Visit to Iran

Nancy and Dan Adolphson traveled to Iran last June with two goals in mind. One was to see Persepolis, the ancient city built by Darius the Great around 515 B.C. The other was to buy a Persian carpet for their new condo in Walnut Creek, where they’d recently moved after more than 40 years in Danville.

“What better place to get a Persian carpet than Persia?” asked Nancy, addressing a crowd yesterday at First Wednesday, the monthly Friends of the Danville Library program.

Nancy said she is often asked if she was frightened to go to Iran, given the upheaval that took place after the June 12 election. Her answer is no; travel companies assured them the country is safe. They were advised to stay in their hotel in Tehran on one evening, but they never felt they were in danger.

“But we will not discuss politics,” Nancy said at the beginning of her talk. “We were only tourists. We are innately curious, and we wanted to travel.”

They didn’t see many other tourists, she remarked, and she heard that the Iranian government was giving travel agents bonuses to get tourists there.

The Adolphsons toured in an international group of nine. Nancy said the landscape as they traveled from one ancient holy site and palace to another was mostly desert, similar to Mexico. The water was excellent, she noted. There was no alcohol, despite Omar Khayyam’s famous line about “A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread – and Thou.”

“Eighty percent of the population is literate. The university is free, for both men and women,” she informed the audience, as Dan worked the Power Point presentation showing photos from their trip. “Seventy percent of the population is under 30 years old. They have no memory of the Iran-Iraq War or of the Shah.”

Cell phones were ubiquitous there as here, she said. The women all wore head scarves in public, although their clothing was stylish and often fitted.

“Their scarves are often worn back, and they are beautifully made up,” she said.

The women in her tour group complied with the scarf rule and at several holy sites had to don the full body covering, which was handed to them at the entrance.

Nancy told of approaching two stylish young women with designer handbags to ask where she could buy a new top to wear; after trying to give her directions, they obligingly brought her to a nearby shop. She said people were unfailingly kind and helpful.

Also ubiquitous were huge murals and photos of Ayatollah Khomeini and Supreme Leader Ali Hoseyni Khamene’i. Plus there were numerous memorials to martyrs from the Iran-Iraq War.

The Persian faith of Zoroastrianism was the first monotheistic faith, predating even Judaism, she said, although with the invasion of the Arabs in 633 A.D. most of the populace became Moslem. The Persians’ language was also at risk; the poet Ferdowsi is credited with saving it through his “Epic of Kings,” and Farsi remains the national language.

The photos displayed ornate mosques and palaces adorned with mosaic tiles. One was totally mirrors. A picture of the square in Isfahan showed Iranian and Islamic architecture.

“Everywhere was filled with picnickers,” said Nancy. “Families would set up their samovars.”

Most of the restaurants and tea houses had raised platforms to sit on to eat. “I didn’t adapt too well to sitting cross-legged and eating,” Nancy admitted. She showed a photo of a water pipe cafe, but said they didn’t try it.

Many photos featured beautiful grounds of ancient buildings, now national treasures. “The gardens are famous for their water and for the buildings around them,” Nancy said. “The fountains are run by springs and gravity.”

In Isfahan the entire tour group visited a carpet shop, just for Nancy and Dan. She felt a little guilty about that, she said, but it turned out that everyone purchased a carpet – except them.

“At the next shop, we liked one of the carpets but not the cost,” she said.

The tour group spent one night at an abandoned caravanserai, which were built a day’s trip apart on the old Silk Road.

“It was very, very warm – but dry,” she recalled. “We took a walk in the desert. They were bringing camels home.”

A photo showed a landscape that apparently hasn’t changed since merchants stopped on their travels from China to Rome.

They also visited Persepolis, which was destroyed during the invasion by Alexander the Great. Excavations began in the 1930s.

“It was covered by sands, which preserved it,” noted Nancy.

Some of its bas reliefs showed Ethiopians carrying ivory to the Persian ruler.

“The conquered nations brought tribute,” explained Nancy. “The ancient Persian empire stretched from Ethiopia to India.”

Back in Tehran they were able to see the former American Embassy that was overtaken in the 1979 revolution. Photos aren’t allowed, but the bus driver slowed down for the tour group to take pictures of the defunct embassy with its anti-American signs intact.

Meanwhile back at the hotel the carpet dealer had made a call to the tour leader. If the Adolphsons wanted to buy that carpet they liked so much, they could have it for half the price they’d been given at the shop.

The last photo was of their condo back home – a beautiful intricate carpet adorning the room.

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