The Shah's Lost Paradise

Hitchhiking in Iran

The mother of our host gave us a ride to the exit of Rasht. "Koja miravid?" and "Pul nadaram!" were the phrases we used for hitchhiking in Iran. It didn't take long and we stopped a small truck. The man didn't speak English, but he didn't stop speaking Farsi, as he was obviously excited to have foreigners in his small truck. He extended our small knowledge in Farsi by pointing on random places and repeating the local word twice... or more... He had a big smile, good mood, and a wife at home who was cooking lunch. From our sign language, we realized that he wants us to be his guests for a lunch, and he would be offended if we refuse him. As our host was waiting for us in Ramsar for lunch, we had to explain this to him somehow. So, I draw a man sitting on a table, holding a fork and knife above the empty plate. Then I draw a clock with scales pointing on 3 above the man, and explained that we had to be there at that time. My explanation worked, and our driver was happy to deliver us to our host on time.

Ramsar used to be one of the most exclusive places in Iran during the reign of the last Shah. Today, its a quiet town, with memories of its former glory. The Caspian coast is very quiet, with almost no people. However, there is a cafe next to the half destroyed building which used to be a discotheque once. At the town center, there is a big building which served as a summer palace of the last two Shah. The last Shah spent his honeymoon at that palace. Twenty years after the fall of Shah, the palace opened its gate again, as it reincarnated into a museum.

The town itself is very small, so Mohammad was waiting for us on a crossroad which was not difficult to miss. We spent two days with him and his big family who fed us with almost everything they could think of. Besides their town, we went to the mountains from where we could see the big panoramic view over the Caspian sea. Our host Mohammad and his family were just one more example of the endless hospitality from Iranian people.

Shah's former summer residence