Travel

Persian Carpets in Tabriz Bazaar, the World’s Largest Covered Market

Tabriz Bazaar, a UNESCO site and largest covered bazaar in the world.

An Iranian carpet, especially one from Tabriz, is worth more than gold.

— Our Iranian guide gives us an economics lesson in the old carpet section of the Tabriz bazaar.

The largest bazaar in the Middle East. The world's largest covered market. A UNESCO World Heritage site. That's the Tabriz bazaar. And deep inside, old men, purveyors of grand old Persian Azerbaijani carpets, drink tea, smoke qalyan, and stay open only four hours a day. Voices are low, relationships are being formed — and deals are being made.

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Disco Ball Mosque – Shiraz, Iran

Aramgah-e Shah-e Cheragh in Shiraz, Iran.

I'm going to show you something like you've never seen before.

— Our guide, just before entering the Shāh Chérāgh Mosque.

The Shāh-é-Chérāgh Mosque. It's a mausoleum, a funerary, one of the many places of worship and pilgrimage in Iran.   But this one looks like a giant disco ball turned inside out. 

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Persepolis: Ancient Persia, Modern Lessons

Although Persepolis is one of Iran’s top archeological and tourist sites, I was careful to keep my expectations in check before visiting. After all, what would remain of the 2,500 year-old capital of the Achaemenid Empire? Amidst crumbled columns, I found great detail that blew me away and a surprising connection to the present.

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Exploring the Pink Mosque in Shiraz, Iran

Exploring the Pink Mosque in Shiraz, Iran.

There's nothing like early morning light falling through a stained-glass window…casting designs on a Persian carpet…amidst immaculately tiled pink columns.

This is the winter prayer hall inside the Pink Mosque in Shiraz, Iran.

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Western Iran Shapshots and Experiences

We apologize for the silence on our blog over the last week. Our travels across Iran, while rich and deeply fulfilling, have teamed up with slow and censored internet, a blistering pace of full days that end late, and an attempt to process it all that feels like a slow drip.

Now that we've dispensed with the excuses, we offer a few snapshots of our journey to not-so-traveled Western Iran — Hamadan, Kermanshan, and Ahvaz — where our path through the country begins.

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Inside Golestan Palace in Tehran, Iran

Golestan Palace in Tehran, Iran.

Persia's Qajar dynasty kings knew how to have a good time. (Some may argue that they did so at the expense of their subjects and their country, but that's another matter entirely.)

For now, a visual. Take a peek inside the lavishly tiled and ornate Khalvat-e-karimkhani room at Golestan Palace in Tehran, Iran.

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Traveling to Iran: Why We’re Going

Travel to Iran

This is the story of Iran, a country we once expected to visit last, as a final bow wrapped around a journey that tells the story of making human connections around the world. It's also an explanation of why we're traveling to Iran this Friday.

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Base Flying Berlin: An 11th Wedding Anniversary Jump (Video)

Berlin Base Flying

What is marriage, if not a leap of faith?

Fourteen years ago, on or around our second date, Audrey and I went skydiving together. It was, as you might imagine, both terrifying and fantastic. And as much as you also might also imagine that it wiped away my fear of heights, it did not. Perhaps it chiseled away at that wall, but it certainly didn’t tear it down. I still swoon thinking about that airplane canopy above 16,000 feet. I still get wobbly above 10 stories.

So here we are 14 years later in Berlin, celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary. What better way to recognize the occasion than to jump (base fly) from the top of a 37-story building?

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