Iran Triplog October 10 to 12.We started the trip with an overnight,13-hour Qatar flight to Doha; followed by a 7-hour layover; and then a 2.5-hour flight to Tehran, arriving at 4 am on the 12th. We whisked through security and immigration (unlike others whose luggage was thoroughly searched) and we were met at the airport by a driver and the assistant guide, Javad. The drive to the Espinas Hotel (which turned out to be the best hotel of the trip) took about an hour and we checked in and napped for 3 hours or so before going to breakfast. October 12. We were pleased to discover when we checked in that the breakfast was included. It was a selection of yoghurts, cheeses, breads, cereals, various fruits, dates, honey, a spinach frittata “cucu sabzi”, etc., as well 3 or 4 hot selections and an omelet station. To varying degrees, this was the breakfast at each hotel, so we had lots of options and plenty of food. After breakfast, we walked around the neighborhood a bit, then walked to Laleh Park and spent some time walking there. It’s a very large park, and each time we walked there we discovered a new section. There is a small Japanese area with stepping stones, a stage with cement seating, an area where locals blocked off sections and put up nets for net games, a long waterway flanked with blooming oleander, sculptures of historical figures, and flower beds in various areas, a pond, an area of woods…oh, and lots of very well-fed cats. On the way back to the hotel, we walked past the Contemporary Art Museum, which has a sculpture garden that you can see from the sidewalk outside, and then past the university. The road past the hotel had a pedestrian walkway in the middle of the road with trees and a small canal, so we often used this in our walks. We went back to the hotel for a brief stop, but fell asleep, so it was a while before we ventured out again. We walked in the opposite direction from our earlier walk, to a very large traffic circle and then to a mosque that was lit. The call to prayer had sounded, and people were rushing into the mosque. Since this was Ashura, it was a national holiday with religious observations. We had been told that everything would be closed, but small shops were open to supply the needs of the observant. We were particularly interested in the small processions and candle ceremonies. We went back to the hotel for dinner, since the restaurants were all closed, then met Prof. M. R. Darafsheh, a leading mathematician in Iran, and his student, Hadis, for coffee in the hotel lobby. Hadis brought Judy a lovely bouquet of flowers, and Darafsheh drove us around the area a bit, including to the old American embassy (now called the “den of US espionage”). When they dropped us off, there was a procession (people beating their breasts in memory of the Shi’ite martyr Hussain) going on outside the hotel, so we all watched as it passed. October 13. After breakfast we walked in Laleh Park again, and then met Richard and John (who had been on the 2013 Turkey trip with us) and had lunch with them at a restaurant across the street from the hotel. We walked through the park with them to the Contemporary Art Museum. It’s a very interesting building and the current exhibit was mostly beautiful photos of sand dunes. We all walked back through the park to the hotel, where the tour group was slowly gathering. We met our local guide, Amin, who arranged for the whole group to meet at one of the hotel restaurants for dinner. We were able to sit with Paul Viita and Rosanna King, who were at Oxford with Steve. 1 Stefano and Rita (from the 2000 Egypt trip) and Jim and Carol (from the 2013 Turkey trip) came into the dinner just as it was about to start, so we said hello to them, but they ended up at a different table. October 14. After breakfast, we went back to Laleh Park for a while. It was very interesting to see families out having picnics and playing volleyball and soccer in the park. Shops were closed, since Friday is the Muslim equivalent of our Sunday. The tour officially started at 1pm when the bus picked us up to go to the UNESCO-listed Gulestan Palace. It began as a fortress by the Safavid dynasty in the 16th century. It includes the Marble Throne, created from 65 pieces of yellow Yazd marble. Mirror mosaics covered many of the walls and ceilings. (Unfortunately photography was not allowed in many of the rooms.) From there we were taken to the Carpet Museum, which had some very interesting old carpets, including a replica of the oldest known carpet in the world. We walked back through the park with Paul and Rosanna and Stefano and Rita. We were taken out to a restaurant for dinner. October 15. A four-museum day: the Reza Abbasi Museum, the National Museum’s Archeology and Islamic Museums, and the State Jewels Museum. The Reza Abbasi museum is named after the Safavid artist, Reza Abbasi, and was created by Queen Farah Pahlavi in the 1970’s. It is an outstanding collection, from the 2nd millennium BCE to the early 20th century, of coins, pottery, textiles, paintings and manuscripts as well as metal objects. The golden rhyton (drinking horn) from the Sassanian period is especially lovely and iconic. At the National Museum (no bags allowed, so we left them on the bus), we were met by a group of archeologists and museum people, who took us to an area of offices in the basement that contained the Gold Room. This is an area that is off limits to the public, and we were allowed in because our Oriental Institute (OI) leader, Gil Stein, knew some of the archeologists and was able to arrange for us to see the objects. For us, the most astonishing objects were the gold and silver foundation tablets of Darius, king of Persia 550-486 BC, from Persepolis. We had read about them and seen photos of them, but I never thought I would actually see them! These are astonishing pieces; the inscription on each of the plates was the same and reads, “Darius the great king, king of kings, king of countries, son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenid. King Darius says: This is the kingdom which I hold, from the Sacae who are beyond Sogdia to Nubia, and from Sind to Lydia – [this is] what Ahuramazda, the greatest of gods, bestowed upon me. May Ahuramazda protect me and my royal house!” It is inscribed in cuneiform script in three different languages, Old Persian, Akkadian, and Elamite. The Anthropology Museum is called the Museum of Ancient Iran, and has a vast collection. The earliest artifacts are Paleolithic tools, and there are figurines that are 9000 years old. Most artifacts are frim the periods that we had been studying, Median, Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian, and Sassanid periods. Many were from areas that we would be visiting later in the trip. The building was constructed in the mid-1930’s, so there is lots of glass, which means the light reflects off the glass cases, making photography very difficult. The museum was full of groups, which made it difficult to hear Amin. We went to lunch at a restaurant not far from the museum, but far enough that we were taken on the bus. The lunch was a sumptuous buffet with many tables of food. 2 We were then driven back to the National Museum to explore the Islamic Museum, which was reopened recently and includes artifacts from the Islamic period in Iran. (Our guidebook had said that this museum was closed, so we were very happy that it has now re-opened.) There are two floors of exhibits, with ceramics, paintings, woodwork, metalwork, a few carpets…To our astonishment; we were the only group in the museum, so we especially enjoyed our time there. Next we were taken to the “Jewels Museum” which has a remarkable collection of royal jewels, including a Peacock Throne and a pink, uncut diamond, the Darya-e Nur (Sea of Light), weighing 182 carats and said to be the largest uncut diamond in the world. This was a fairly small room in a bank, so access was tightly controlled. (No bags or photography were allowed.) The number of people was carefully regulated, so each group waited until the previous group left. This really was necessary to be able to see the displays. When the bus dropped us off at the hotel, the driver then drove the bus to Ahwaz to meet us at the airport there the next day. A different bus drove us around on the 16th. Dinner was in the hotel at the restaurant where we had eaten on our first full day, a good thing since everyone was tired at this point. October 16. After breakfast, our luggage was collected, we checked out of the hotel, and boarded the bus for a drive to the north of the city to the Saadabad Palace Museum complex, which had been the residence of the royal family of Iran during the Shah period. There are more than 180 hectares of natural forest, streets, qanats (underground aqueducts), galleries, and museums. We only had time to walk through one palace in the complex; we were able to walk a little on the grounds.