Adventure in Iran

"Why would you ever want to go to Iran?" After being asked that question repeatedly, and having repeatedly suppressed my instinctive reply "If you have to ask, I can't explain," my sister and I finally arrived in Tehran near midnight -- 11½ hours ahead of Seattle time -- after endless hours of flight. We had wisely arranged to arrive a day early, giving our minds and bodies some chance to adjust before we met up with our university alumni group.

By chance, the day following our arrival was Iran's "National Picnic Day" (13th day of the Persian new year), when everyone spends the day outside. The beautifully landscaped park adjacent to our hotel was crawling with families, many of whom had set up umbrella tents at an early hour; others were cooking lunch over camp stoves. As we strolled around cautiously, waiting to fend off denunciations as agents of the Great Satan, it suddenly dawned on me: it wasn't going to happen. Everyone we saw was outgoing and friendly. Frisbees were tossed, ping pong was played, chess games were under way, hookahs were smoked. Kids zipped around on in line skates, looking like kids at home; many played pick-up games of soccer. Fathers carried their children about on their shoulders. Mothers joined their daughters in kicking soccer balls about.

That first holiday morning in Tehran set the theme for the two weeks to come. The theme was: "Leave your preconceptions about Iran back at the airport."

The next morning, our group of 35 assembled at the hotel. We met our American guide, a former U.S. ambassador, now affiliated with both Stanford and Harvard, who delivered five formal lectures during the days to come. We also met our local guide, Ali, an amazing source of good humor and knowledge. Ali not only was knowledgable about Persian history, religion, politics, culture, economics, and sociology -- but was a well-traveled man who also had a good background in American and European civilization. We spent the first couple of days in Tehran, visiting the National Archeology Musem, the former royal palace (including the throne room where the shah was coronated), and a museum of glass and ceramics. We also paid a visit to the crown jewels of the pre-Revolution era, which included whole stacks of emeralds, rubies, diamonds and pearls -- precious stones hauled back from India during the days of the Mogul Empire.

We then flew to Mashad in the east, Iran's second largest city, famous especially as the site of a mammoth shrine complex devoted to the Imam Reza, eighth imam in the Shi'ite version of Islam. The women were provided with chadors to cover their entire bodies, with the exception of hands and face. Kathy never looked better. We also visited the tomb of the eleventh century poet Ferdowski, author of the Shahnameh, Persia's national epic, who did much to preserve Persian as the language of Iran against the influence of its Arab conquerors.

We made our final flight of the tour to the desert town of Kerman, from which we toured the ruins of an entire city constructed of red clay. We then drove to Yazd, the center of the remaining Zoroastrian community in Iran. We visited a Zoroastrian village, and its "fire temple," and also hiked to the top of one of two adjacent "towers of silence," where the bodies of the dead, until quite recently, were commended to the attention of vultures. The birds stripped the bodies to bare bones within a few hours, we were told, and the cleaned bones were then dropped into a deep pit and covered by lime as final interment. This information appealed strongly to certain adolescent strains in my personality.

We then drove to the beautiful city of Shiraz (home of Shiraz grapes, and hence Syrah wine). On the way, we visited the ruins of Pasargad and the tomb of Cyrus the Great, who first united the Persians and Medes and founded the Achaemenian Empire. Cyrus was one of the more admirable conquerors in world history, encouraging each of his conquered peoples to preserve its own culture and religion. It was Cyrus who ended the captivity of the Israelites in Babylonia, and ordered the rebuilding of their temple at Jerusalem, thus earning himself high praise in the Old Testament book of Ezra.

From Shiraz, we took a day trip to the ruins of Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenids, constructed under Darius I. The town was one of the wonders of the world for two hundred years until set on fire -- apparently on drunken impulse -- by Alexander the Great. Alexander (as warlike invaders go, one of my heroes) was, like Cyrus, almost always a compassionate and generous conqueror. His behavior in this instance wasn't typical. In Shiraz, we also visited the quiet, shady tomb of the fourteenth century poet Hafez, a poet still much read and appreciated in Iran, a poet who has a present day impact on Iranians certainly beyond that of any literary figure on modern Americans.

The best was saved for last. From Shiraz we drove to Isfahan, the capital of Persia under the Safavid dynasty in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The city is beautiful, both architecturally and in its urban design. Like many of Iran's cities, it is rich in green, carefully maintained city parks. Located astride a river, its two halves are tied together by five historic and beautiful bridges. The enormous Maydan-e Shah (Royal Square) is enclosed on all four sides by uniformly designed buildings, interrupted by two very large, ornately tiled mosques. The town also has Iran's largest remaining settlement of Armenians; we walked through their part of town and visited an Armenian Christian church.

Finally, after a visit of 17 days, we drove back to Tehran and our flights home. I was left with strong impressions of the modernity and prosperity of the country. It is one of the few Asian countries where you can drink the tap water without hesitation. We drove about the country on well-designed four and six laned freeways. People were well dressed. Children were immaculate. Laughing seemed to come more easily to Iranians than it does even to Americans. The parks in Tehran and Isfahan, especially, were lush and green, well designed and maintained, and heavily used by local residents.

As one of our group noted, we saw virtually no homeless people or beggars. The only exception would be a few refugees from Afghanistan and migrants from Baluchistan. In general, Afghanis seem to play a part in the social ecology similar to recent immigrants from Mexico in our southwestern states.

Iran is a complex nation. Its people are warm and friendly, even as their Shi'ite faith teaches them the world is full of injustice. They are proud of their Persian heritage, but modern Iran is also home to Azeris, Baluchis, Afghans, Turks and Arabs. Its government is Islamic, one of the few theocratic states in the world, but it protects Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians as "people of the Book." Iran lies on historic crossroads in the Middle East, and is at a crossroads itself. It may soon be a nuclear power. It's a country we can't ignore, and one worth knowing well.

In this post, I've tried to give an overview of the sights we saw and a few of my overall impressions. I plan to follow up with another post, soon to come, based on what I learned during the trip, giving my thoughts about religious and political problems in today's Iran, and Iran's place in the international picture. (Well, that sounds a bit pompous -- it will just be a post, not a treatise!)

Click here for a number of photos I've posted on Facebook.