about Iran

_{If your knowledge about Iran is limited to WHAT YOU HAVE HEARD I can tell you when you travel to Iran for the first time you would be astonished how far Iran is from your beliefs.}

 _{Iran is home to one of the world's oldest civilizations with about 80 million population now.  Historically, Proto-Iranian religion and Zoroastrianism were the dominant religions in Iran before Islam was brought to this country from 16^th century.}

 _{These information could be easily found by an easy search on google. But the information which may help you to have a better understanding of current situation of Iran is that;}

 _{Iran is safe and secure. This is what I can say after my travels to many Asian and European countries. Unknown is always scary, media and unsecure countries in Middle East have their own effect for people to judge about Iran. But you won’t have any problem to travel to the big modern cities in Iran except some accidents which may happen in most of the big cities in the world which does not happen for all but may happen for few. For small cities and cities on the borders for sure one local person needs to accompany you. Small cities may be always have their own restrictions.}

_{The problem you may encounter here on the street is the language.  Young educated population are mostly speaking English. But not all people you encounter in your daily life like taxi drivers or grocery boys.  So if you plan to stay here start learning Persian or Farsi. This is the language of the country. Language of poet and Rumi, I am sure you would like the language with historic poetic roots.}

_{Iran has a young, well-educated population. Women are present. They are active. They are educated. The majority of population of graduated and university students are women. In private and multinational companies you may see the majority of employees are young women.}

_{Iran is a four season country. You can ski here in Tehran during winter in beautiful sky areas and resorts and enjoy the beautiful nature and at the same time experience a weather like spring in another part of the country. Iran is quit vast with diverse ethnicities, languages and dialects.  Mostly different cities has their own language/dialects and traditions. So don’t mistake to judge all the people in this country based on the first person or group of people you meet, for sure like any other country the way of thinking, dressing, life style, etc differ a lot between people but here you may see there is a big gap and people don’t look homogenous. Of course Iranians all over the country share many commonalities but still they have many differences.}

_{The historic places in Iran are marvelous. Unfortunately Iran government have not suitably taken care of these places so far as they require. But still you could enjoy many places in historic cities of Iran. They are unique and carry the beauty of old culture.}

_{The way you should dress depend where you want to go! But bring your classy cloths for sure. In this country especially modern cities you would be definitely judged on the way you dress up. But for women they have created their own style. Manto/ Coat with trousers and scarf are main used dress for women in Iran.}

_{Taarof is the word you should know in this country. What does it mean? When you pay to taxi driver or any other places in the shops you would hear back,’oh pls no problem just for you (you don’t have to pay)!’ But they don’t mean it, it is just a sign of respect. Taarof is not limited in these situations only, you may hear such Taarofs in many situations which people don’t mean what they say but only showing that they respect you!}

_{Iran is really cheap for western visitors. So enjoy renting a taxi for the whole day or going to best restaurants with no concern. About the food, you should experience the taste and the variety to get to know the heaven of foods in Iran. So go for Iranian dishes, western dishes although are still good here but Iranian dishes would be surely your best experience in this country.}

 _{Driving in Iran I would say is a disaster! I am sorry to tell you that you would go crazy by the way people are driving! The city is full of all kinds of cars. You may easily see last models of car brands in the world in the streets of big modern cities but you definitely wouldn’t like to spend your time in heavy traffics with the way people are driving. So be careful, have your books to read!}

 _{People love luxury and western expensive brands here. Don’t get surprised if you pay 1000 dollar to your staff on monthly basis and you see her carrying a 1000 dollar bag in her hand! This is not applicable to all though but just letting you know that how much people would like to look brands.}