SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT IRAN

The Iranian people consider themselves to be Persian. They are not Arabs, and many people resent being considered as Arabs or Iran as an Arab country. Their language is Farsi, not Arabic. They are a proud people. The 1st Persian Empire, under Cyrus the Great and his descendants, created the world’s first true super power. The culture was very advanced for that time and survived for about 200 years before being defeated by Alexander the Great (550-333 B.C.). At the height of its power, the empire included the modern countries of Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, Egypt, part of Greece, and extended to northern India. . Never before has such a large area, including so many people of different cultures and traditions, been controlled under a single system. Note the picture of Cyrus ‘ tomb.

The overall crime rate in Iran is low, and most places are safe. We were told that one of the biggest problem is drugs (sound familiar?). A lot of drugs are brought from Afghanistan through Iran to Turkey. No alcoholic drinks are sold in public. Our guide told us that in spite of this prohibition, many people have a drinking problem. The alcohol is smuggled into the country and is available if “you know where to get it.”


The country is beautiful. Colorful gardens and parks are numerous. The highways and streets are lined with greenery and, often, with flowers as well. The people use the parks. We saw many families picnicking in the parks, under trees along the highways, in fact, any place where a blanket could be laid out. A lot of the families included parents, children, and grandparents – or even larger groupings. It is obvious that getting out and enjoying such gathered fellowship is an important part of life.


The cities, the streets, the highways look clean. The people look well cared for and healthy. We were surprised to see that most of the signs, especially street signs, are printed both in Farsi and in English. That made it easy for us to follow a map, for the Farsi script is impossible for us to decipher, as you can see in the picture.


Persian carpets are looked upon by many experts as the finest in the world. We visited a number of carpet shops, for several members of our travel group were interested in purchasing a carpet. Persian carpets are, indeed, beautiful, made either of high quality wool or silk, or a combination of the two. Much skill and time is required to complete each carpet. They are sold all over the world.

Iran produces a lot of copper, 2nd only to Chili. A lot of iron is also mined and either used or exported.

Iran produces enough food to feed its people. Some seasonal fruits and vegetables are imported when they are out of season in Iran. They raise a lot of walnuts, almonds, and olives. We saw many fields of green vegetables and various other crops. Common meats are available except for pork. Tea is also a major crop (see in the pictures).





We have been asked about cars in Iran. There are a lot of them. Because of the sanctions, U.S. cars are not allowed to be exported to Iran. Most of the cars that we saw are late models and well kept. Cars that we saw include: Volvo, Hyundai, Peugeot, Saab, Citroen, Mercedes, Saba, Suzuki, 1 older Jeep Waggoner, Nissan, Kia, Paykan, Toyota, Renault, Mitsubishi, and Persian models manufactured in Iran. Some of the foreign models are put together at factories in Iran (same way we do it in the U.S.).

IRAN TRIP IN 2010

IRAN – OVERVIEW: Our trip to Iran was organized by Spiekermann Travel, a U.S. company that has been taking Americans to Iran for more than 15 years. They have never had any difficulties, and the Iran trips are very popular. Our guide, Bachmann, was as good a guide as we have ever had in our travels.

Quite a few people seemed shocked that we would travel to Iran and often asked “why go there?” We wanted to go for several reasons, including:[1] We like to travel to places where we have not been before. [2] We have been interested in Iran because of its long history. The Persian Empire of the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. was the first real superpower in world history. Cyrus the Great and Darius, Persian rulers, are also important in the Old Testament. [3] Iran is filled with important archaeological sites, and we knew that we could visit a number of them. The picture is from Persepolis, one time capital of Persia,

[4] More important, though, was our interest in going to Iran as friendly ambassadors from America. We wanted to show the friendliness many Americans have towards the Iranian people. [5] We wanted to see for ourselves what Iran is really like. The Iran that we that we experienced is far different than the Iran that is reported by our media and by our politicians! And, our trip to Iran will go down as one of our very favorite excursions.




In our travels to many countries we have never been greeted with a warmer welcome or people more friendly than those that we met throughout Iran.

We traveled almost 4,000 miles by bus, plus a plane ride to the northern part of the country. We saw lots of mountains, many up to 18,000 feet in height. We had the chance to drive through some of them and enjoy spectacular views.

We saw extreme desert country, villages and cities, forests and barren landscapes.


We saw sites that are thousands of years old, and we saw modern cities with contemporary buildings and traffic jams.


Through all of our 3 weeks of journeying we were always greeted by a people who were hospitable. Without exception, they were excited to learn that were from the U.S., and we had numerous conversations, often spurred by meeting on a street or in some other public place such as a restaurant or park.
We could go anywhere that we wanted. There were no restrictions, except those we have in our country – military bases and the like. The only soldiers that we saw were guarding museums or archaeological sites, or young soldiers on leave. The only police that we saw were traffic police. Most of them were unarmed. This was a surprise, for it was so different from the impression that we have gotten about Iran here at home. We did not feel any discomfort or threat. Iran has a very low crime rate, and we felt completely safe, even when we were walking around on our own.

IRAN--Miniaturist Paintings

Iran is famous for its miniaturist paintings. All this began about 1000 years BC when small murals were painted in the palaces and special buildings. In the 13th century, when the Mongols began to arrive from the East, they brought paintings with them from China. These paintings highly influenced the Persia artists who enjoyed using the dragons, clothing styles and landscapes that they saw in the Chinese art.




The Persians did move on to techniques of layering the paint which developed a three dimensional affect that hadn’t been seen before.

By this time the main use of the miniaturist paintings was for illustrations in books. The paintings not only made the book more enjoyable but sometimes easier to understand.




One of the great miniaturist painters, Ferdowsi, who lived in the 10th century wrote a lengthy illustrated history book of Persia for the king. Instead of prose he used poetry. The book contains 55 illustrations and is the longest epic poem ever written by one person. And, it only took 33 years for him to tell the story from creation to when the Arabs conquest happened in the 7th century. Regretfully the king was not as impressed as later scholars and artists have been.




Today, not only are books illustrated, but many paintings are done on camel bone. These paintings lean heavily to landscapes but also include portraits, whimsical portrayals and calligraphy.




We had the pleasure to visit a miniaturist’s home/studio where he demonstrated his use of a cat hair brush to quickly do a small portrait. Later we went to his store and spent nearly an hour just enjoying his works. Did we buy one? Of course……..

Remember that you can click the picture to enlarge it.

* The illustrations were all taken at the miniaturist's home that we visited and only tie into the last two paragraphs.

IRAN--Bazaars

Although Iran has a fair amount of modern shopping centers in their larger cities, the bazaar seems to be where the real action is. Bazaars have been the center of commerce for as long as the Middle Eastern cities/towns/villages have been in existence. Some are in actual buildings while others are just spread out in an open space. Some are designated for special things….such as a spice market….but most will sell a very wide variety of items.



One thing that surprised us was the party dresses/fabric that were available. There must be a real market for them as there were many offerings of the bright, shiny, sequined dresses. The Iranian women, even though they must cover from head to toe in public, can wear anything they like in the privacy of their home. If you don’t see a dress that you like, then you have the option to get “measured up” and have one made to order.



Also, we saw at one hotel a wedding party going on in which the men were in one room upstairs and the women were downstairs in another. The women had all arrived covered up, but had “blossomed” once they reached their party room and could remove their chadors.



One advantage that a bazaar has over the mall is that there are hundreds of small businessmen and a few businesswomen. Each can sell what he\she is interested in and knowledgeable about. They don’t make large profits but enough to care for their family daily.



This man had a small forge set up and was making knives. We watched for a bit while he flattened the piece of metal, curved it and begin to sharpen the finished knife.



The hours are long and daily and may be a bit tiresome when business is slow.



Some are quite creative showing off their wares. One of the more popular spices is actually a 7 spice mixture that is used mostly for seasoning meat. I enjoyed seeing the many different ways that this spice was displayed.



One can buy many items, such as this natural and dyed wool, in which to create your own project…...probably a rug in this case. Or you can go to another part of the bazaar and buy a handsomely woven rug.



One of the things that fascinated us was a display of sugar. Not only did they have fine granulated, but larger granulated, blocks, chunks, and even formed shapes. We picked up the pointed cone and even though it was very inexpensive it was much too heavy to bring home.



There is always a place for refreshment. Tea is often offered and available almost instantly if you go into a small shop. It is a gesture of welcome. Foods of all types are available for carry out and often there is a restaurant as well.



Best of all, for the tourist, the bazaar is a wonderful place to people watch.

Iran--Salt Lake

One of the last things that we expected to see in Iran was a great salty lake. Lake Urmia is located in the northern part of Iran, near Turkey, and is the 3rd largest salt lake in the world. It has been on record for a long time as it was mentioned in Assyrian records way back in the 9th century BCE.

This lake is too salty to support any fish life. The only aquatic life is a brine shrimp which entices many migratory birds to make a stop over on one of the many islands. The flamingo, especially, enjoys the shrimp but so do the pelicans, storks and ibis.
On one of the 102 named islands one of the grandsons of Genghis Kahn is buried.

The lake is fed by several small mountain streams and underground springs. There is no outlet except by evaporation.
There is a controversial highway/bridge over the middle of the lake that was finished in 2007. It cuts the lake in two but was built in such a way that the lake can flow back and forth through the bridge part. However, the bridge is already starting to rust!! As we drove over it we discovered that it certainly wasn’t a super highway!!

We saw no resort developments along the lake. But several people were enjoying going in “swimming” and floating in the salty water. The people will suffer later, our guide said, since there is no fresh water available to wash the salt off. Perhaps they were there for the medical effects as the water is said to be a cure for rheumatism.


Interestingly, there are two great salt deserts in the eastern part of the country. As the water evaporates from the occasional cloudburst it leaves great patches of salt on the desert floor. We did not see these.