We were surprised by the country. The people were so friendly and hospitable. I don’t think I’ve felt so safe on the street in any country, especially in the Middle East. The only time we were approached by a man was because he wanted to check whether we wanted a taxi.
The food is tasty and you don’t have to pay attention to where you eat. I didn’t get sick of anything.
The headscarf and the other dress codes are annoying somewhere, especially at warm places, but on the other hand, we got very used to it very quickly. I did not find it annoying. Iranian women, especially in Tehran, are pushing the boundaries with their headscarves. At one point we were ‘styled’ by two older women in the middle of the street: the headscarf could go much further back and was much looser.
In contrast to Morocco in Iran, we could visit every mosque. They were all very beautiful inside. The highlight was the Nasir al-Molk mosque in Shiraz. Also interesting was the grave of Hafez and of course Naghsh-e Jahan in Isfahan (Meidan Emam).
However, if you look closely you also see contradictions. There was a certain religious holiday and we were invited to attend it in the mosque. A professor told us about all the goodness of Islam, only peace and love.
I went to Iran with a friend in 2018 through Apochi. Everyone in my area thought I was crazy, but organizing it with Apochi made it possible. Now that I have been there I would dare to travel independently through Iran.
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