Destination: Iran
Iran Hearts America (in Private)
by Joanna Kakissis | 02.14.08 | 3:33 PM ET
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may denounce the U.S. as the “Great Satan,” but we all know that most Iranians are welcoming to American travelers and are curious and open-minded about American culture, right? Lest anyone forget, a couple of recent articles highlight the point.
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Yahoo! BuzzNew Travel Book: ‘Children of Jihad
by Julia Ross | 11.27.07 | 12:14 PM ET
Full title: “Children of Jihad: A Young American’s Travels Among the Youth of the Middle East”
Author: Jared Cohen, U.S. State Department policy planner and 25-year-old second-time author
Released: Oct. 25, 2007
Travel genre: Travel memoir, cultural commentary
Territory covered: Internet cafes and house parties from Beirut to Tehran
Tehran’s Hidden Vault of Western Art
by Joanna Kakissis | 09.25.07 | 9:53 AM ET
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad—who made such a, uh, splash at Columbia University yesterday—may hate the West, but his country owns one of the most massive collections of 19th- and 20th-century Western art outside the West, according to a fascinating story by Kim Murphy in the Los Angele Times. The works—which include Picassos, Kandinskys, Miros, Warhols and possibly the best Jackson Pollock collection outside the United States—are relegated to the basement of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. Amazingly, they have rarely been seen over the past 30 years.
The Critics: ‘Bad Lands: A Tourist on the Axis of Evil’
by Michael Yessis | 04.24.07 | 10:57 AM ET
It’s not a new idea, visiting the countries U.S. President George W. Bush dubbed the “Axis of Evil.” Ben Anderson, for instance, did it several years ago, and the BBC broadcast several programs based on his travels. Now Lonely Planet founder Tony Wheeler has written “Bad Lands: A Tourist on the Axis of Evil,” in which he chronicles his travels through Bush’s original three “axis” countries—Iran, Iraq and North Korea—plus Afghanistan, Albania, Burma, Cuba, Libya and Saudi Arabia.
Excerpt: Kapuscinski’s ‘Travels with Herodotus’
by Michael Yessis | 04.18.07 | 7:25 AM ET
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Viva Video and Las Vegas
by Michael Yessis | 04.06.07 | 9:35 AM ET
Lots to see in the Zeitgeist this week. Travelers are taking a long look at racing in Las Vegas, sinking ships in Greece, dancing in China and Lonely Planet’s new video channel.
Most Viewed Travel Story
Los Angeles Times (current)
Bright Lights & Formula One Engines Rule in Las Vegas
* Two reasons for a look: Pulitzer winner Dan Neil wrote it, and there’s video.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Greek Cruise Ship Sinks After Rescue
* The AP has the video.
Most Watched Video
LonelyPlanet.tv (current)
miniclips
* Lonely Planet debuted its travel video channel this week.
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
India’s ‘Spiritual Backbone’: Two End-to-End Explorations Down the Ganges River
* The last of Morning Edition’s five-part series runs today.
Most Viewed Travel Story
Telegraph (current)
A Little Italy on Board
Top Travel and Adventure Audiobook
iTunes (current)
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Most Popular Travel Podcast
iTunes (current)
Travel With Rick Steves
* This week Steves covers the pilgrimage on El Camino de Santiago in Spain and tourism in Iran.
Most Popular Travel Story
Netscape (this week)
If Apple Designed A Private Jet
* It would, of course, be called the iJet.
Iran Hopes to Lure Western Travelers With Cash Incentives
by Michael Yessis | 11.03.06 | 7:54 AM ET
The country is offering $20 a head, and it goes to “those who attract European or American tourists to the country,” according to an AP report. Visitors from other countries would earn travel agents US$10.
Space Tourist Anousheh Ansari Transfixes, Befuddles Iran
by Michael Yessis | 10.31.06 | 6:46 AM ET
Last month, Iranian-American businesswoman Anousheh Ansari spent in the neighborhood of $20 million to hop a ride aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to become the first female space tourist. Folks in the land of her birth were obsessed with Ansari’s trip, according to Nazila Fathi’s New York Times story. The journey stimulated much debate about the plight of women in Iran and whether Ansari’s money might have been better spent helping out the country’s poor.
The Critics: Jason Elliot’s ‘Mirrors of the Unseen’
by Jim Benning | 10.30.06 | 2:49 PM ET
Stephen Colbert’s New York City Travel Tips for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
by Michael Yessis | 09.20.06 | 10:17 PM ET
The President of Iran was in New York City this week to address the United Nations. Ever the gracious host, Stephen Colbert had some recommendations on places to go. Among them: Scores and Katz’s Delicatessen. The video of the entire itinerary is at the Comedy Central Web site.
Yazd, Iran
by Ben Keene | 06.09.06 | 12:03 PM ET
Coordinates: 31 53 N 54 22 E
Elevation: 4,035 feet (1,230 m)
For a country often referred to religiously in monolithic terms, modern Iran possesses subtle gradations on its map of sacred geography that complicate our understanding of this Islamic Republic. The city of Yazd, located on a plateau between a salt desert to the north and a sand desert in the south, is one such example of this. Just west of Isfahan in the center of the country, Yazd is known for its fine silk and was visited by Marco Polo during his travels across Asia in the 13th century. This ancient city also claims the largest population of Zoroastrians in Iran and is an important site of worship for practitioners of a faith that influenced Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
—.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) is the editor of the Oxford Atlas of the World.
Welcome to “Tehrangeles”
by Michael Yessis | 06.08.06 | 12:28 PM ET
The biggest community of Iranians outside of Iran lives in Los Angeles, or “Tehrangeles” as some residents call it. As tensions between the governments of U.S. and Iran continue to rise over, among other things, the development of nuclear technology, Tehrangeles has become more and more important in the eyes of both countries. The Council on Foreign Relations, for instance, says the CIA relies on Tehrangeles to “pick up valuable intelligence” from residents who travel often between the two countries. Today on NPR’s Morning Edition, Renée Montagne takes a less wonky look at the community, which is centered along Westwood Boulevard, just south of the UCLA campus. “Pop into any shop and you’ll hear Farsi,” she says. “The business signs are all in Persian.”
No. 2: “The Road to Oxiana” by Robert Byron
by Tom Bissell | 05.30.06 | 7:51 PM ET
To mark our five-year anniversary, we’re counting down the top 30 travel books of all time, adding a new title each day this month.
Published: 1937
Territory covered: Persia (Iran) and Afghanistan
No. 26: “Baghdad Without a Map” by Tony Horwitz
by Rolf Potts | 05.06.06 | 1:30 PM ET
To mark our five-year anniversary, we’re counting down the top 30 travel books of all time, adding a new title each day this month.
Published: 1991
Territory covered: The Middle East
The Middle East is a region that is constantly in the news, though amidst all the headlines and analysis coming from the area, it is rare that we ever learn about the lives of the people who dwell there. Published shortly after the beginning (and rapid end) of the first Gulf War, Baghdad Without a Map collects Horwitz’s dispatches from places like Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Iran and Sudan to paint a multi-faceted human face on a region that is too often obscured by crisis-driven news stories. Indeed, the reader can’t help but consider the contradictions of the Middle East when Horwitz chats with an Iranian protester who—in-between chants of “Death to America!”—claims that his dream has always been to visit Disneyland and “take my children on the tea-cup ride.” Serious, funny and empathetic at the same time, Horwitz uses simple tales (shopping for a popular stimulant in Yemen, for instance, or attending a belly-dancing gig in Egypt) to introduce us to hospitable people whose lives are being shaped by old social forces (religion, politics, poverty) as well as new ones (modernity, media, globalization).
Listening to ‘Layla’ in Tehran? Not on Radio or TV.
by Jim Benning | 12.19.05 | 3:08 PM ET
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has decreed that Western and indecent music cannot be played on the country’s radio and television stations. What artists will be affected? MSNBC.com reports: “Songs such as George Michael’s ‘Careless Whisper,’ Eric Clapton’s ‘Rush’ and ‘Hotel California’ by the Eagles regularly accompany Iranian TV programs, as do tunes by saxophonist Kenny G.” Needless to say, I’m with Ahmadinejad on banning Kenny G. Indecent, indeed. But Eric Clapton did some nice stuff back in his Cream days, and I’m afraid that’s where the ultraconservative leader and I must part ways.