Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” – Carl Jung Human psychology is fascinating, and it also happens to be something I know next to nothing about. And yet, even people like myself, with next to no knowledge of the field, know what it means when someone is described as an ‘introvert’ or ‘extrovert’. You …
iran
Top 10 Memories: Saying Goodbye to an Old Friend
I treat the camera like a person – I gaze into it. Photos are a flat thing, and you need to put life into them.” – Cara Delevingne Sometimes travel is dangerous. I know it as well as anyone. From being jumped on a cobblestone street in France to battling altitude sickness while crossing a pass …
Being American in Iran
I almost didn’t tell my family I was going to Iran. My mother and father worry for my safety, as parents do, and are sources of endless reasons why I shouldn’t visit certain destinations. They’d handled my ambitions to travel through Myanmar back in January 2013, and Mongolia that May. They’d done admirably well when I …
Love in Kashan: A Tale of Two Houses
Kashan was notable because it was the end–the final stop of our tour before returning to the clamoring urban jungle of Tehran. A small oasis in the middle of the Dasht-e Kavir, Kashan has captured the minds of travelers for centuries. Instead of reading more about it in my guidebook, however, I found myself staring out …
The Town that Time Forgot
“Whatever you do, don’t take pictures.” As we passed anti-aircraft turrets and razor wire fences, none of us felt inclined to even make the attempt. There are some places where a warning to abstain from photography merely stokes the desire to sneak a shot. Driving past a nuclear facility in the middle of Iran was not …
Eight Things to See in Esfahan
Esfahan nesf-e jahan. Esfahan is half the world. That’s the old adage you’ll hear thrown around within minutes of entering Iran’s cultural hub–the treasure-filled, but surprisingly modernized city of Esfahan. Like Samarkand in Uzbekistan, Esfahan is more than a historic city, it is a commercial hub and one of the largest cities in the country. …
Nine Things to See in Yazd
The city of Yazd: nearly as ancient as the desert which surrounds it, rich and timeless. There is a great deal to do there; here are some recommendations of things to see in Yazd! Masjed-e Jameh Yazd’s main mosque is visible from all over the Old City–provided one can get a view of the sky …
Yazd: City of Fire and Silence
Though it is there they worship fire, the first thing we encountered was the silence. Two dusty hills rise outside of Yazd, each crowned with a ringed wall of crumbling stone–as old as memory. This place is the cradle of Zoroastrianism, the ancient monotheistic religion of Persia. A footpath snaked its way up a steep incline; the sand was dry …
The Rooftops of Abarkooh
Our group stopped in Abarkooh on our way from Eghlid to the caravan-serai at Zein-o-din. From the description, it didn’t sound like much. According to our trip notes: “Abarkooh is (a historical town) located in the desert valley beneath the Zagros Mountains.” Things we would see there? An ice house and an old mansion. After exploring …
Six Things to See in Shiraz
Many people, myself included, associate the name ‘Shiraz‘ with the wine. I think of vineyards and rolling hills. I guess I think of a Persian Tuscany. That’s not too accurate. Shiraz is no Tuscany, it is its own place. It is a place of poets, a lush oasis in the desert, and a thriving city …