Iran Travel Guide

Iranians are the most amazing people. Where you might expect them to be austere, they are charming; rather than dour, they are warm, and instead of being hostile to foreigners, they are welcoming and endlessly curious.

The truth lies in the gap between reality and Western perception. Before the revolution, the West's experience of Iranians was drawn from the country's elite that travelled and came abroad for their education. The revolution turned that image on its head. Suddenly Iranians were scary, hysterical people chanting 'Death to America', covering their women in black chadors, and supporting a fundamentalist regime that apparently took their society back to the Middle Ages.

Let's dispel these images. Despite the Islamic government and the Sharia laws that rule the country, Iranians are not frightening people. They are generally warm and welcoming to a degree that can be embarrassing to Westerners. Any rhetoric that comes from the regime regarding countries such as the USA rarely extends to individuals from those countries.

Iranians take their role as hosts very seriously; there are well-developed rules governing social conduct and interaction. This comes from a genuine desire to put others' needs first and please where possible. Taarof, the Iranian system of courtesy, can be a minefield if unknown, but it makes Iran a haven for travelers - you will be treated with unfailing politeness wherever you go.

The Iranian spirit is tolerant and eternally buoyant. The Iranian plateau can be a harsh land, hence the necessary creativity of the Iranian soul. The traditional Persian garden, walled in from the desert and divided by water channels, occupies a profoundly primal place in the Iranian heart, inspiring the designs of rugs, informing the brilliance of miniatures and lending its colors to the tiled domes of mosques. The play of light and color preoccupies all aspects of Iranian art and even Shiism can be seen as an expression of this, based as it is on the 'Light of Mohammad', a spiritual thread passed on through the imams.

A glance at Iran's history will give another insight into the Iranian character. Despite several devastating invasions, Iranians have always managed to keep their own unique culture alive and somehow subvert the invading culture and assimilate it with their own. Thus the Iranian way is to bend to the prevailing wind only to spring back in time with regained poise. Ever-changing fortunes have taught Iranians to be indirect people, unwilling to ever answer with a bald negative and unable to countenance rudeness or public displays of anger.

Iran's attitudes to the West are contradictory. Whereas most Iranians can talk at length about the faults of Western governments, holding first the British and then the Americans responsible for much of Iran's 20^th century history (with some justification), they can nonetheless admire Western attitudes. They will alternately boast of Iran's superiority in terms of culture, home life and morality and then apologize for Iran's inferiority. Most Iranians have a sense of pride in their ancient culture as well as an acute sense of their own society's shortcomings.

Remember that Iranians are proud of their Aryan roots, which distinguish them from the people of south Asia or the Middle East. Iranians intensely dislike being classed as Arabs, who remain unforgiving for their invasion of Iran in the 7th century. Iranian racism is reserved for Afghan refugees and the Arabs of neighboring countries, who are regarded as having no culture aside from what their invasion of Iran gave them. But such is the power of Iranian courtesy and hospitality that you will never see such attitudes displayed openly and especially not extended to travelers.

The young people of Iran are particularly curious about foreigners and are much more aware of Western popular culture than you might expect. They love practicing their English and will want to bombard you with questions about everything, so be prepared to be overwhelmed!

In essence the Iranian soul is a deeply sensual one - perhaps the biggest surprise for Westerners expecting religious fanaticism and austerity. What is universal in the Iranian character is the enjoyment of the cadences of poetry read aloud, their wonderful food and their admiration of natural beauty. They are tied absolutely to the land, although most now live urban lives.

Somewhere in every modern Iranian the desires expressed by Omar

Khayyam in his 12th-century poem Rubaiyat still resound: