Iran: conclusions and tips

• 14 days;

• traveled by plane, bus, car and jeep;

• 1 vt meeting;

• 3 dreams made true;

• 3 museums, 5 mosques, 4 tombs of important people, 3 palaces, 2 temples of fire and 1 cathedral ;

• Hottest point on Earth, checked;

• 21 operated noses (18 women and 4 men);

• 1 Zoroastrian burial 🙁 ;

• 1 clandestine bottle of wine 😀

What I liked MOST

• Most hospitable people in the world;

• Many natural and architectural wonders;

• Interesting history and culture;

• One of my best trips ever!

What I liked LEAST

• International embargo means to carry all your cash on you since the first day;

• Difficult to find good local restaurants if you are not with locals so only kebabs and meat balls;

• Chaotic traffic of Tehran;

• Not fun to wear all that clothes when temperatures are over 30 C.

Useful Information :

• International embargo means that visas or other cards don’t work and you need to pay all in cash. Bring plenty of dollars or euros and change them all during your first day in Tehran;

• Because of the international embargo we preferred to buy our domestic flights at Iranian Air’s offices in Paris. Again, the only way to pay was in cash.

• Scarf is compulsory for women and you have to wear it e-ve-ry-where. If your hotel has shared bathrooms outside your room don’t forget the scarf;

• A super book to read before your trip is Serge’s Michel’s “Marche sur mes yeux”, a portrait of Iran today. It is written very good, with sense of humor and helps to break many stereotypes that westerners have from Iran.

• If you want to book an hotel online, don’t trust the ones which propose a swimming pool. Farsi swimming pools are always empty since the days of shah so if you want to choose an hotel for its swimming pool forget it 😉

My Iran Pictures :

2012 05 IRAN