Tehran

The first city that I'd like to write about is "Tehran", which is a capital of Iran. I was born and grew up there. It is a large city with huge population which is around 8.5 million. Many people immigrate from all over Iran to Tehran. Because they can find more jobs with higher salary also they can have more facilities.

"Azadi Square" One of the famous square in Tehran

There are many places to visit in Iran like:

Museums: 

-The Ethnological Museum : Aspects of past and present urban, rural and tribal life

-The Carpet Museum of Iran: Iranian carpets, rugs and kilim  from the Safavid period to the present and several carpets from neighboring countries, library 

-The Niavaran Cultural-Historic Complex: Pahlavi period carpets, vessels, statues

-The Azadi Cultural Complex: Pre-Islamic to Qajar period artifacts

-The Coin Museum: Coins from various periods

- The Contemporary Arts Museum: Inspired from traditional Iranian architecture, this museum is an important center of activities related with plastic arts and regularly holds various temporary exhibitions

-  The History Museum: Items of contemporary (last 200 years) Iranian history, including Nasser-ed-Din Shahs personal effects, vessels, paintings by Kamal-ol-Molk, etc.    

For more information you can visit http://www.persiatours.com/museums_tehran.htm

One of my favorite place in Tehran is its Bazaars, there are 2 famous bazaar, Tehran's bazaar and Tajrish, the former is located the south of Tehran while the latter is located the north of Tehran.You can find everything you want in these bazaars.

Also there are places and mansions such as:

Golestan Palace: pronounced "Khakheh Golestān" Shamsolemare"is the former royal Qajar complex. That belongs to 150 years ago.

Golestan Palace

 Niavarān Palace Complex is a historical complex situated in the northern part. It consists of several buildings and a museum. 

Niavaran Palace

 

Iran

Iran is located in the Middle East (Western Asia). The 18th largest country in the world in terms of area at 1,648,195 km² and has a population of over 74 million. Iran is bordered on the north by Armenia, Azerbaijan, Caspian Sea and Turkmenistan. Iran is bordered on the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by Iraq and on the northwest by Turkey. Tehran is the capital of Iran. Iran has 30 provinces. (We will talk about each of provinces later)

The variety of geography in Iran is incredible.

Mountains: It is one of the world’s most mountains countries. Its mountains such as Zagros, Alborz Mountains and Iran's highest point, Mount Damavand at 5,610 m, which is not only the country's highest peak but also the highest mountain on the Eurasian.

Sea: The Caspian Sea at the northern and the Persian Gulf at the southern.

Jungle: The northern part of Iran is covered by rain forests.

Dessert: The eastern part consists mostly of desert such as the Dasht-e Kavir, Iran's largest desert, in the north-central portion of the country, and the Dasht-e Lut, in the east, as well as some salt lakes.

Also Iran’s climate has variety, each year is divided to four equal seasons, and in each season climate is different from the others. So, people can enjoy different weather during a year.

Yalda Night

For the first post I'd like to write about one of the oldest iranian tradition and one of my most favorite tradition, which is called "Shabe Yalda" = Yalda night.

Shabe Yalda is the Persian Winter Solstice Celebration which has been popular since ancient times. Yalda is celebrated on the Northern Hemisphere's longest night of the year, that is, on the eve of the Winter Solstice. Depending on the shift of the calendar, Yalda is celebrated on or around December 20 or 21 each year.

It is a time when friends and family gather together to eat fruits like watermelon, pomegranates, and nuts, and read poetry (especially Hafiz) until well after midnight. 

Happy Yalda Night