SHORT VISIT TO IRAN

Posted April 29, 2015 by David McGuinness

It was wonderful to be back in Iran, as always. Last year I managed to get in three trips including climbing Mount Damavand with my brothers so when an opportunity came to go back again this year I just took it. We had a few groups out so it was a good chance to meet some of our groups, catch up with our local team and revisit the wonderful Isfahan, a truly stunning place and one I can’t imagine ever tiring of as well as checking out in some detail Kashan, Abyaneh and Qom.

But first I spent a day in Tehran with the charming Maryam and five clients who were starting their Glories of Persia archaeology tour, visiting the National Museum and the Crown Jewels museum as well as visiting a cafe that is one where Tehran’s intelligentsia hang out.

We tried (mostly in vain) to keep our topics high brow! It was a nice group and I could see Maryam was very happy to be on tour with a group of easy-going men, having told me some horror stories of the group of 50 Iranians she had recently lead on tour in China.

Next destination for me was Isfahan, to meet up with eight of our clients on our Classical Iran tour. This was a happy group, being led by the wonderful Mehrdad. We visited the stunning Nagsh-e-Jahan Square (pictured above) and the Chehel Sotun Palace, and spent some time shopping in the bazaar.

Iranians like to say that “Isfahan is half the world” and you can see why. It truly is a spectacular city. Everyone had the chance to meet with the wonderfully warm locals.

From Isfahan we drove onto to Kashan via Abyaneh, a beautiful mud-brick town where we met some local school girls who were very inquisitive about who our group were and were all too happy to pose for photos for the assembly. The locals in Abyaneh have a unique costume and their culture is infused with Zoroastrianism.

From Abyaneh we drove onto the beautiful town of Kashan, where we visited the Royal Gardens, the Agha Bozorg Mosque (below), the beautiful bazaar, and the stunning Abbassi House.

From Kashan we moved on to Qom to visit the Holy Shrine. Qom can have mixed feelings about tourists and access has not always been possible, but we were warmly welcomed though we had to park our bus and take a local bus to get into the centre. Qom is not a town short of funds, clearly, and the money the government has is certainly channelled into religious buildings in no small way, but it is hard to deny the splendour of Qom, and it is a fascinating sight which not many groups get to visit. This group were all very happy to have had the opportunity.

For me this was the last stop before Tehran so I said goodbye to my travel companions and caught my flight home. But the same feeling came over me – as it does every time I have left Iran from the very first time – I will be back.