In keeping with the "you went where" theme, my next trip was to the Islamic Republic of Iran. This had been one of my goals of places to visit since I arrived in Qatar. Getting a visa takes several months so I was always putting it off to go to other places. I finally got my application together and two or three months later, I had my visa. As it worked out, I arrived on November 4th, election Tuesday, which ended up providing lots of opportunities to talk politics. As it seems to be with the rest of the world, everyone in Iran was a big Obama fan, so they were happy that he took the election.


One of the most famous sites in Iran is Persepolis. Dating back to the Achaemenid Empire, it is more that 2500 years old and was only partially completed when it was sacked by Alexander the Great. Certain areas are extremely well preserved with intricate carvings of lotus flowers and warriors of many different empires of the time. At its height, the empire stretched from Turkey to India.

On my trip I spent a day in Tehran, 2 days in Shiraz/Persepolis, and 2 in Esfahan. It was a very fast tour around the highlights of the country but with the limited amount of time I had, I still managed to see some great sites. Some of my favorite sites were old palaces of the Shahs. Many had been destroyed over the years or defaced after the Islamic revolution in the 1970’s but there were some that were wonderfully preserved. While most were not very impressive from the outside, when I walked into the inner courtyard I often found that they had great water features and beautifully manicured gardens. The photo below is from Shiraz which is in the south of Iran and has mild weather all year-round. I happened to catch this shot just as the sun was setting and lighting up the clouds with beautiful purple and pink hues.

After Shiraz, I moved on to Esfahan albeit on the second try. My flight was cancelled one night due to weather so I ended up going back to the hotel at 1am and then catching a car the next morning at 7am for the 7 hour drive. The two other flights I took in Iran were also interesting; one was on a 727 which is a plane significantly older than I am. I’m normally an extremely calm flyer but I convinced myself that we were going to have to make an emergency landing as the engines whined and the plane struggled to gain altitude on takeoff. It didn’t help that they had announced at the start of the flight that I was welcomed to Iran airways “in the name of God the compassionate and merciful”. After making a sharp 180 degree turn I was convinced we were heading back but instead we just continued on our way slowly climbing up to cruising altitude.

Esfahan was my favorite city of the three; it is filled with monuments, mosques, and places and has a river that runs trough the middle of the city, making it a very green place. The center of the city is Imam square that has on its 4 sides: Ali Qapu Palace, Imam Mosque, Sheikh Lotfallah Mosque, and the entrance to the Bazar. The square itself used to be a polo field. This picture is from the balcony of the Ali Qapu Palace where the old Shah used to watch polo matches and relax in the outdoor hot-tub.

I had a bit of free time in Esfahan so I ended up wandering around the city but I spent most of that time exploring the bazar. In typical old bazar style, the market was a maze of wandering hallways, side alleys, and small courtyards with no appearance of order. I would just wander around passing from sections where all they sold were plastic kitchenware to others where you could find any size steel pot you could think of. After walking around all day, I spent my last evening in Iran sitting out on a terrace above the entrance to bazar, overlooking the Imam Square. After a bit of sheisha and some tea, I was ready to head to the airport and head back to Doha.

For more pictures, click the link below:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=5p42e5n.572wbkfv&x=0&y=51w24g&localeid=en_US