Iran

Shrine of Ayatollah Khomeini - Tehran, Iran
The most famous face in a land of faces (08.05.2008 02:57)
A Land of Faces When you visit Iran there are faces looking down at you wherever you go on the streets and in the hotels and restaurants. In a land obsessed with martyrdom, every street corner and every roundabout seems to be decorated with the faces of the martyrs - mostly those who died during the Revolution or the Iran-Iraq war. But one or two faces stand out from the others and become [more...]

Kowsar Tehran - Tehran, Iran - November, 2006
An older lady who is well past her best (10.04.2008 19:36)
In November 2006, we stayed at the Kowsar Hotel in Tehran at both the beginning and end of our two week tour of Iran. The hotel is classified as a 4-star and must once have been worthy of that accolade but today it's looking tired and shabby and desperately in need of a bit of love and attention. However, I rather doubt it'll get it in the short term. It's not in the area of town that attracts [more...]

Ali Qapu - Isfahan, Iran - November, 2006
A good solid four-star in Iran's tourist capital (03.04.2008 15:32)
After several decidedly second rate Iranian hotels, our tour brought us to the Ali Qapu which was a rare treat. At last, a hotel that you might actually choose to spend your money on even if it weren't part of a pre-organised trip. Of course the great thing about the city of Esfahan is that even if you were staying in a spectacularly awful hotel you still couldn't fail to fall in love with the [more...]