Persian Posts is a series of articles and observations written about my experiences of Iran and its people. I am not a seasoned traveller and I don’t live in Iran permanently but, married to an Iranian from a town near Esfahan, I do travel to Iran and am fascinated by what I see.
I am sometimes sad and disappointed to observe that the impression of Iran and its people portrayed by Western media does not always reflect reality and I am constantly approached by those who have read my articles and seen my photos expressing their surprise that the Iranians are nothing like what they see on the news or in documentaries. I hope therefore that what you read and see here helps to dispel the myths and misunderstandings perpetuated in the media and provide you instead with a detailed portrait of real Iran as seen through my eyes.
My background
I am an English woman married to Feri an Iranian from Sede, Esfahan and between us we have 2 sons. William has just returned from his first visit to Iran and was both amazed and thrilled by what he saw and experienced. He will definitely return. I have an Iranian passport which enables me to travel to Iran without Visa. Feri was educated in the UK during the mid to late 1970’s and after 1979 only returned to Iran once until he went back to see his family in 2001. We now have a house in Sede, built next door to Feri’s sister so we have a base from which we travel the area and entertain the never ending relatives who pop in to say “Salam” when we are in residence. Unlike the Queen we have no need to raise a flag to signify our presence, the Iranian jungle-drum equivalent does a fine job in letting everyone know when we arrive!
We have Feri’s mother, sister, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, aunts and uncles, cousins, neices and nephews as well as the more remote but extensive family network most of whom live locally or apart from a few in Mashhad and Bushehr, in Tehran. All this means that there is always some family occasion going on and I have experienced engagements and weddings as well as the usual family get-togethers when it is quite normal to have 30 people round for dinner.
My experience of Iran is therefore very much family orientated with some sight-seeing and shopping trips thrown in for good measure. This is what Iran really looks and feels like.
Enjoy the experience.
Hooray! Keep posting please
Hi Caroline! I nominated you for the One Lovely Blog award! You can check it out here: http://peaceofiran.com/2012/07/10/the-lovely-blog-award/
Love this blog! Went through some of your posts and I’m surprised I hadn’t found your blog earlier. Looking forward to more posts about Persian culture from you :). Iran is one of the countries I REALLY wish to visit!
Thank you and I am pleased you enjoy reading about my adventures! I love this country and its people…I just wished I loved flying so we could go more often!
Hello! I really enjoy your site! beautiful photos! :)))
I really wish I could contact you, but I cant find your email adress here 😦 so if you dont mind please just contact me at my id, coz I need some info about Iran and I think you are the most right person who can help me 🙂 (I hope so:)
My Id : guzkasia at gmail. com
Hi there-Thank you for your comments 🙂 what sort of information do you need?
to be honest all informations about marriage in Iran, and exactly how it look when one of “future spouse” is foreigner 🙂
What a wonderful blog! I am planning my 3rd trip to Iran in February 2015 and would like to visit the Tomb of Isaiah the Prophet in Landjan which I have read is 25km South West of Esfahan. I haven’t been able to find Landjan on a map. Do you know of anyone who might be able to help with the location? Please message me.
Hi Peter- yes we should be able to help you if you. My husband thinks you mean an area near Share Kord where we visited in July. It is also renowned for it’s aromatic rice and we saw lots of paddy fields. It is in the Province of Esfahan and near Zaman khan bridge (pole Zaman khan) where you can see the Zayandeh Rud in full force. Let me know if this sounds right and we can certainly point you in the right direction. Where will you be traveling from?
We will contact our relatives in Iran to see if they can pinpoint this for you. Is it the tomb or mausoleum in the Yazdi (old jewish quarter) is it the same place or is it different? Have you been to the Old Jewish Cemetery? Fantastic if you haven’t.