May 3, 2016 - Tehran

April 28 Tehran Day two, two more museums, another palace! Enjoyed all three. The Carpet Museum was first on the list. Displays outlined the history of carpet making in Iran, the different kinds of carpets, a bit about process. Best of all though was the display of carpets. Amazing! There was a variety of ages of carpets and a mix of nomad (pattern comes from inspiration of the weaver) and city carpets (pattern designed and followed precisely). Then it was off to the Glassware and Ceramic Museum. Here the building itself was reason enough...

May 3, 2016 - Persepolis

Friday, April 29 Persepolis Today was devoted to exploring the ruins of Persepolis,about an hour's drive out of Shiraz. Seemed to take about 30 minutes just to get out of the city. Its population is about 2.5 people so there's a lot of traffic. Although the roads/streets are in good shape and multi-laned, cross-traffic is handled rather strangely. Stop lights are spaced quite far apart, so, if you want to be somewhere to your left while on a major street, you have to drive to a roundabout so that you can make a turn back the way you came!...

Apr 30, 2016 - Tehran

Wednesday, April 27 Tehran Greetings from Tehran! Arrived at the airport in the wee hours of the morning yesterday. Once my bag finally showed up (It must have been on one of the last loads off the plane!), immigration was a piece of cake. We even were waved through for having our bags x-rayed. Then our group of 6 waited forever, it seemed, for 3 more people only one of whom actually emerged from the immigration area! Then an hour drive to the hotel. We turned the light out at 5:30 a.m.! We had left my place at roughly 7 a.m. on Sunday the...

May 27, 2015 - Yazd to Mashad Iran

I absolutely adored the mud brick city of Yazd. It is known for its “badgirs” or elaborate “chimneys” which channel the wind down into homes, cooling it off over water on its journey into the home and funneling the hot air away from the residence. As you can imagine, water also plays a major role in the desert; our guide pointed out the hundreds of bumps in the sand signaling qanats, or underground water channels. Yazd has an excellent museum detailing the lengths people have gone to maintain these channels and keep water flowing to the...

May 17, 2015 - Iran: Kandovan to Persepolis

I have always been curious about Iran. The few Iranians I have met have spoken of developed cities and friendly people. Of course, the media we receive gives the impression of a backwards, American-hating crowd. Then again, students did hold several Americans hostage not all that long ago..... Thrilled to be able to visit Iran at all, we were only allowed entry as part of a guided group. Unfortunately, what this meant was that we had to be guided, EVERYWHERE. We were basically on house arrest. Trying to get 18 overlanders to agree on...

Apr 12, 2015 - Farewell to Iran

Sunday April 12 Tehran airport Well my very interesting 17 days in Iran are over and we are sitting at the airport trying to drink a disgusting coffee. Only because we are thirsty. Taxi to airport a bit scary, Jean Claude in the front seat was terrified as he couldn't see out the windscreen in the heavy rain - I could just see through the drivers side. Barely functioning wipers so he got a generous tip to get new ones. Our last day and a half in Tehran made us like this city a little more. Friday night we went to the Artists centre for...

Apr 9, 2015 - Update 4

Friday April 10 We've spent the last 3 nights in the picturesque city of Esfahan which was once capital of Iran. About 2 million population and is the greenest city in Iran. Tree lined streets,lots of flowers and illuminations. Some beautiful arched bridges. On one of them people sing at night. Not busking though, just for pleasure or to show off. People here as everywhere are so friendly. Bought some earrings and the owner drew a small sketch of a woman and gave it to me. The main square, Imam Square is the second largest in the world and...

Apr 4, 2015 - Update no: 3

Wednesday April 8 We've spent the last 3 nights in the picturesque city of Esfahan which was once capital of Iran. About 2 million population and is the greenest city in Iran. Tree lined streets,lots of flowers and illuminations. Some beautiful arched bridges. On one of them people sing at night. Not busking though, just for pleasure or to show off. People here as everywhere are so friendly. Bought some earrings and the owner drew a small sketch of a woman and gave it to me. The main square, Imam Square is the second largest in the world...

Mar 31, 2015 - Iran 2015 - update 1

Well here I am in Iran - day 4 Uneventful flight to Tehran via Dubai with Emirates. I am an Emirates virgin and didn't think their service any better than many others. Still we arrived safely which is the most important thing. A hair raising taxi ride to our hotel with the driver either one hand on his phone or conducting the very loud music. Hotel was pretty basic as one expects from Intrepid original tours but clean enough with comfortable bed. It's New Year in Iran and most on two week holiday so Tehran traffic not as frantic as usual....

Jun 2, 2012 - Tehran

6-2 Last bus ride in Iran through Damghan where we saw lots of pistachios for sale in stands along side the road. The countryside was quite green around Shahroud and through Damghan perhaps due to a better than usual amount of spring rains in this region. Further S. where we traveled earlier in the tour to Shiraz they've been experiencing drought for the past 5+ years. Semnan was next and I did feel the increase in altitude (to 1,138 meters)...I get a toothache where I had my tooth capped 3 years ago. We see the Alborz mountain range all...

May 30, 2012 - Day Trip to Neyshaboor

Wiki Info Nishapur Wiki Info Toos/Tus 5-30 From Mashhad we take a day trip to Neishabour and Tous after a short stop at the bus station for tickets to Shahroud at 7 am tomorrow. In Neyshabooor we visited the tombs of Omar Khayyam, Wiki Info Omar Khayyam philosopher, poet, teacher, mathematician, and astronomer 1067-1123 AD. Very influential for me especially due to the wide spread rediscovery of his works by the 'hippies ' of the 60's. In the same area we visited the tomb of Faridodin Mohammad ebn e Ebrahim or Attar, mystic, writer,...

May 29, 2012 - Mashad

Wiki Info Mashhad 5- 29 Still in Esfahan: First we visited Jame' Mosque, oldest in Esfahan and largest in Iran. Next, to the Armenian church/museum which had on display - besides much about their history (including details of Turkish genocide of 1909-1st in 20th century w/ 1+ million murdered), -the tiniest book in the world - Lord's Prayer in 7 languages plus the 1st psalm printed on a human hair with a diamond point 20 x smaller than the hair! Our last tour visit here was the singularly unimpressive shaking minaret of mausoleum of Amu...