It can be such an exciting, scary, uneasy, thrilling (yes, all at the same time) experience for those of us who have spent the majority of our lives in America, but go and visit Iran after so many years. One of my friends, Stephanie Shireen, went to Iran this past summer after 14 years! Here are pieces of her story and her photos.

From Stephanie:  “I spent two months in Iran this summer and it had been 14 years since my last visit. My Dad recently moved back there so it was the perfect opportunity to see him and see the country as well. My mom is American and I do not speak Farsi, so it was incredibly difficult to operate there for so long with very few English speakers around. I am a big fan of cooking and navigating the Hyper Market and grocery store was a definite challenge. I managed to make some very interesting doogh battered fried chicken bites with “buffalo” sauce from scratch, and full Mexican feast! Gastro-diplomacy at its finest! I got to see a ton of awesome sights, although I would not recommend traveling there in the summer. Esfahan was incredibly hot in late July! I am so happy I went there.“

She documented her travels while she was there both through writing and photos. Here are a few of her photos.

Click on the first image to open the gallery. 

Her thoughts on some of these photos. You can click on each location for more information:

Damavand: “Damavand itself is a huge mountain, bathed in snow, sunlight, and with a peak constantly hidden by the clouds. So cool! It is quite an iconic image. It seemed as though the mountain attracted the clouds and we were only rewarded a clear view of its peak for a brief minute.” 

Valasht: “The lake was known as Dariya-che Valasht. This was a totally worth while stop! Iran seems to have an abundance of bluewater lakes, which means that the primary source of water is from deep underground and pristine water from melted snow.”

Kandelous: “My Dad booked tickets for a bus trip to Chaloos and Kandelous on the Caspian Sea. I envisioned a 4 hour bus ride and a nice weekend of relaxation seaside in the cool green mountains of the north. I was wrong. We boarded the bus at 6 am, drove two hours to a restaurant, spent 1 hour eating breakfast, reboarded the bus, drove for another few hours this time though rather treacherous mountain roads where you looked out the window and saw a foot or two of road and then a sheer fall off of mountain side…”

Thank you Stephanie for sharing your photos and experiences!