"The Baron's new home" Tehran by baronedivandastad

Tehran Travel Guide: 516 reviews and 1,662 photos

Not your average small village. - Tehran

City of contrast

Tehran is an enormous urban conglomerate where inhuman traffic and the combination of ruthless speculation and absence of any urban planning are the first things you are likely to notice.

This, combined with the (totally wrong) image of a religiously extreme terrorist nest that most media paints of Iran, makes Tehran an unlikely destination for even the few tourists that plan to make Iran their destination.

Still, those who bother to linger a bit, and manage to ignore the urban madness and withstand the fumes find a welcoming capital, with modern infrastructure, a striking landscape, a large variety of cheap and good restaurants and, most of all, one of the friendliest people that I have met in my numerous travels: Iranians.

New home for the Baron

The view from the Baron's living room

I have fulfilled one of my dreams - I managed to move to Iran. When I had the chance of an interesting job I didn't think twice and packed my stuff again. The moving has been and still is a bit troublesome due to the excessive bureaucracy that foreigners are subject to in this country. However, the effort has largely paid: after three months in this city I'm happy and enjoying every moment of it.

The most striking aspect of Tehran is the way it is built at the foot of the Alborz mountains. The city has expanded so much that in some area it looks like the buildings are trying to reach the mountain top. But no fear: with over 30 peaks towering above 4000 metres (12000 feet), the Alborz mountains are far from succumbing to the speculation of builders.

Pros and Cons

Pros:People, parks, restaurants
Cons:Drivers, cars, ugly buildings, mess
In a nutshell:A city of contrasts

Intro Written Jan 5, 2007
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titti Jan 27, 2007 at 5:44 AM

Concordo sulla gentilezza degli iraniani. Senza il loro aiuto sarei ancora ferma alla prima strada da attraversare a Tehran. :-) Paese fantastico.
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vahiddavoodi Jan 26, 2007 at 1:37 PM

i enjoyed from your exposition of tehran in short paragraphes.it proves your open glance to the real affairs in this circumstances.contact me if you are in Tehran yet.