Iran, when prejudices are silenced – Part 5

 

Despite the government trying to decrease the pollution, Tehran is still a very polluted city, which is not surprising as 3 million vehicles drive around the city. I hope that additional measurements of the government (such us a million electric bikes, hybrid taxis, encouraging to buy cars, running on gas) will be efficient. Not for the tourists, but for the locals, who are exposed to the high concentration of greenhouse gas despite the fact that Tehran has a great underground system, which has over 100 stops on 5 lines and on 170 kilometres. Until 2020 they plan to have 430 kilometre long underground on 9 lines. I believe that the pollution will decrease yearly and visiting Iranian capital will be even more pleasant.

 

Tehran is definitely a city worth a visit. Tehran bazaar is the biggest bazaar in Iran with 10 kilometre long ways of stores and stalls where you can feel the city the most. The bazaar isn’t something special and the crowd will turn you away before you walk the whole way. Don’t worry, palace Golestan is near and it’s called the pearl of Tehran. 

 

Golestan palace, or better the complex of palaces was once the heart of Tehran and is a witness of mightiness and wealth of the Qajar empire. Here once stood a fort from Safavid dynasty, but Nasser-al-Din Shah (1848-1896) was so amazed by European palaces and built todays complex. The complex included outer buildings like offices and apartments, which were demolished in time of Pahlavi dynasty. Today the Golestan palace is the number one attraction and leaving Tehran without visiting Golestan palace is like leaving Paris without seeing Eiffel tower. My advice to you is to decide, which buildings you’ll visit before entering the complex as you have to buy the tickets for the buildings you want to see also. Golestan complex is definitely an attraction where you’ll spend at least an hour.

 

 

But after a few hours of the centre of Tehran you’ll wish for some fresh air and to cool down. For that, visit north Tehran where you can go to palaces Sa’d Abad and Niyavaran. The best way to get there is by underground railway to the end station in the square Tajrish. 

 

Tajrish was the name of the village which became part of Tehran through time. The first thing you’ll notice is the air quality. Tajrish square is 600 metres higher than the railway station and 700 metres higher than the airport, it lies 1712 metres above the sea level. North Tehran, so the area around the Tajrish square, is the richest part of the city with luxury villas, boutiques and a modern shopping centre. Of course there’s also plenty of traditional shopping on the Tajrish bazaar. There’s also a wide selection of food. From traditional Iranian restaurants to stands with amazing falafel and restaurants with food from other parts of the world. This part of the city is interesting to see on its own but if we also visit two palace complexes, we have enough reasons to see the north of the city. 

 

The museum of the Niyavaran palace is only a few kilometres away from the underground station Tajrish, which always has enough taxi drivers in front to drive you to the complex where Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi spent most of his time with his family in the ten years he reigned. Inside the mighty complex we can see the palace where he lived with the same furnishing. There is also a library, tennis court, queen’s private gallery and a museum where you can also see Picasso, Warhol and Miro and of course Iranian archaeological object and Iranian modern art. There’s also a coffee house inside the complex where you can enjoy in Iranian tea. After visiting the complex, I recommend you to visit another palace complex Sa’d Abad.

 

 

Museum complex Sa’d Abad It is a big complex where you can see 10 museum exhibitions. One of them is the white palace, which was built from 1931 to 1936 and was a summer residence of Shah Pahlavi. On 5000 square metres and in 54 rooms we can admire the extravagant furniture, art and Persian rugs. There is a national museum of art in the basement and in front of the building, there are two bronzed boots, which remind on Shah’s monument, which once stood in front of the palace. A green palace can also be found in the complex where Shah lived only a year and was purposed for state receptions in the upper floor and in the down floor it used to be a residence for special guests. It is a classical palace from Qajar era, which was changed a lot during Pahlavi dynasty. We can also visit different museums, from the military museum and the Pahlavi museum to the museum of ethnographic research. We can also visit the original kitchen. The complex is spread over 300 hectares, which is why they also offer a transportation between the buildings.

 

If you’re still not prepared to leave northern Tehran, you can visit an interesting film museum below the Tajrish square. Or if you want additional refreshment, there is a funicular above the Sa’d Abad complex, which takes you to Tochal, a mountain range with the highest mountain Tochal with 3933 metres. There’s plenty of reasons to spend a day or more in the northern Tehran.

 

Teleghani Park is the next modern jewel of Tehran, which tourist guides don’t really mention it and is more popular to the Tehran’s citizens who come here to relax and do sports. The area is located between stations Shahid Haqqani and Shahid Hemmat (some maps have different names, but still similar enough). After walking through Teleghani park, which is very well marked with different paths, we come to the bridge Tabiat. It is the longest overhead walkway in Iran, it’s 270 metres long. It is a two-storey bridge where the storeys intertwine. There are benches and a lot of greenery so it’s definitely not strange that it’s also called the bridge of nature. From the walkway above the 12-lane highway you can see the highest mountain Irana Damavand, which is 5610 metres high and is always wearing an icy snowy hat. On the other side, to the south you can see how the highway lowers into the endless Tehran. On the walkway there are plenty of excellent restaurants, tea houses and boutique shops. 

 

 

Holy Defense Museum is another attractions, which you shouldn’t miss. It is a contemporary and interactive museum of the war between Iran and Iraq, which lasted eight years. There were more than a million victims and a lot of material damage, worth over 400 billion dollars. The expenses of the war itself were estimated to 228 billion dollars. We can see memorials of the Iranian soldiers in the museum, documentary footage and we can even enter two bunkers where you can see for yourself the difference between the temperature at night and at day in the desert. The museum begins even before we buy the ticket. In front of the museum there are plenty of airplanes, helicopters, rocket and other weapons. For everything to be even greater, there’s a 150 metre high flag pole, and the flag has 1000 square metres. 

 

From the other side of walkway Tabiat there are parks Ports and Nowrooz with the Square of Glory. Everything mentioned was built or renovated in this century and I can definitely say that they didn’t try to save money building it.

 

A little lower from what I just mentioned is Mussala of Imam Homeini, which is still being built. And if I’m mentioning “mussala”, I have to explain what it means. Mussala is an atrium or a courtyard in front of the mosque where people pray. The name derives from the word pray. It is a huge contemporary complex, which is definitely worth seeing after it’s finished.

 

With full lungs of fresh air from the northern Tehran I suggest two attractions outside the centre. On south where the mausoleum is located  or the tomb of Iranian leader Imam Homeini. It is the last home of Imam Homeini who died when he was 89 years old. Over 10 millions Iranians came to his funeral, which represents one of the biggest, if not the biggest funeral in the world. Iranian leader Imam Homeini wished for a complex around his tomb, which includes cultural and tourist centre, shopping centre and the whole university of Islamic studies. There’s also a parking area for 20.000 cars on the premises. We can of course see the tomb of Imam Homeini, which is located in the heart of 20 square kilometre big complex. You have to leave your backpacks and bigger objects in the locker rooms and go through a metal detector and that is all, which again tells a lot about Iran’s safety. In the middle of the big mosque with 89 metre high minarets, which symbolize age, is a big tomb where the former Iranian leader rests. The complex is quite far from the Tehran’s centre, but its mightiness is definitely worth a visit.

 

 

The other big attraction, which is located near the Mehrabad airport is the Azadi Square where the Azadi tower is located, which was built on a 2500 year jubilee of the Persian empire in 1971. Azadi tower is one of Tehran’s symbols. Inside you’ll find many exhibitions and audio-visual theatre, a museum and multipurpose premises. But the view is the thing that attracts the visitors. The tower is 45 metre high and offers a magnificent view.

 

At the avenue Enqelab we can return to the centre of Tehran one last time since we left it because of the heavy traffic and polluted air. In the city centre, which is around 2 to 3 kilometres wide circle, there are many museums, galleries and other attractions where we can definitely find some that are interesting to us. For example Iranian museum of rugs, glass and ceramics museum, national museum of jewels, national museum of Iran, museum of modern art, “US Den of Espionage” and many more. You can’t visit all of them so I’m going to tell you something about the most peculiar museum. It is a museum where they show the methods of espionage in USA, show ways of coding, destroying evidence, forging documents and so much more. There are a lot of anti-American slogans, grafitti and paintings, some of them are true works of art. There’s a small cinema in the museum where they showed us a short movie about the relationship between Iran and USA, which you can see on http://english.khamenei.ir. The objects in the museums were already there when the museum was in the making, as it’s located in the rooms of former US embassy, which was attacked and occupied in the Islamic revolution.

 

I could write so much more about Tehran and Iran, but I think that’s more than enough to encourage you to discover Iran online and in person.