Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
This is the inofficial motto of the US
Postal Service and inscribed on their
Main building in New York. These words
Were written 2500 years ago by the
Famous Greek historian Herodot who
Was full of praise for the Persian Empire’s
Mail system…..
OVER 3000 Years of Persian Culture
Vast deserts, snow capped mountains, dreamlike domes of world-famous cities such as
Esfahan or Shiraz, the ancient ruins of Persepolis and the merciless metropolitan area of Tehran. Only few countries offer so many contrasts as the Iran.
When I was young, I dreamed about traveling from Austria to Persia and I envied my friends who made it in their small cars to Persia and back. In school we were told that more than 2000 years ago the Persians were the bad guys because they attacked “our” highly civilized Greeks. So it was mere justice, when Alexander the Great totally destroyed their capital Persepolis.
The Shaw and his wives greatly influenced my imagination of Persia. The boulevard press was full of praise for that ruler, who resided in pompous palaces, almost like in a fairytale. For me it was then hard do understand why Persian students in my hometown burned effigies of the Shaw.
The revolution in 1979 surprised everyone. One religious zealot named Khomeini managed to topple the Shaw and his powerful army. All of a sudden the fairytale were gone, and the country with the new name Iran lost attractiveness as a travel destination.
Iraq, then a “good state” (according to US-ratings) attacked Iran, hoping for an easy prey. The war was long and furious and millions of lives were lost. Iraq even used the later infamous weapons of mass destruction, obtained from the US. Taking hostages from the US embassy in Tehran further diminished Iran’s reputation.
In the meantime Iraq has been “liberated”, but Iran continues to be rated as one of the three rogue states. Even last year I thought it to be too risky to travel to Iran. I did not want to die from US or Israeli fighter jets. In 2009 the situation got more relaxed and we decided to travel.
Iran or Persia?
Both is correct. Iran is related to the word “Arian”. Persia got its name from the ancient region of “Pars”. When Arabs (who have no ‘p’ in their alphabet) conquered Persia, the Parsi language was now called ‘Farsi’.
Prejudices and Our Impressions
Iran is definitely not loved by the media. It has a theocratic regime that allegedly sponsors worldwide terrorism and secretly works on an atomic bomb in order to destroy the US and Israel. Thieves get their hands amputated, and the mullahs wrap the Iranian women into black cloth so that they look like ugly crows.
We have found the Iranians to be warm-hearted, good looking, elegant, highly educated, charming, peace-loving and pleasantly curious. Despite the law that their heads have to be covered in public, it is easy to find out that Iranian women are very pretty. Traditionally the first question is “where are you from?”. Austria in Farsi is like the French “Autriche”, and there were several Iranians who spontaneously mimicked a fiddler when hearing that we come from the country of waltz.
Our Tour
When reading a travel guide one is tempted to spend a month in Iran. When you travel for a week – as we did – you need to limit yourself to the absolute highlights and make some use of domestic flights. We visited Tehran, Shiraz and nearby Persepolis, Jazd (Yazd) and Isfahan.
Iranian Peculiarities
The most striking peculiarities are the dress code for ALL women and ……alcohol. “Women who show their hair will go to hell” and therefore women have to wrap themselves into black cloth, called chador. The more rebellious women soften that dress code by wearing a headscarf in “very decent” colors in combination with a very un-elegant coat. The very bold women show some hair, and even dye some blond strand of hair, use heavy makeup and choose brighter colors for their headscarf. Headscarf is a must, there are no exceptions, not even for female tourists, and I have not seen a single exception. It starts with the stewardess of Iran Air at the airport of Vienna. Needless to say that Hertha’s generous interpretation of dress code had been corrected several times by Iranians. She always wanted to test the waters.
When we crossed the desert, our car driver allowed Hertha to take off her headscarf. When driving through villages or approaching police checkpoints, the headscarf had to go back onto the head. Given these circumstances I graciously gave Hertha permission to remove her headscarf while we were in our hotel room. Naked feet are also an absolute “no no”. Men should not wear short pants.
Iran Air flight attendant Progressive Iranian Ladies
In the old days the minimum wedding age for girls was 9 years. Under the Shaw it was increased to 18, now it is back to 9.
The shortest chapter of this report deals with alcohol: “don’t!!!” You cannot even import liquor-filled chocolate Christmas tree decoration. One can see this from a positive angle: it is a good detoxification that starts at Vienna airport and ends there.
The exiled son of the Shaw is enjoying wide-spread secret admiration and some Iranians are questioning why they have overthrown the Shaw. An elderly taxi driver spontaneously showed us an old banknote with a picture of the Shaw: “…good man”. Several Iranians expressed their dissatisfaction with Ahmedinechad’s provocative statements on the stage of world politics. Iranians want to be respected members of mankind and not the outcasts.
At the airport a 9 year old boy asks me whether I speak German (American tourists are traditionally hard to find….). He would like to practice his German. He speaks without accent, using perfect grammar and has a huge vocabulary. He has learned the language on TV (!). His father, who speaks no foreign language, proudly watches his son “performing”.