Last year, in 2016, Dr. Bronston and his wife visited Iran for two weeks. I was proud of being the fellow traveler of this sweet couple. Their observation was such a treasure for me. I express my gratitude to him for sharing his viewpoints about this trip.
Here's his travel memories.
As we arrived from Emirates to the airport in Tehran; a flood of warm curiosity engulfed us from passengers around us. The passport control line was almost crowded and Tehran airport baggage claim felt like a normal jam around the baggage belt. On exit our tall and welcoming tour guide engaged us and we were in the car for a relaxed and rich conversation one hour to our lovely ornate hotel.
We three arrived at 9:30 PM at Spinas and loaded baggage in our 716 room and rendezvoused in the main restaurant for the delicious cluster of appetizers for Lisa and I, a chicken Kebab dinner for Sohrab. A traditional Persian singer and three piece band were playing music. We had a delightful conversations about everything with Sohrab and after an hour Lisa faded to our room. The music continued, my joyous conversation with Sohrab continued for another hour before we finally called out the day.
The next day
We finished our hotel breakfast and collected ourselves to meet Sohrab at 10 AM. Our first step was the royal carpet museum. The trapezoidal cleared exterior of the museum was arranged like a loom and the pristine interior displayed more than a hundred magnificent works hanging beautifully and lit with slightly reduced light. Each rug specified its origin, type, century, age, and Raj- the number of knots in 7 centimeter square.
I learned that architecture were composed of white natural threads did not make up the rugs décor but the individual knots tied with colored silk or wool established the actual statics of the rug design. The awesome complexity, the labor invested in each rug radiated the unique energy and warmth that transmitted from each rug. We ascended to the second floor of the museum where a new exhibition had been installed to show off the range of rugs of a famous designer. A master weaver spent over an hour showing and explaining the craft technology to clarify the sublime creativity and discipline of this human art.
We drove to a lovely restaurant Termeh where we taste of the score of traditional veggie options and have lunch in the basement of The Ferdosi International Grand Hotel. Finally we drove into a neighborhood based on the Alborz Mountains where the palace complex was located. Many of the streets are beautifully divided in tall poplar and sycamore trees line street after streets surely offering shade in the harsh summers. Driving to the 100 year old palace complex was all appeal as the area is situated of the base of the snowcap Mountains planned to escape the heat and comprise more than 15 buildings to the public. Today, yesterday were major holidays. The bulk of the city’s populations were on holiday vacations and the absence of the normal traffic left the day sparkling clear with blinding sunshine and temperate coolness and breeze. Our driver dropped the three of us at the high and neighborhood of palace exiting and entry and Sohrab bought tickets for us to see the fine art museum, the royal car collection and the white palace. The ground had hundreds of local visitors, every woman scarfed and majority with their kids mostly in family blessed. Traditional musicians played and the crowd mused through dozens of merchant and food stalls. The ground was beautiful and the snowcapped picks almost in arms distance. The entire property existed on a slope, settling up and down by taxi. People watching was fascinating. By 5pm we were expended and Sohrab left us at the hotel and we were quietly alone and crashed at 9 PM.