Update 03/2026 -Part of the beautiful Golestan Palace in Tehran has been significantly damaged in the recent US/israeli strikes on Iran. As far as I know there were no military or infrastructure targets anywhere near the palace, which kind of ridicules the idea of ‘precision’ bombing.

(Longer read)

Iran, the modern representation of ancient Persia, is a fascinating blend of old and the new. From monuments that go back to 5,000 BC to a 21st century Islamic culture, Iran appears at first sight to be largely westernised, yet in practice maintains a distinctly oriental tradition.

My trip in May 2024 was something of a revelation. Contrary to the title, I had not visited Iran previously. However my journey through the country was an education, to the point where I now realise western preconceptions about Iran and its people are hugely mistaken.

This is a country that suffers from an appallingly bad press in the west, something that I can only put down to a blend of lazy journalism and a continuing powerful lobby from assorted western right-wing hawks. Iran is often portrayed in the media as the evil and sinister eastern neighbour, an unfortunate historical portrait that has been reinforced in Britain by a history of cynical manoeuvring for power during the long, slow collapse of the old Ottoman empire.

During this period, the state known as Persia became little more than the pawn in an ongoing struggle for territorial influence between rival British and Russian empires. While world events have moved on and those empires are long disappeared, today’s Iran is no less subject to the ebb and flow of geopolitical struggle. The 21st century has seen it become the centre of resistance to Israeli power in the Middle East, another strike against it for the western hawks.

Yet in-country, today’s day-to-day reality is one that is very largely westernised – witness the all too common problems of traffic congestion and pollution in the major cities. And Iran has huge economic problems; inflation stands at over 100%, making daily life extremely difficult for thousands of ordinary people.

Despite these obvious difficulties, Iran’s standout indicator of difference to western eyes is its strong Islamic, and specifically Shia, tradition. This difference becomes apparent in two ways. One is the ever-present headscarf worn by women, an item of apparel which is legally required, yet at the same time widely resented among women in the more affluent cities.

The other is the total ban on alcohol consumption, something which seems at first sight strange to northern visitors. For better or for worse, Iranians have become accustomed to life without alcoholic drink. As a westerner who is accustomed to a regular (but limited) alcoholic intake, I found this rule harder to follow, if not so difficult to accept.

Indeed, most Iranians seem to have no problem with the lack of alcoholic drink on restaurant or hotel menus. It may even be that traditional Iranian cuisine with its emphasis on fresh herbs and spices tastes better without the dulling of the senses inevitable from alcohol consumption. If you are teetotal or wish to go on the wagon, then it seems Iran is a good place to be!

The tourism problem of Western sanctions

The most significant barrier to visiting Iran at present is a very practical one – the sheer difficulty of actually paying for the trip. I made the beginner’s mistake of trying to pay for my visit via direct bank transfer, with the message ‘holiday in Iran’. This (significantly large) transfer duly disappeared into the maw of the SWIFT international financial network, yet failed to arrive at the travel agency’s account in Iran.

One week later, after panic on my part about suspected scams and international financial fraud, the funds were returned to my bank account; with no explanation. The (Iranian) agency assured me that this was quite normal and they had to deal with such problems every day. The financial sanctions imposed on Iran by the west include even legitimate tourism, it seems.

After this episode, I had to imagine myself back in the 1970s and resort to carrying large amounts of cash on my person. Needless to say, I was not happy, and were I travelling to certain parts of southern Europe would feel distinctly vulnerable. But in Iran it seems the situation is accepted, and hotel lounges are the place to pay large invoices with appropriate numbers of banknotes.

I should perhaps explain that, due to these international sanctions, the more enterprising Iranian finance houses have developed their own debit card, which is available to western visitors and preloaded via cash at banks and leading hotel desks. The card makes negotiating prices in Iran that much easier, since Iran’s paper currency, the rial, depreciates so rapidly that several million of them are required to buy a box of matches!

Carrying a card felt much safer to my western eyes. Except that, when paying in hotels, restaurants and government buildings using the card the PIN number is not considered private. I had to learn to pronounce my PIN number in Farsi, so that I could tell it to every single payments clerk. Counter-intuitive it may have seemed, but apparently quite normal.

Getting around – the ten-minute rule

Financial difficulties are not the only obstacles facing British travellers. If I were French, Dutch, or German or from any one of a number of European countries, I could fly into Tehran, get my visa at the airport and go off and do what I want. Brits or Americans, by contrast, are required to join a recognised tour and stay with the group at all times, a requirement witnessed by our guide’s tendency to have a panic attack if any one of us strayed out of sight for more than 10 minutes.

He jokingly referred to this as his ‘ten minute rule’, yet it was apparent that we were being discreetly monitored, as I noticed when I rose earlier than usual one morning and went out to find an ATM to check my card balance. There always seemed to be an individual or car floating about nearby.

I came to realise that, much as I disliked the principle, the practice was for our own protection. Nothing could embarrass the Iranian government more, desperate as it is to encourage tourism to boost the economy, than to have a western visitor kidnapped by some young fanatics and held to ransom in front of the world’s media.

In fact one of our tour group, who was actually American, could not be left alone outside for more than 10 minutes without acquiring a group of giggling schoolchildren, all eager to practice their English on him. As he commented at one point, ‘Now I know what it’s like to travel like a rock-star!’

Steeped in history

So why visit Iran? What is so special about the country? In my case the motive was the past, and the long, long history of Persia, so steeped in a deep pre-Biblical history as to make our western cultures seem shallow in comparison.

I am, I admit, quietly proud to be English, and enjoy reading about Britain’s early history from the legends of the Celts to the Saxon kingdoms of Alfred and Athelstan, the makers of the nation-state we know as England.

The Persian empire predates these periods. The earliest history I read at school was that of Mesopotamia, the ancient fertile land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in present-day Iraq. Persepolis, the capital of the Achaemenid empire in 550 BC, ruled that region as part of its domains. In fact Persia, of which Mesopotamia was part, can trace its constituent parts as far back as 7,000 BC! The empire stretched from the borders of India to the shores of the Aegean sea in the far north-west, where some unrest involving certain small, troublesome Greek city-states (e.g. Athens, Sparta, etc.) had to be dealt with.

Not much of that ancient past remains. Yet Iran’s present-day Islamic culture is often startlingly beautiful. No visitor can fail to be impressed by the ceramics or tile-work that lines many Iranian mosques both inside and out. When you stand inside a 16th century building lined floor to second-floor ceiling with colourful ceramics or tiles, you cannot but feel awed by the sheer level of detail and workmanship lavished on these structures, testament to the power and tradition of a long Islamic heritage.

Our journey from Tehran in the north to the south of the country took us back through time. Where Tehran and Isfahan, the present and past capitals of Iran are all about the development of Islam from the 8th century AD onwards, the south brought us to the pre-Islamic period, to the tomb of Cyrus the Great, first emperor of Persia buried in 550 BC, and Persepolis, the cultural capital of the empire at that time.

Yet these were just the most visible signs of the past. Across the cities and countryside, the underground remnants of a hidden infrastructure illustrate the extent of that ancient empire. The Qanats, the ‘Veins of the Desert’, for centuries carried snow-melt water from the mountains to the cities, making life and agriculture possible despite the heat of the sun. Many of the these buried channels are gone, but those that remain are fascinating to visit, not least from their coolness during the heat of the day.

And for the roads, those veins of transport and travel accessible only by royal decree, there were the caravanserai, the inns and refuges of the day that provided overnight accommodation, security and entertainment to travellers and to the camel-trains that hauled the freight of an empire-wide trade.

Time has diminished these once important components of a mighty civilisation. But simply to visit these places and to imagine how life might have been when they were vital to survival in the arid south, reminds us how tentative is the grip of humankind on nature when the outside environment means the desert.

Modern Iran has moved on from this past, of course. Yet I wonder about some of the assumptions we make about human survival in hot climates. Long-term climate change has extinguished the snow-melt that once fed precious water to the ancient qanats, yet water levels in the modern bore-holes that have replaced them are dropping. Water remains the most precious resource of all in this part of the world.

Life in modern Iran

Iran today is fuelled largely by another resource – plentiful oil. It was little short of shocking to me to witness our minibus being refuelled with 80 litres of diesel at a service station for a total cost of less than a dollar! Really? I thought my eyes were deceiving me.

They were not. Prices at the fuel pump in Iran are so low that they have become an incidental cost, one that you pay without thinking. Which may also be why I saw no electric vehicles on the streets.

Yet there is a downside, as our guide quietly explained. Due to sanctions vehicles that may cost US $50,000 in the west retail at four times this price in Iran, which means that only the comfortably off and the wealthy can afford them.

This didn’t seem to discourage Iranian drivers though, who vie with each other for space on the often-jammed roads of the cities. One noticeable point though – 99.9% of the vehicles are made in China. European lookalikes in style they may be, but the brands are all PRC.

Certainly I would not be able to drive here. I survived years of driving in Brussels, a city not renowned for courtesy on the roads. But getting behind the wheel in Iran needs on an ability to expect your fellow conductors to do the most irrational thing possible, from U-turns in the midst of heavy traffic to riding a moped at night on the wrong side of the road (and surviving!). Reflexes are all.

Aside from the driving, in travelling around I found Iranian customs and culture to be endlessly fascinating, no doubt due to their inheritance from a country as ancient as Persia. I also liked how courteous so many Iranians are in daily life, even day to day in the street. Most of all I liked the repeated ‘Welcome, welcome’ we heard throughout our trip, and the fascination our small group seemed to hold for ordinary Iranians.

There’s no doubt that we were carefully shepherded to the better parts of cities and major tourist sites by our guides, yet other less salubrious quarters where the poorer residents lived could occasionally be glimpsed, usually from behind the car window. Visits to an everyday street market, often slightly away from the official bazaar quarter, could be educational.

In one such daily market I was impressed, despite the dirt on the ground and the drab surroundings, by the obvious pride in such simple matters as the way fruit and vegetables were displayed. No simple unruly heaps of produce here, each individual fruit or vegetable was laid next to its neighbour in neat decreasing concentric circles as the heap climbed higher. Even such a simple matter as placing agricultural produce for sale, it seems, should be pleasing to the eye!

To the cities of the desert

While our tour commenced in the capital Tehran, we were soon on the road to the arid south, the landscape turning more and more to scrub. Kashan, a medium-sized town on the road, was typical of the desert surroundings. We stayed in a very simple, old-fashioned Iranian hotel in the old part of town, where the lanes outside were only wide enough for mules or camels to pass. With no traffic noise to disrupt, the outdoor courtyard was a wonderful place to relax and read or socialise in the evening.

We visited the city bazaar, which incorporated an old caravanserai in its centre. After being drawn to a shop which had a huge wooden weaving machine in the window, I ended up buying a ‘city scarf’ from the elderly weaver himself. He saw me enter and presented me with a neat cotton scarf that matched my clothing exactly, after which it was difficult to haggle about the price!

Iran’s second city Isfahan was once the capital of the 17th century Safavid empire, and styles itself as the city of culture. The city’s focus is its huge Naqsh-e Jahan central square, a UNESCO Heritage attraction with the four sides of the square each hosting an entrance to one of the key components of classic Islamic cities, namely the mosque, the palace and the bazaar.

Naqsh-e Jahan square is particularly beautiful. In the Shah’s time it was, believe it or not, a large polo field. Now landscaped with fountains, planted and lawned areas, it is a wonderful place to visit in the cool of the evening, where residents can be seen talking, flying kites with their children or picnicing on the grass.

On one side of the square, the historic Masjed-e Jameh mosque (or Friday mosque) dates from around 771 AD. Considered a masterpiece of Iranian architecture, the whole complex covers around five acres in the heart of the old city. Other sides of the square host the equally imposing Shah mosque and the beautiful Sheikh Lotfollah mosque, in addition to the Ali Qapu palace. We stayed just over two days in Isfahan – it would be easy to spend more.

Travelling further south, we came to Yazd, one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns in Iran, and known as the city of wind towers. These structures, a classic feature of desert cities, exploit the height difference between the ground and the top of the tower to direct cooling air to the immediate vicinity. Although Yazd has more of these wind towers than anywhere else in the country, they are present throughout the desert south. Perhaps surprisingly for such a simple construction, they work rather well.

Yazd is also the centre for Iran’s Zoroastrian community, and home to one of the world’s oldest monotheistic religions. Zoroastrianism, drawing its history back to the sixth century BC, was the Persian empire’s official religion, predating the religions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. The Zoroastrian Fire Temple in the city is a centre of pilgrimage for the faithful and houses a flame said to have been burning for 1500 years.

But it was in Shiraz, the southernmost city on our tour, that I felt most at home. Perhaps because on the day we arrived, after a long drive through the desert, it was actually raining! Indeed, much of the terrain was covered with the green growth of fresh-looking desert vegetation.

It may be an environmental peculiarity of Shiraz, this slightly higher rainfall than the surrounding area. If so, that would explain the region’s history as one of the most famous wine-growing regions in the world.

For Shiraz gave its name to the traditional wine grape that has become known worldwide. In France it may be called Syrah; in other parts of the world such as Australia, the name of Shiraz is accepted as one of the industry’s most important production exports.

So it is slightly surprising to find that the Shiraz grape is no longer produced in quantity. The industry was forced to close overnight at the time of the Iranian revolution in 1979, and along with alcohol consumption across the country, wine production was officially banned.

From Persepolis, capital of empire …

I saw more westerners in Shiraz than anywhere else in the country, almost certainly because it is the closest city and airport to Persepolis, that wonder of the ancient world. Persepolis, the capital of the Persian empire, dates back to 515 BC and has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1979.

This city complex, rising out of the surrounding desert as you approach, is one of the most impressive ancient cultural sites anywhere in the world, which is probably why we saw more foreign tourists in this part of Iran than at any other time. While largely built by Persian emperor Darius I in the sixth century BC, the site’s location close to the Zagros mountains in the south is believed to have been chosen by his predecessor Cyrus the Great.

With the Persian Empire already the greatest empire the world had ever known and continuing to expand, Persepolis was designed and constructed on a grand scale, intended to awe visiting kings and dignitaries with the empire’s power and resources. That the ruins can still impress with their scale today gives an idea of how the city must have appeared to regional kings and chieftains at the time.

I am reminded of the lines from Shelley’s famous poem Ozymandias, ‘Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!’ That poem referred to the legacy of an earlier ruler, Ramesses II of Egypt. Yet the purpose of Persepolis was almost certainly the same – to so impress and overawe visiting dignitaries that they would later advise their rulers against any military adventure that could affect the great king’s domains.

… to a giant of Persian literature

Our tour came to its close in Shiraz, and one of our last visits was to the tomb of Hafez, Iran’s most famous poet and a native of the city. We visited the site, a large area created, the story goes, by a French architect who flattened a once ordinary graveyard in order to transform the location.

What was not in doubt is the beauty of Hafez’ tomb, and its popularity with ordinary Iranians. It was raining that evening, yet the site was crowded with devotees, creating a happy and festive atmosphere undampened by the weather. Not for nothing is Hafez known as one of the first gurus of positive thinking.

Born around 1320 AD and rising to fame during the 14th century, Hafez remains one of the most beloved poets in Iran. A Shirazi native, he was acclaimed throughout the Islamic world during his lifetime, and is believed to have influenced later Persian writing more than any other Persian author.

He is reputed not to have left the city of Shiraz throughout his lifetime, yet his fame is such that he is considered by writers such as Emerson, Goethe, Nietzsche and Arthur Conan Doyle to be one of the most eminent poets ever writing.

I was as awestruck by the tomb and the atmosphere around it as everyone else, and reached out to touch the tomb for luck. A simple, even primitive gesture, yet it felt quite special to me.

The following day I had to leave to fly home. Yet I felt that what I was doing was more than just returning home – it felt more like rejoining my native culture, with all its faults as well as the joys, after a time spent in an alternative world, such was the impression made upon me by my visit.

I had a wonderful time in Iran. The obstacles to visiting may have been considerable, but the reward was the experience of encountering people almost universally warm and welcoming throughout my stay. And I like to think I will visit again. Who knows?

© Philip Hunt 2024

“Every child has known God,
Not the God of names,
Not the God of don’ts,
Not the God who ever does
Anything weird,
But the God who knows only four words
And keeps repeating them, saying:
“Come Dance with Me.”
Come Dance.”

Hafez, The Illustrated Hafiz – A Selection of Ghazals from his Divan

——-

More information

Iran Tourist Office

Surfiran – Iranian travel agency

Wikipedia: Persepolis

UK Government FCO: Advice on travel to Iran