Leaving Tehran

Editor’s note: Diyana Ishak was a fall researcher at FP. She’s been blogging for Passport from Iran. This is her final post, but you can find her earlier dispatches here and here.

Last week, we managed to escape the capital and head south to Isfahan and Shiraz, two of Iran’s more beautiful and historic cities. Tehranians like to get out of town during the New Year’s season, so our creaking Korean plane was almost full for the short flight. (The silly tourist in me kicked in when I became excited by the sight of Ayatollahs on the plane.)

Isfahan is home to stunning examples of classic Persian Islamic architecture, and Persepolis, a UNESCO World Heritage site near Shiraz, easily rivals Athens in ancient splendor. But even these, Iran’s best historical sites, simply aren’t very well taken cared for. History itself, it seems, has become a victim of Iran’s international isolation.

Before I left for my trip, many of my friends and family feared for my safety; one even joked to “watch out for the American strikes.” For now, though, Iran is a relatively safe country with low crime rates—not the scary place I’ve always heard about in the media. And although the world is caught up in the regime’s nuclear standoff with the West (my favorite recent sign of defiance: the new 50,000 Rial banknote shows electrons flying around a map of Iran), regular Iranians have little control over what their government does. Most are just trying to get on with their lives in peace. Being here is a reminder that behind each president, each prime minister, each government, there exists a people and a culture—and one that can be full of pleasant surprises.