For thousands of years, the Persians have been famous for their Silk Road bazaars selling exquisite and rare goods. Shopping in Tehran has diversified from the traditional bazaar and now includes luxury malls and huge shopping centers. This is not to say the bazaar has lost its place. Every day hundreds of thousands of Tehranis pass through the Grand Bazaar in downtown Tehran.
Continue readingEverything starts with an ignition; an ignition of an idea, an ignition of a determination, or an ignition of a simple car engine that is going to take its rider to a magical trip. Traveling to Iran sounds like a work of magic for many outsiders and the fact that they can travel to Iran by car, in their own vehicle, seems so far away for many but the truth is that many travelers put the pedal to the metal as soon as they realize that traveling to Iran via personal cars isn’t that hard. Iran is a vast country with extensive land borders and numerous entry points for vehicles at all directions except in the south that is sealed off by the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea. To the west of Iran the Gurbulak-Bazargan border and to the east, the Mirjaveh-Taftan border and lastly to the north, the entry points of Nordooz-Agarak are some of the busiest and crowded borders, especially in holiday times, that provide border crossing services to tourists or Iran-lovers on their way to travel Iran by car.
Continue readingTheir faces turn red, scarlet like the flames of a fire, the vain on their forehead starts to pop out and their fingers gradually begin to emerge into a shape of a fist, as soon as they hear the word “Patriotism”, or in Farsi “Vatan Parasti.” Yes, I’m talking about the “Turks” of Iran, aka the Azeris; a proud and rather sensitive community whose marks on Persian history can’t be denied or replaced. If you’re traveling to Iran, we strongly suggest that you take time out of your timetable and travel to Tabriz too, the capital of eastern Azerbaijan province, which together with the western Azerbaijan state form the great region of Azerbaijan in the northeast corner of Iran’s map, the ancient settling place of Iranian Turks.
Continue readingKashan is a true testimony to what beauties the massive central desert of Iran can hide. With thousands-of-years old mosques, ancient underground cities, historical sites such as “Tepe Sialk”, and an uncalled-for lavishly green Persian Garden in the middle of the city, Kashan is one the jewels in Iran desert with many other undiscovered historical and cultural heritage sites that put on display the true old Persian architectural art from vastly different eras for the eyes of any beholder or tourist. They tell us the story of this masterfully built houses that have served as unbreakable hosts to hundreds of thousands of people over its course of history that now are the most breathtaking old budget hostels in Kashan and one of the best tourist attractions in the city.
Continue readingContinue readingThere is a desert I long to be walking,
A wide emptiness:
Peace beyond any understanding of it.
– Rumi, Persian Poet and Sufi Master
