Iran — The Best Place I Have Been
It is not what I saw but what I learned there
Iran has made the deepest impression on me so far. And I’m not only talking about monuments and landscape, which is truly exceptional from desert to snow-covered mountains, or the ancient ruins of the Ancient Persian Empire. It is more about the people and what I learned during my visit there.
The Iranian people
There are friendly people in several countries. But I did not know that such hospitality still exists till my visit to Iran. I was traveling as a solo woman, which attracted people’s attention. Countless families, men and women, offered their help and wanted to ensure that I had a smooth and memorable journey.
A policeman called his friend to drive me to the burial place of the Persian rulers near Persepolis because there was no public transportation. Later, he called me to ask if everything went well and needed any more help.
I visited Iran during Nowruz, the Persian New Year, when Iranians take two weeks off to visit their families and spend time in nature. I got an invitation to a local family for a festive dinner where even the lack of common language was not an obstacle. As usual in traditional Iranian homes, we had dinner sitting on the carpet and finished the evening by taking photos together.
When I was traveling on a distant bus, I was offered meals in the short breaks as the fellow passengers realized that I did not have any food with me, while the bus driver kindly showed me the place where I could get some tea for free. I was the only foreigner on the bus, and I really felt privileged.
Iranians love tourists, and Americans are not an exemption either. They appreciate so much if somebody travels despite the negative image depicted about the country by the media that they treat you like their most previous guest.
“Do you like Iran”? — they often ask
It makes them so happy if you answer: “Yes, I love Iran.”
Iran opens your eyes
The other reason why Iran was the best place I have ever been to is that it changed my perspective of traveling.
A country that receives so much negative coverage because of its radical Islamic regime seldom gets a place on the traveler’s bucket list.
However, since I only read positive feedback from travelers in Iran, it made me desperate to get first-hand experience. This is how it has become an eye-opening trip.
There are several restrictions locals must live with that the morality police checks. Women must dress modestly; only men can sing and dance in public, alcohol is illegal (except for the Armenian community for religious purposes), showing emotions in public, or behaving seductively can entail flogging or imprisonment.
I learned what tricks local people used to circumvent the rules imposed on them and build up a parallel life: one to show for the outside and the one behind closed doors. They organize mixed-gender private parties, buy alcohol from the black market, produce it secretly at home, and access otherwise prohibited foreign websites. Women continuously push their boundaries with the compulsory dress code, although wearing a chador was never a must, as most people think. Byron George, who visited the country as a businessman shares his insights into the secret life of Iranians in a fascinating article.
However, the international sanctions imposed on Iran due to its secret nuclear activity make it hard to survive. As usual, ordinary people suffer the most from their country’s foreign politics. Iranians face difficulties getting a visa to many countries. The local currency sharply devaluated, the prices of basic alimentary and property soared. Iran does not have access to the international banking system, and they cannot receive any payment from abroad. It also means that travelers cannot withdraw money from ATMs, pay with a credit card or book their accommodation on booking.com.
Once Iran and the USA had an extremely close and prosperous relationship, until the hostage crisis of the Islamic Revolution of 1979. After 9/11, George W. Bush declared Iran with Iraq and North Korea the “Axis of Evil” for supporting terrorism and producing weapons of mass destruction.
Finally, Iran is one of the best places I have ever been to because of its culture and landscape as well. Apart from Tehran, I was impressed by everything that I saw there:
- Isfahan with one of the largest public squares on earth
- Yazd, one of the biggest cities built out of mud brick, which remained almost entirely intact with desert architecture
- Kashan with traditional merchant houses
- Qom, the most religious place in Iran
- Shiraz, the city with the pink mosque and stunning Persian gardens
- Kurdish stepped villages where men wear traditional baggy pants
It is a vast country of 1,648,195 km2, and I have not seen everything in two weeks. But I plan to return there. I want to visit Mashhad, the second holiest city of Iran, the southern islands of Qeshm and Hormuz, and observe the lifestyle of the Iranian nomads.
But more importantly, I want to learn more about this extraordinary place from the Iranian people. Persia has everything to become a top travel destination, but the lack of information and misrepresentation of the country still evokes false perception.
Since my trip to Iran, I know traveling is more about learning than visiting. A first-hand experience gives an entirely different perception of the place, and what you once ignored could quickly become your most special place.
Thank you for reading!
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