All posts related to travel and touring in Iran.
Our pics from Shafiabad, the last populated area before the road veers into the Dasht-e Lut desert. It is home to an ancient and very big caravanserai, which has been under renovation for years and an old qanat, which is, apparently, still functioning.
The morning after our rat-or-snake-infested stay in the village of Naiband, Saeideh wanted to just drive away and not pay for the room. I said we owe ourselves the experience of complaining and seeing where it takes us.
We arrived at the home of the village chief Gholamreza Hassankhani and his wife Zahra in the new Naiband, a modern village down the mountain from the ancient Naiband village we stayed the night before.
The Hassankhanis had rented to us a room in a vacant home in the 1,000-year-old village. The rustling in the wooden ceiling kept Saeideh up all night who suspected rats or snakes.
Her anger rose again when we pulled up in front of the Hassankhani home.
The tourist wants authenticity, but not the discomforts of authenticity. So the tourist gets angry when she experiences the reality of village life in Iran. This is the lesson we learned in the village of Naiband (also spelled Nayband, Nay Band), after we fell in love with its architecture and the children who guided us..
The unprepared visitor who glances up at the cliff dwellings of Naiband is prone to spit out a bunch of superlatives. “Ali, it’s so beautiful. It’s just like those Moroccan towns in the movies,” Saeideh exclaimed as we pulled up from the highway to Kerman, tired and thirsty after hours of driving along the edge..
Mohammadreza Hassankhani, 36, is one of seven rangers in charge of protecting the 1.5 million hectare Naybandan (NAI-ban-don) Wildlife Refuge that sits on the edge of the infamous Dashte-Lut Desert in central Iran, known for being one of the hottest places on Earth. The park is home to at least 177 types of plants; dozens of..
Marzieh Avari, 59, is the sole resident of the abandoned village of Aliabad (ALI-awe-bawd), inside the Naybandan (nai-ban-DON) Wildlife Refuge in central Iran. The nearest population is in Naiband (NAI-band), 35km away by road or 15 km on foot through the wilderness. Her home sits in the shadow of a disintegrating 400-year-old caravanserai and the..
Where on earth do you find an abandoned caravanserai by the roadside – wide open for your personal inspection? Here in Iran. For Saeideh and I it’s turning into a habit. It’s past sunset and I’m driving a 4WD in central Iran, just past Ravar toward Tabas. From the corner of an eye I see..
Today we were again reminded that Iran’s appeal is not limited to what the travel guidebooks pitch. There’s awe-inspiring beauty in many of Iran’s small towns, sans the traffic and expense of the touristy hotspots. Gonabad (go-NAW-bawd) is 288 km south of Mashhad in northeast Iran. It’s not even on the primary route from Mashhad to the..
Swimming on a hot day is good. Swimming under the desert in a 2,500-year-old canal is extra special. I am 15 meters below ground, inside one of the world’s oldest qanats – the system of underground canals Persians invented to transport water from mountains to the desert. The Ghasabe (a.k.a.Qasabeh) Qanats of the town of Gonabad, in..
For 2,500 years Zoroastrians left their dead outside to be consumed by carrion birds. The idea was to avoid contaminating the soil and the fire, both of which are considered sacred. The place they ceremonially laid out the bodies is called dakhmeh (Persian: دخمه), consisting of a perfectly symmetrical flat-topped stone tower, where the bodies..
To millions of Iranians it’s a symbol of purity. To conservatives it represents a critical bulwark against indulgence. To a lot of Westerners it epitomizes misogyny – although, curiously, the critics don’t seem to be as bothered with nuns or the Amish or the conservative Jews and countless others who also cover their heads in..
Iranians mostly stink at running hotels. The maddening inefficiencies and amateurish missteps found even in 5-star outfits are tragic (and often comical) examples of an ancient culture struggling with something essentially foreign. But receiving guests at home and connecting with strangers eye-to-eye, well, that’s as Iranian as it gets. Persian hospitality at home is a..