting event took place in Kerman. When we were in a teahouse, waiting for the bus to Mashhad, fascinating visitors were passing by all the time. Women were dressed lighter than anywhere so far; colorful scarves were hardly covering some hairs.

There was a young couple sitting in front of us, drinking tea, smoking shisha, pleasantly talking and looking towards our table. A young student Hemad with his girlfriend Mashid approached us and after a short conversation, he invited us to the town of Rafsanjan, less than an hour away, where they both attend a university. I had never heard of this city and had no plans to visit it. But hey, I am invited by new friends to sleep in their house! Let’s go!

I managed to reschedule bus ticket for the next day and jumped on another bus to please Hemad’s invitation. Rafsanjan is the biggest producer of pistachios in the world and his friends are in … pistachio business, of course! First, we stopped at pistachio store - warehouse, where Hemad made a phone call, offered me a can of the best quality pistachios and retreated to pray in another room.

About 15 minutes later Mustafa (his friend) and his father, pistachio trader and owner of a local bar arrived. They invited us to the main warehouse, where they keep a few tons of this interesting fruit, before being exported overseas. While dinner was ordered, we played computer games, watched the drying process of pistachios and started interesting conversation about Iranian lifestyle, habits, women, relationship and religion.

Dinner was followed by a night drive around the city in his friend Farshid’s brand-new Peugeot 206 while listening to Modern Talking music. The next day we visited local university, where two professors prepared me real Indian tea and donated me half a kilo of dates for the trip.

Iran is a country where alcohol is banned, internet is censored, hijab is compulsory for all females, men can be arrested for wearing shorts, Visa and Mastercard are not accepted. Capital city Teheran is one of the most air-polluted cities in the world. An Islamic republic is one of the biggest petroleum producers, supervised by religious police force, implementing lack of liberty and freedom.

Why the hell does it need an atomic bomb and a revolution only Allah knows.

I will always remember it by hospitable and kind people, beautiful mosques and markets. If the Americans bomb Iran, I will keep my fists up for my friends and all the Iranian people so that they can finally live in peace and freedom. That's all they need! They don't even want anything else.

Bottom-line, Iran is a country with many faces. It’s hard to understand it, not easy to live in, but extremely rewarding to visit it. Iran is one of my favorite countries that I visited.