I recently took a trip to Iran to see for myself. After all the stuff in the papers and on TV I didn’t know what to believe. I didn’t become an instant expert, but a short squiz was certainly better than not going at all.
Surprised friends all asked the same question: Aren’t you scared? Having travelled in the USA where hand guns are legal, including two weeks unarmed in New York, this question seemed a no-brainer and the answer an obvious ‘NO’.
Flying into Tehran is like flying anywhere: same airport culture, but no alcohol.. Too many cars, people, noise, elevated roadways, exhausts and building sites. Fifteen million people make Tehran home for one in every six Iranians.
Tehran has a metro with rubber tyres and you can actually hear yourself think. Destination signs are also written in English: just as well, for the Arabic-looking Farsi scrip is totally unintelligible to this monolinguist whose one Farsi word is ‘mumnoon’ or ‘thankyou’.
Shiraz is where the story really starts. It’s where the grape variety comes from, but you won’t find much wine. Maybe it’s behind doors, but the Islamic Republic is officially totally dry, and there’s no pubs or bars, and not a lot of cafes or tea houses either. If you’re hanging out for a drink, don’t go! If you’d like a grog-free holiday, do go and you’ll enjoy the break. There are plenty of excellent restaurants – and they, like all purchases with US dollars, are cheap enough.
Liberal-minded Shiraz is a beautiful city with much mud brick building, good hotels and fascinating bazaars and, of course, mosques. It was here I learned the Iranians’ appreciation of water and shade. There are beautiful public gardens with grassy swards, flower beds, and trees. Almost always you’ll find a shallow pool of water and the integration of these makes for a lovely oasis. Since Iran is so hot and dry it’s clear these places are essential for the emotional as well as the physical wellbeing of the locals.
As it is in Shiraz, so it is in Arbakoo, Yazd, Abenyah, Esfahan and Qum: the totally modern mixes with the ancient and the medieval. The older quarters are built to maximise shade and cool. Wind towers gather cool breezes from ten or more metres above and drop them into the ground floors in an impressive form of natural air-conditioning. Below ground, some towns have water distribution systems called ‘quanats’: no evaporation loss here, and no waste either as the water eventually emerges to irrigate crops and orchards.
Iranian topography is stunning! There is plenty of desert and plenty of water and wind sculpted mountain ranges with rugged profiles. And then there’s the light!
There’s also the fertile river valleys with their villages, orchards and irrigated fields. One such delightful place was the caravanserai where we overnighted: built of veneered mud brick with round and square geometry it’s a remarkable contrast to the flat plain and jagged mountains all around.
Esfahan is a world treasure of Islamic architecture. Its mosques and squares, domes, bridges, ceramics, designs and colours leave a non-mathematician in near total awe.
The same applies to Qum, capital of the ‘Koran Belt’ and ‘Mullah Central’.
And yes, there are religious fundamentalist attitudes in Iran, just as there are in the USA or Australia. These are universal: only the power behind them and the historical and cultural contexts are different.
Not everybody likes the theocratic state. Over half of the population is under thirty and the numbers seeking study or jobs overseas are high. Things will change in Iran though not all of what’s currently on offer is bad. Ask the American I met who reverse migrated: he misses the occasional footie game and the odd drink, but that’s about it.
I’d go back. I’d like to spend time around oil-rich Abadan, the Caspian Sea coast, Tabriz and holy Kerman.
We are told Iran is a threat, but with a culture so old and complex (as well as Islam there’s Persepolis, Zoroastrianism, Jews, Christians and Bahais) and with so much to lose from conflict, I doubt it.
In the midst of the Sea of Middle Eastern Turmoil stands an Island of Stability. I don’t particularly warm to the way it’s governed, and I have some issues about the status of women and the near absence of secular expression of ideas, but it works.
It’s a remarkably beautiful, fascinating place. And the people are so friendly!
Journal and photos by Dave.