Quote:
Originally Posted by DixieGal
So is this some sort of family visit or something? I am having trouble wrapping my head around Iran as a vacation destination. But I'm American, so to me, Iran is the anti-vacation. What will it mean to you to go there? I really want to know from your POV.
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Yes, Dixie, I can see that it would seem strange, my visiting such a country. I'll try to give you my point of vue.
My job is culture, so I'm very interested in the origins of our Western culture and the influence on Western Science. At this moment I'm reading The House of Wisdom by Jonathan Lyons about that. Fascinating, I must say.
These last few years we've been visiting the Roman and other ruins and remains of ancient civilization in Moroc, Syria, Jordan (Petra) and along the borders of Turkey (border with Armenia, Georgië, Syria, Iran, Iraq). An now its Iran that's getting a visit. We're on an organised tour, the 8 of us. Last year we didn't go because of the nuclear thing, but that one seems to be a point of tourist attraction this year.
In Syria I walked through the remains of a city from 4.000 years back; incredible. And in the area between the Euphraat and the Tigris: small children were tending goats, like they did for thousand of years. And in Petra we saw the huge buildings of that forgotten people, the ancient city of the Nabatheans.
I like to see how people in other countries live and what they think: from what I saw and the people I talked to.......they all want the same; a house, job, children, just to be able to live.
And no, I've no family there. I'm very much Dutch; the family-line from my mothers side ( van der Hoek) goes back to 1200 (related to Charlemagne) and have always lived in the same region; a near- isle De Hoeksewaard.
I think people everywhere are the same; it's the regimes that makes them into a group one would't want to relate to. But once you're in such a country and talk to the people: all they want is to be happy, not something complicated.
I'll include some photo's of Syria and Petra and the desert in Jordan.
I like talking about my trips, so feel free to ask all you want.
