It's been too long since I've been able to escape to another world so I've been going thru memories from past travel. One of my absolute favourite places in the world is Iran.

Believe what you will from American media but the country I encountered was much different.

As a tall, fair haired woman with blue eyes, I attract a fair bit of unwanted attention in Muslim countries however I didn't get the creepy vibe there that I had in Egypt & Saudi Arabia. The men were all very respectful & kind.

Whenever I hear of any talk of military aggression towards them, all I can think of is all the beautiful, innocent children I met along the way. They were similarly fascinated by my strange-to-them appearance so I spent a fair bit of time entertaining them too

Then there's the random weird stuff I come across in every culture

I think the practice of Islam is beautiful & I welcomed the soothing sound of the all to prayer; slightly different in every city we visited. Note that I'm 100% alone in the back streets of Yazd without a fear at all - I would have never done this in Egypt.

And the architecture is just out of this world....