What can really be said about Iran?
The country is a beautiful and enchanting paradox.

Most of the news here is good, very good. And some of it is bad, horrifyingly bad.

Our car was held up in traffic our first morning there, in Maku by a procession mourning the memory of Khoumeini, we were arrested in Tabriz and adopted by a family of Azaris in the same city.

We were enchanted by the Moslem architecture in Hamadan and I was invited to lead the prayers in the synagogue there on Friday night.
Camping in the wild hills of the awesome deserts and being the centre of attention in tea houses in one horse towns.

The majesty of Esfahan which knows few rivals and the careful loving attention given to us by the Jewish community of Shiraz, not to mention throats full of wine, enough to make Hafez, Shiraz's famous poet, jealous.
The fear and trembling of that community as they await the verdict in the absurd spy case, as 13 Hebrew teachers are accused of spying for Israel and face the death penalty.
The disappointment with Persian carpets, and the few wonderful specimens we did manage to snatch up for a song.
The breathtaking beauty of the women who, covered up from head to foot, look like pearls in a black setting.
The bazaars! The blue floating tile mosques with their round turquoise domes faced up against the dazzling blue of cloudless skies.

Iran is the country of the coming revolution. The days of the Mollahs are almost over, their backward and hateful regime is counting its days, but its death throes threaten to be violent.

Iran is THE country to come back to.
Our transit visa was for 7 days which we extended twice with the help of the very friendly staff of the Alien Affairs Bureaus of Tabriz and Esphahan, and so we spent only 23 days in this Oriental bazaar of twisted alleyways, mud villages, cheap gas (two and a half bucks to fill up our tank!), and soaring hopes.
We welcome you to browse through this short overview of a country which deserves more time and certainly less Mollahs.