The governments of Iran and the United States are . . . well, you know the story. But since we began our groundbreaking trips to Iran in 1993, our many travel¬ers have been deeply gratified by the openhearted, open-minded welcome of the Iranian people. Geopoliticians we’re not, and our warm people-to-people encounters in Iran remind us that we made the right career choice. As our Carey Johnston says, “It’s a joy to hear from our returning trav¬elers who are always so genuinely surprised to discover a very different Iran from the country we hear and read about in the news.” (And, needless to say, it will also be exception¬ally interesting to visit Iran in light of the recent Middle Eastern revolutions and upheavals.)

We begin this edition of our ongoing Iranian adventure in Tehran. After some busy sightseeing, we drive southwest to Hamadan (set beneath 11,700-foot Kuh-e-Alvand) and north via Soltanieh and Takht-e-Suleiman, through Robert Byron’s “plush-coloured mountains” to the great bazaar city of Tabriz. A flight across northern Iran brings us to the great pilgrimage site of Mashhad (where the old custom of providing temporary wives for pilgrims elicited a humph from Lord Curzon: “There is probably no more immoral city in Asia,” he wrote in Persia and the Persian Question). We fly to Shiraz (in its heyday, it was said that Cairo was its mere suburb) and onward to Persepolis (“Is it not passing brave to be a King,” Marlow asked in Tamburlaine, “and ride in triumph through Persepolis?”) and the brooding Towers of Silence at Yazd, and then to Esfahan, a city of many famous glories, among which is a room under one of its cobalt-roofed domes—said to be the most breathtaking in the world—a room that moved the well- and smartly traveled Robert Byron to write, “I have never encountered splendour of this kind before.”

Days 1 - 3: Tehran • Day 4: drive to Hamadan • Day 5: excursion to Kermanshah • Day 6: drive to Zanjan via Soltanieh • Day 7: drive to Tabriz via Takht-e-Suleiman • Day 8: excursion to St. Stephanos • Day 9: Tabriz • Day 10: fly to Mashhad • Day 11: Mashhad and environs • Day 12: fly to Shiraz • Day 13: Shiraz and Persepolis • Day 14: to Yazd via Pasargadae • Day 15: Yazd • Day 16: to Esfahan via Meybod • Days 17 - 19: Esfahan • Day 20: fly to Tehran • Day 21: depart for home.

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