Tehran, Capital of Iran

Tehran is the capital city of Iran. A bustling metropolis of 14 million people, it is situated at the foot of the towering Alborz mountain range. 

Our arrival of the city was tiring. There was no sale office to seat travelers, and we did not know where we were in the city. We walked around for coffee shops to seat in at 5:30 am, and found a small sale office as our shelter to read tour books and asked local travelers to find the way a hotel.  

We are budget travelers so we could not just jump into a taxi. We already learned how the taxi drivers rip off foreigners, regardless how hard we bargain even with locals' help. A taxi driver told us to use a free shuttle bus to get to the closest Metro stop, and then a kind young lady in the shuttle led us via the Metro and taught us the right stop to switch lines. I was very gradual to travel with Ana who was great in using maps and learning new languages. We got out of Metro and walked to the 1st hotel but we did not like it. I stayed there to watch our bags while Ana was hunting for a better near by hotel. She came back after 30 minutes and then we checked a much better hotel to shower and relax. 

When taking breakfast in the lobby, I spotted in the hotel lobby my Chinese backpacker friend met in a Trabzon (turkey) tour. We chat about his Iran trip and then toured Tehran together for one day. Ana had to take care her own business that day. 

The old US embassy in Tehran and the events emanating from it have had a dramatic and profound influence on the recent history of the country. From a bunker beneath the embassy building, CIA operatives orchestrated a coup d’état in 1953 that brought down the government of Mohammad Mossadegh (Click here). For the next 25 years, US support for and influence over Mohammad Reza Shah was implemented largely from this building. Unfortunately, it’s rarely open to the public – usually only from 1 to 10 February. Despite this, the embassy’s colorful history and more colorful murals along the front wall mean most travelers come for a look. 

Iran's National Rug Gallery exhibits a variety of Persian carpets from all over Iran, dating from 18th century to present. It has a library that contains 7,000 books, but not open to public. My Chinese friend is very into carpets and shared a lot of his knowledge with me. An interesting thing about our journey to this museum was that the locals including rapid bus staff, tried to help us to get there but actually detoured us a loop of more than 40 minutes. We should have just followed the maps in the tour book. Be careful with these people with best intent but not the knowledge! Always read the tour book at a quilt corner to avoid attention of these "helpers".

i followed my friend to stop by Tehran's massive bazaar in the city's south (Metro: Panzdah-e-khordad), To pick up a rug he purchased. The main entrance on 15 Khordad Ave leads to a labyrinth of stalls and shops that were once the engine room of Iran's commodity markets and one of Imam Khomeini's greatest sources of conservative, pro-Revolution support. As usual, shops are clustered according to the products they sell. 

I and Ana moved to a friend's house in the north side of the city, so we did not even sleep over night there for the night we paid. My friend has another visitor from Taiwan, and he took us to a very good Chinese restaurant (unfortunately, the only Chinese restaurant in Tehran now).  We had a late start the second day.  The museums in Tehran increased admission so much that we only visited two. 

Golestan Palace is the oldest of the historic monuments in Tehran. The Complex consists of 17 palaces, museums, and Halls. The Golestan (Rose Garden) citadel is one of mainly visited places in Tehran, which was the Qajars' royal residence, and its garden is an oasis of coolness and peace in the heart of the city. The major building, architecturally unpretentious, houses a museum with objects from the Qajar period in the self-important style of last century. In the Golestan garden, a one-story pavilion to the right and a short distance from the entrance, shelters one of the best organized museums in Tehran. It encloses about thirty showcases presenting almost everything related to Iran, which makes up the critical originality of Iranian life in the a variety of provinces of the country.

The National Museum of Iran has ceramics, stone figures and carvings dating all the way back to around the 5th millennium BC. It is the combination of two museums, the old building dedicated pre-Islamic collection dating from Neolithic all the way to the Sassanid period and the new building dedicated to Iran's 1,400-year Islamic history.

A1one (aka Alonewriter, tanha) graffiti and street art works are a sort of interesting stuff in Teheran's Urban Space. 

15 hr bus ride from Yerevan into Tabriz, Iran

Southern Armenia is full of tall mountain ranges, valleys, gorges and forests. One main highway takes from top to bottom, with dramatic changes in elevation and scenery. The many types of attractions include hot springs and spas, dramatic cliffs and scenery, monasteries, caravansarys and fortresses, petroglyphs and Armenia's "Stonehenge", natural caves and cave cities, wine region, and more.

I skipped Goris on the way which is famous for the medieval cave-dwellings carved out of the soft rock in the southern part of town. It is a popular place for tourists to see the Tatev Monastery as well as other sites. I did not stop at Goris and Tatev because the weather turned cold and snowy, and i did not want to use local buses to cross the border to Iran. The big crossing border bus was much comfortable and has the biggest seats ever I saw.

Me and three other pack backers were dropped (more like abandoned) on the side of highway near Tabriz, while the bus continued to Tehran. The bus staff only left us to the road side taxi dispatcher. We were ripped off once to ride 25 km into Tabriz bus terminal, and another time from the bus terminal to the hotel. When we got there at 3 am, we were forced into a 4-bed room, but we were too tired to negotiate to two double room. 

The Russian couple were nice and well travelled. They planned to fly to Shiraz directly, since they only had three days to tour Iran. Me and my friend Ana were too tired to explore Tabriz much, so we just walked around the city for one day, and then took an over night bus to Tehran.

Google blogger

Is blocked in Iran, so I use vpn to post. i can post text, but have problem with photos.I am traveling fine in Iran otherwise.

I am still toying with the free vpn which does not work all the time.

Why I like travel

The more differences I realized from other cultures and people, the more questioms i asked about the roots of thevdiffernces and the deeper I appreciate my own cultures and people, then I can decide whether to continue my heritage or choose my own positions. 

Iran

Tabriz -> Tehran -> Kashan -> Esfahan -> Yazd ->  Shiraz -> Tehran

Turkey and Iran both have a very long history and the territory they are presiding over have been home to many culturally and ethnically distinct groups of people.  Even though Iran is twice as bigger than Turkey, Turkey’s population is a little higher than that of Iran’s. One friend ran into Europeans in Turkey waiting to get Iranian visas and they commented that Iran has more ruins to see.  I think the ruins in Iran are in better shape, but Iran now charges higher admission for the ruins.  My budget for Iran is 60% of my budget for Turkey.
 

Echmiadzin, Armenia

Echmiadzin is the largest city in Armavir Province, in Central Armenia. It is the seat of the Armenian Catholicos, head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and aUNESCO World Heritage Site.

• Cathedral of Echmiadzin. Founded in 301 by St. Gregory the Illuminator and rebuilt and added to for over 1,700 years, Echmiadzin now is the heart of the Armenian Church, and seat of the Catholicos of all Armenians. The altar is built over an ancient pagan fire worshiping pit (accessible from the museum behind the altar), the inside has some interesting frescoes, altar, lamps, and thrones. The intricate bell tower entrance is an addition from the 1800s, and the surrounding grounds have gardens with examples of khachkars from throughout Armenia and further. Near the new entrance gates are a few exquisite khachkar examples from Jugha (now in Azerbaijan) - which had by far the largest khachkar collection in the world. 
• S. Gayane Church. Built in honor of one of the Christian virgins killed by the Armenian King, along with Hripsime, this smaller church with an arcade in front is a few blocks south of the Echmiadzin compound.  

Yerevan, Capital of Armenia

Yerevan is the capital of Armenia, and is home to over a million people - the largest Armenian community in the world. In Soviet years Yerevan underwent massive reconstruction, following Alexander Tamanyan's (the architect) new plans to make a perfect city - a Neo-Classical wide-avenues-based town. 

• Republic Square - Though it never took the planed shape of the Grand Square of a perfect city of Tamanyan, it still can be considered the finest example of Soviet era architecture as far as squares go. The early buildings (the Houses of Government, the Ministry of Communications, and the Marriott Hotel) are fine example of Neo-Classical architecture with Armenian hints. 
• Northern Avenue -  this pedestrian and shopping avenue connecting Opera with Republic Square. It's a Post-Modern response to post-WWII Soviet Yerevan architecture. 
• Abovian street - It's home to very few remaining Belle Époque period structures of Republican Armenia. .
• The Opera – It's the 'soft' center of the city. It is topped by the magnificent building of the Opera House. It is supposed to be double as beautiful as the Yerevan building is two sided: One side (entrance from the Theatrical/Freedom square) is home to Opera and Ballet Theatre, while the street side houses the Khachaturian Concert Hall.
• Freedom (or Theatrical) Square is part of The Opera. North side of the square is the Opera House, followed by a park full of open air cafés on the West, from South it borders the Northern Avenue, and on the East the square slowly transforms into park with Swan Lake. 
• Cascades, Sculpture Park and Cafesjian Museum – The Sculpture Park is a small green zone in the immediate North of The Opera. Sculptures from Botero and other artists of international fame decorate the Park. The park itself is part of Cafesjian Museum - the Armenian version of Guggenheim. The main part of the museum is in the Cascades - an Art Deco version of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon stretching nearly the height of the Empire State Building. It's a massive white stairway up a hillside of central Yerevan, decorated with green stretches, fountains and waterfalls. Higher level of the Cascades give a spectacular view of Mount Ararat and panorama of central Yerevan with it's multi-colour roofs. 
• St Gregory the Illuminator Cathedralwas completed in 2001 to commemorate the 1700th anniversary of Armenia as a Christian nation. The building is a megalomaniac exaggeration of traditional Armenian Church Architecture.

DIY tour to Garni and Geghard, Armenia

I and my hostel roommate Ana used Lonely planet info to visit the sites using public transportation. We took marshrutka 51 from Mesrop Mashtots Poghota and then switched to Marshrutky departing from GAI Poghots (behind the Mercedes Benz show- room) in Yerevan. 

Garni temple is a temple dedicated to the heathen sun god, Mitra. Armenia’s King Trdat I built it in the 1st century.  The temple itself is no comparison with those in Greece; however, the surrounding mountains and river views worth the effort to visit the site. 

We hired a taxi to ride to Geghard Monastery and wiring for an hour while we touring the site. The taxi driver nevertheless was not found there, so we hitchhiked back to Garni then bused back to Yerevan.  I was really surprised to get into the passenger car and heard my name "Jennifer!" It was the lady worked in the lunch stop of my 1st day commercial tour. How likely for her to visit the site during her weekday break from the town 30 km away with her din and daughter and bumped into us in a middle of country road while we were looking for a ride! I was simply speechless.

Named after the holy lance that pierced Christ’s side at the crucifixion, Geghard Monastery stands in a steep scenic canyon 9km beyond Garni. Geghard Monastery was founded in the 4th century. The most ancient of the cave churches, St Gregory’s, dates back to the 7th century. Once called Ayrivank (Cave Monastery), Geghard was burned by invading Arabs in 923.