Traveling in Iran
Traveling in Iran: driving throughout the country on Iranian superhighways was a dream.
While they are called “freeways,” these toll roads are as modern as the best interstate highways in the U.S. And they are all well-marked, with names and directions both in Farsi and English.
Such signage carries into cities and small towns as well, which is not the case in so many countries we’ve been to, including Japan and former Soviet Republics where, as in Iran, a different alphabet is used.
Although there is a formal way of saying “Thank you,” in Farsi, the Iranian language, the most common expression we heard came from the French word “Merci,” which sounded instead like our word “Mercy.” Almost everyone used it.
The one expression we quickly mastered was “Goodbye,” which was “Ho-DAH Ha-FEZ.” And we learned the numbers, mainly because in the car, we could see the license plates ahead of us. An upside down heart is “5,” their “V” is a “7,” and their upside down “V,” like a tent,” is “8.”
Because we knew of the sanctions imposed on Iran, resulting in no international banks, we were shocked to discover Coke and Pepsi products everywhere we went…and I mean everywhere!
We even saw one Starbucks…in Isfahan. Whether or not it was a real franchise, we couldn’t say. Nonetheless, it looked authentic.
In all, we visited at least twenty towns and cities and saw dozens of museums, mosques and historic sites. The four “must see” places beside Tehran are Shiraz, Isfahan, Persepolis and Yazd.
My next series of blog posts are about our adventures in these four great places.