Iran is one of those countries that most people hear of and
instantly jump to conclusions about. Generally complete misconceptions based on
media bias involving terrorists and Ayatollahs. My experiences in Iran were very
positive, I found the people warm, helpful and hospitable and the country has a
fascinating cultural wealth dating back thousands of years.
I have borrowed the following image from Frank and Peggy a
couple of Dutch friends of mine, it shows the political feeling towards the
United States in the form of a mural on the wall of the former US embassy in
Tehran. For some reason I did not take a photo myself.
Iran has some issues with its international perception. Both how it regards other countries and how other countries believe it to be, particularly regarding religious tolerance. When I was in Hamadan, I visited the tomb of Mordechai and Esther. The custodian of which said that he found being Jewish in Iran to be no problem at all. Furthermore, the government were paying for the maintenance and development of the mausoleum, which was also used for religious services by the local (small) jewish community.
Esfahan is home to what is quite possibly the world's most
beautiful mosque. The Blue Mosque of Esfahan is covered in tiles and is
extremely large (first ten pictures). It is at one end of Emam Khomeini square
which is extremely large and as well as housing the mosque, also has a palace,
the bazaar and another mosque (shown below), the dome of which changes colour
during the day as the sun moves and the light alters.
Persepolis is the ancient remains of what was the Persian
capital. It was destroyed by Alexander the Great, some say due to envy, some say
maliciously and others claim it was probably just an accident. Whatever it was,
the remains give a glimpse of how impressive the city must once have been. Unfortunately, people have seen fit to carve their names in to the monuments over the years, including Henry Morton Stanley, who famously presumed upon Dr David Livingston in Ujiji in 1871.
Not far from Persepolis are the tombs of several former Persian
rulers, generally called either Xerxes or Ataxerxes. The detail of the rock
carving in the pictures below do not give any scale. In fact this detail is
several metres high and larger than life, carved directly into the cliff face.
Next to these tombs is a Zoroastrian fire temple, shown in the fourth and fifth pictures.
In some places one is fortunate enough to see the things of
fable. The Arg-E-Bam in the east of Iran is one such place. It appears just like
the mud brick cities of film and stories such as the Thousand and One Nights.
The place is now quite serene, when I visited there were about four other
tourists in the whole city. It is quite interesting to note that people lived
there up until quite recently.
It is sad to note that this no longer exists, as there was a significant earthquake a couple of years after I visited which devastated the area.
This is more of the Iran that many people think of, women
wearing Chadors. The majority of women in Iran apparently want to do away with
the Chador, but at the moment it is a legal requirement. This aside women in
Iran have many more opportunities than in many other Middle-Eastern countries,
although it is far from equality.
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