How was it to run? Traffic?

Amazing TR! The awesome photos made me want to go to Iran, a place that was not high in my go-to-places list!

Congrats!

Fantastic trip report (thought I posted that after reading it but realized I had not!) - amazing photos. Thanks for taking the time. Enjoy the destination you head to.

Thank you, HangukStyle:). Apparently alcohol is still around if you know where to look:).

The run was great, especially in Isfahan on the tree-lined streets. I had to wear trackpants & polo shirt (I normally run in shorts & singlet) though.

Traffic was fine, pretty crazy and chaotic in Tehran though:)!

Cheers, FlyingGnu:). Yes, I definitely recommend adding it to your list.

Thanks, bowdenj:). Just sussing out my next trip now, North Africa.

Thanks for posting, food looks delicious....

Thanks for sharing your report and amazing pictures!

I just returned from a 3-week trip through Iran myself a few days ago, and can't wait to go back :)

Thanks so much for sharing. Your photos are amazing, and I especially love the photos of people since you get such a feel of the place from that. I just need to get more confidence when I'm traveling to take them and to introduce myself to get such shots. Iran has been on my list for a while and hope to get there in the next 10 years.

Incredible! I really really need to go.

Another magnificent report with beautiful pictures.

I love this one in particular:

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5544/...e633b865_b.jpg

Great trip report. Incredible photos as well. Looking for ways to visit Iran now.

Great TR!!! The photos are stunning!!!!!

Wow! Amazing pictures. Thank you!

Great great report, thank you for sharing.

Nice trip report.

I love Persian food but was wondering if any of the food got your stomach disturbed?

The Iranian parliament has a minimum legal quota of having at least one elected Jewish Iranian as a member of parliament. Iran still has some religious, ethnic and linguistic diversity with, amongst others, members of all the major monotheistic Abrahamic religions and the Zoroastrian precursor represented; and there are ethnic minorities of Armenian, Arab, Baluchi, Azeri and other lingo-ethnic/religious backgrounds beyond that there. [Iran is also one of the world's largest hosts for refugees, in largest part from Afghanistan.] Even some of the most fundamentalist mullahs there are proud of Iran being a more diverse and hospitable place historically than say some of its near neighbors across the water. My American relatives that have been to Iran or lived there had great experiences visiting and didn't have any worries about being ethnic/religious minorities there at any point in the past ten years at least.

I was fine in Iran over 2 weeks. No disturbances.
I didnt find the food that exciting. It wasnt a highlight, and I would not be going to Iran for a culinary experience.

As for the rest of your post, ^^

Fantastic. Thanks.

I would like to go one day if I can.

Are there a lot of foreign tourists?

Seasonally and for at least one purpose, sort of; otherwise not so many. Lots of Arab and South/Central Asian tourists -- mostly religious pilgrimage tourists -- but noticed even some European tourists on ski tour packages; and in the summer some American tourist groups.

For anyone interested in the history of SW/C/S Asia, Iran is fascinating given its various contributions to the region.

Really wish I could travel there without the guide restriction.....oh well, one day.

Really incredible report, I've wanted to go to Iran for a long time and now want to even more.

unbelievable photography. do you have a flickr account?

Cheers, FAA1996, yes I definitely didn't go hungry:).

Thanks, Canada freak, wow 3 weeks must have been fun. I bet you were craving some uncensored internet after that long though:).

Thank you, nemme99:). Yes, I try to keep focus on the people when I take photo's. Much easier to take an interesting photo when you've got an interesting person in the shot.

Thanks, sriegert:). Yes, definitely recommend a trip there, great place to experience.

Thank you, Matthew:). That was one of my favourites too, managed to capture just the right moment:).

Cheers, cardinalkid1891:). Not one of the more frequented places for travel, but that is probably a good thing:).

Thanks, ysolde:).

Cheers, flybranchen:).

Thank you, agp423:). Sharing the pics helps me to focus on getting the right shots.

Thank you, GUWonder:). No problems with the food, I even drunk the tap water:).

Yes, they seem to be very tolerant people, much more than the impression you get from CNN etc.

Cheers, Bretteee:). As GUWonder said, there are tourists there, but definitely not large numbers.

Thank you, largeeyes:). I had a guide for most of my trip (not compulsory for me though), and didn't seem to

Thanks, bthotugigem05, yes it's definitely in my top 10 of countries visited.

Thanks, riphamilton:). My flickr username is mesodan, however parts of flickr are blocked where I live (UAE), so is hard to properly apart from photo hosting for forums etc.

Interesting. Can't you use a corporate or paid VPN to circumvent that?

Just checked and www.flickr.com/groups seems to be unblocked now:).

99% of the sites that are blocked in the UAE are porn, so haven't bothered with VPN's etc.

Iran was pretty interesting though. Facebook is blocked, but the Supreme leader has a FB page:D.

Nytimes.com & Usatoday.com wasn't blocked when I was there, but foxnews.com & BBC.com was.

Flyertalk.com was ok too:).

Interesting differentiation. Thanks for the inside view.

In UK and Germany (and US ?) they block Press TV. One of my favourite sources of info.

We don't block news websites in the UK.

Sometimes the UK does block some websites but I wouldn't consider them generally to be news websites. And then there is this kind of thing:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-airwaves.html

And Germany's BLM had done something to get Press TV pulled from at least one satellite service.

Press TV was taken off air in the UK (and elsewhere).

Ah right, I thought the claim was that the website was blocked. TV transmissions are a different beast and are regulated in the UK.

Thanks for this Great TR, your pictures are awesome and really show how life is in Iran.
Mrs Mud and I made exactly the same trip, visiting the same cities and turistic places except Teheran; it is still up to day one the best trip i've ever made.
Back in 2009 we also flew SYZ DXB but with IR.
Thanks for sharing.

How do you take photos? Do you ponder the scene first and then decide on the camera settings, or do you just take dozens of photos of the same scene with different settings and later pick the best one?

Thank you, Mynameismud:). I read your Iran trip report before I went and really enjoyed it. You'll have to get round to finishing it one of these days though:).

Good question:)! If I have my UWA lens on, it is generally set to 'P' mode with the minimum shutter bumped up to 1/125th or so. With primes I mainly shoot in aperture priority mode with only a single focus point active.

I will tweak the settings though when needed , e.g. -/+ Ev, or shutter priority etc. I try and get the shot right first time (with regard to settings). I will take many photo's of the same thing/scene sometimes, but this is more for composition rather than camera setup.

Love love love your trip report with pictures! Thank you for sharing and for taking us through a memorable journey ^

Great report and amazing photos, glad I was an inspiration again :D! Pretty much my itinerary in reverse (but I missed Tehran). I was a lot more rushed in my trip too so didn't really get any people photos.

Thank you, hauteboy:). Yes, you'll have to add me to your CAR trip:D. You didn't miss too much in Tehran, certainly not all the traffic anyway:).

Cheers, aSiAnRiCk:). Yes, it was memorable experience for me too:).

awesome and inspiring trip report

Not sure about my CAR trip... that one may end up just being an airport stop (TAAG flies Brazzaville - Bangui - Douala and v.v.)

Fantastic TR! Very interesting. Great pictures! Thanks for sharing ;)

Great trip report and beautiful pictures. Thanks for sharing.

Great report. SFO777 might have a field day there. My recollection of Irani (Persian) women from college was that they were gorgeous. Don't think he'll be taking that trip with MrsSFO777 however.

The rabbi from one of our local yeshivas helped approximately 60,000 Jews leave Iran. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_N._Neuberger

I guess entering a warzone means it will be quick stop:). My Libyan visa got denied last week, apparently they have suspended visa's for tourists for the moment. At least until elections apparently. My Algeria visa came through though thankfully:).

Thanks, thefilipinotraveler:). Definitely one of my most enjoyable trips.

Thank you, rob_flies_ua:).

Cheers, JCary:).

Thanks, farbster:). Yes, hard not to stare at some of the Persian ladies:).

Must have been a difficult time after the revolution. I sincerely hope that the remaining Jews do not have to immigrate though. Iran has by far the largest amount of Jewish people in the Middle East outside of Israel, and would be sad to see a complete exodus after thousands of years of Judaism in Persia, despite frequent persecution.