The Village Councilor of Abyaneh said that over 30,000 foreign tourists visited the village during the 8 months of current Iranian calendar year (started on March 20).

Mohammad Adeli referred to growth in the number of tourists visiting Abyaneh, saying that some 5,518 foreign tourists visited the village in the Iranian month of Aban (October 22- November 20).

Most foreign tourists came from France with 1,368, Germany with 551, Italy with 410, the Netherlands with 363, Thailand with 282, Belgium with 278 and England with 253 tourists in the Iranian month of Aban, he noted.

Abyaneh is a village in Barzrud Rural District, in the Central District of Natanz township, Isfahan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 305, in 160 families.

Tourist Review
The red clay village Abyaneh and Kashan

By, Andri Wilberg Orrason: There are many old historical mountain villages in Iran, where the clock seem to tick slower then in the bigger cities. We decided to visit one of them, Abyaneh, often referred to as the Red Village for its red mud brick houses and the surrounding mountain terrain (bearing the same colour due to iron oxides). The houses are arranged like steps up the hillside, so the roofs of some houses are the front yards of the next one up. Abyaneh is at least 1500 years old (dating back to the Sassanid era), originating from the time of the Arab invasion, when many of the Zoroastrian followers fled to the mountains and deserts to escape forced conversion to Islam. Because of their isolation, the villagers speak a dialect of their own, which is though to predate modern Persian or Farsi, with less Arabic influence.

To reach the village we decided to hitch a ride from Esfahan. Without effort we managed to reach the nearmost town, Natanz.

We payed a local in Natanz a few buck to drive us there. It wasn’t our safest moment; along the way the driver rolled down his window and started sniffing a white cloth, which presumably was soaked in glue or petrol. He seemed to be getting more and more drowsy, but at same time driving faster and faster up the mountain road. We finally reached the village, alive.

People of Abyaneh Village The local women wear traditional clothing

Walking the red narrow streets, with hardly any tourists visible, we stumbled upon a local couple, Natasha and Saed, who invited us for some tea. To our surprise, their english was superb. They had lived mostly in the capital Tehran but also in Europe for many years. Despite having lived in the world’s biggest cities with the latest technology, they decided to move to Abyaneh some 15 years ago and raise their two beautiful children in a peaceful environment away from political influence. Like most women in the village, Natasha, wore a traditional headscarf with floral motifs and a bright coloured dress which is scarcely aligned with the Islamic regime requiring women to dress modestly. It was lovely to sit on a small stone chair in their “Flinstone” kitchen, drinking Iranian tea and talking about Iran, their culture, before and now.

People of Abyaneh Village

The warm locals, Natasha and Saed in front of their 1.500 year old house
Kashan

After Abyaneh we headed to Kashan, a city famous for hand woven carpets and historical houses.

One of many historical houses in Kashan

Historical house Kashan

Eating dinner at one of the historical houses

It can take one person up to 6-12 month to weave a 1.5 x 1.0 m carpet depending on how dense you weave it (knots per square inch). If you liked that carpet in the movie Big Lebowski, well know you know, it’s a Kashan design! We came close to buying one at the bazaar but our budget didn’t afford a quick loss of 2000 dollars. You can get them for cheaper, with fewer knots, made from cheap wool instead of silk, coloured with chemicals instead of organic dyes, but we couldn’t get our eyes off the irresistible and shiny silk carpest woven to perfection. So we decided to wait until we visit Iran again sometime, when we’re not on a world tour budget, and bring enough currency for a carpet.

Persian carpet from Kashan, A beautiful wool and silk carpet handmade in Tabriz.

We didn’t spend much time in Kashan as our main interest lied outside the city. For a mere 20 dollars each we rented a private driver (for 7 hours) who drove us into the Maranjab desert to visit the Dasht-e Kavir Salt Lake (Namak Lake), with a quick stop at the underground city (handbuilt 18 meter below surface in the pre-islamic era for defense purposes) and the shrine of Hilal Ibn Ali. We really enjoyed seeing the hexagonal to octagonal shapes of salt, reaching endlessly in all directions, disappearing into the horizon. Our day was perfected with the most beautiful sunset we have seen, in complete remoteness, on top of the highest sand dune of Maranjab desert.

The amazing shrine of Hilal Ibn Ali,

The amazing shrine of Hilal Ibn Ali, Wearing the chador in front of the holy shrine

The amazing shrine of Hilal Ibn Alie

View inside the underground city

View inside the underground city

The desert Maranja

Salt lake, Dasht-e Kavir – Iran

Salt lake, Dasht-e Kavir – Iran

Salt lake, Dasht-e Kavir – Iran

Sunset in the Maranjab desert

Sunset in the Maranjab desert

Video About Abyaneh

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The Maranjab Desert is located in Aran and Bidgol, Isfahan province, and is one of the most beautiful desert areas of Iran. High dunes are the attractions of the region.

Maranjab Aran and Bidgol desert is located in the north of Aran and Bidgol city in Isfahan province . This desert is limited from north to Salt Lake of Aran and Bidgol , from West to the Massileh desert and salt lake of Sultan pond and Moreh pond, from East to sand dam desert and National Park of desert and from the south it is limited to Aran and Bidgol city.

The average height of this desert from free ocean level is about 850 meters and the highest point of the island is about 880 meters above the free ocean level, and it is necessary to say security, relative moderation, variety of tourism attractions, the diversity of animal species and vegetation in desert areas make a good place for tourism and investment in this area and motivated many tourists to the area. Much of this desert is covered with dunes and sabulous . In terms of vegetation,Maranjab is very rich. The main vegetation is consists of salt-friendly plants, including trees, tamarisk and arch and bushes Qych .

Maranjab Desert: Animal Coverage

Because of water and food abundant , food cover is very rich in Maranjab desert. Among the animals: wolf , jackal , hyena , fox sand , sand cat , lizard , chameleon , a variety of lizards , snakes , scorpions , dull-yellow partridge , eagle , hawk are noted. In recent years a pair of cheetahs had been seen in Maranjab. According to local residents, there are now 21 Cheetahs in this area.

Shah Abbas chose the name of this desert. It was the way of the Silk Road between Europe and China in traffic.Maranjab is taken from Ramesh name of the inn and canals that fresh water leak from them.

Maranjab Desert: Sights

Maranjab is one of the most beautiful deserts of Iran. Long sandy hills and forests of the area and make this dessert fantastic. Aran and Bidgol Salt Lake and Wanderer Island is another sights of this dessert. Pay attention that with only one or two month rainfalls in the year the visitors can watch wanderer Island and in the remaining time of the year it is only salt marsh. Dastkan historical wells is in the East of the Desert, and it was the place that camels of Caravans had been drinking . Maranjab castle is caravanserai on the Silk Route in the desert and the caravan passed this way and vice versa for trip to Khorasan , Isfahan and Rey . The sand desert area is in north of Isfahan Badrod city continue to the large sand dam, the tallest East sand dunes is about 70 meters.

In addition to the dunes that they are the main attractions of the dessert ,being of Karshahy castle and wanderer island in Maranjab,that about the construction of the castle and the inn next to the salt lake , people said , Shah Abbas even with creating numerous castles throughout the country, in this region was not built defense facility, because enemies were not attacked from this side of the capital because of salt Lake and desert expanse. Uzbeks and Afghans attack through Salt Lake from Kashan to Isfahan, it was a reason that Shah Abbas in 1012 prevent the threat immediately make a military base. In top of the Carvansarai is observe in the shape of Bunkers scout and mention that 500 armed guards were always in the castle and were the safe passage of goods from China to Europe and vice versa in the region.

The inn aqueduct that brought a big pond, and that is a very unique phenomenon with fresh water in salt desert. Maranjab inn is in the heart of Desert in geographical position of ‘7V ° 34 ° 51 longitude latitude and ’48 and, at an altitude of 810 meters above from the sea level that is located at the southern edge of Qom Lake. In outside of the castle there is a pond where the water of that supply from the two springs of salt water and fresh water and the springs are ground together at the same time. Being fresh water in the dessert surprising many geologists. Maranjab Aran and Bidgol desert is located in 50 km of North- East of central of this province.

Maranjab Desert: Pathways to the region

First course: The way of Aran and Bidgol city to the army barracks and then Maranjab dirt road that after pass about 45 km distance you will reach to Maranjab

The second path: It is the way of Desert National Park the Rector started and then Mobarkyh (15 c. AD) – Bahram Palace (60th c. AD) – Inn whiting (80th c. AD) – and then Maranjab (50th c. AD). It is worth noting traffic on this road until whiting require a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency Semnan province .

The third path: The wey to the Aran and Bidgol to Abozeyd’abad is then Inn whiting and Maranjab.

December 19 of (1394) Attorney Aran and Bidgol in Isfahan province announced that restraining orders mixed tours to these areas Ryyskl Justice has issued Isfahan and from 23 December to prevent the entry of all tours to this area is mixed. Officials Justice said of the complex of tourism to the ” oppositional religious and revolutionary values”.

Restrictions and travel bans for organizing and solving social problems to Maranjab in a one month period will be canceled. Attorney General and Revolutionary Courts Aran Bidgol (December 1394) with the notification letter to police the city, Ykmahhay deadline for organizing Maranjab and solve the problems in the region has set.

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Airbus says it has obtained an initial license from the United States to supply passenger jets to Iran as part of a 25-billion-dollar deal between the aircraft manufacturer and the Islamic Republic signed in January.

Airbus spokesman, Justin Dubon, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the company received the license from the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control for the early delivery of 17 A320 or A330 jets to Iran.

He also noted that Airbus hoped to receive a second license allowing it to export the remaining aircraft to Iran within the next few weeks.

Back in January, Tehran signed a major contract with Airbus to buy 118 planes. The accord was inked during Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to Paris.

However, Iran’s Deputy Minister of Road and Urban Development Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan said earlier this week the country had cut the number of planes to be purchased to 112.

The deal was made possible by last year’s nuclear agreement between Tehran and the P5+1 group of countries, including Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany.

The July 2015 nuclear accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), took effect in January. It ended decades of economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.

However, months into the JCPOA’s implementation, Iran says that the promised economic benefits have yet to materialize, and that it still does not have access to global financial markets.

Wednesday’s announcement by Airbus will be closely watched by Chicago-based Boeing Co., which also inked a memorandum of agreement with Iran in June. The deal involves Iran purchasing 80 planes and leasing another 29.

Aviation sources said the US Treasury was expected within “days” to begin unblocking Boeing’s deal to sell or lease the 109 jets to Iran.

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Pete R.:  I thought I knew what a good hospitality is like.. until I came to Iran.
“Why go to Iran?” This is a question people often asked when I tell them I was going there. I would have ask the same if it wasn’t the words of mouth I heard over the years about how awesome Iran is, how incredibly friendly the people are, and how off the beaten path the whole country is.
The first day I arrived in Tehran, I was walking around the Bazaar and we were approached by several locals asking what we think about Iran, gave us free tea and cakes, and allowed us to roam their warehouses without asking for anything in return. This similar scenario happened a lot more throughout my 2 weeks time in Iran and really got me thinking about how misinformed I was about the country. It is very safe to travel in Iran, easy to do it independently as the locals will go out of their ways to help you, and the people are one of the friendliest people in the world. Not to mention how beautiful the landscape is, how stunning all the attractions are, and how off the beaten track the whole country is.

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Iran is truly a special country that with restore your heart and soul and I hope that this video shows at least half of the warmth I got from the amazing people in Iran.
Location: Tehran, Qazvin, Alamut, Shiraz, Yazd, Esfahan, Kashan
Camera Gear: Sony RX100 M3 (blog.bucketlistly.com/post/145558191893/travel-photography-gear-guide-light-travel)
Music: “Esmerelda” – Ben Howard
Twitter: twitter.com/peachananr
Photo blog: photos.bucketlistly.com
Travel blog: blog.bucketlistly.com
License Video: dissolve.com/products?media_type=video&producer=Pete+R&sort_by_date=true

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Chinese tourists come to Iran more than before. Annie Dai that introduced herself “Chinese girl living in Paris” visiting IRAN. She shares her photos from IRAN trip in Instagram from Kashan, Tehran, Shiraz, Persepolice, Tochal Ski resort, yazd, Abyane and …Xiaoye Xuan is with Annie in IRAN trip.

Iran Overhauls Tourism Industry to Court Chinese Tourists

中国女孩在伊朗

中国游客来到伊朗比以前更加。安妮戴了自我介绍“中国女孩住在巴黎”访问伊朗。她分享她的照片从卡尚。小雅轩Instagram的伊朗之行是与安妮在伊朗旅行。

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Chinese tourists come to Iran more than before. Annie Dai that introduced herself “Chinese girl living in Paris” visiting IRAN. She shares her photos from IRAN trip in Instagram from Kashan. Xiaoye Xuan is with Annie in IRAN trip.

中国女孩在伊朗

中国游客来到伊朗比以前更加。安妮戴了自我介绍“中国女孩住在巴黎”访问伊朗。她分享她的照片从卡尚。小雅轩Instagram的伊朗之行是与安妮在伊朗旅行。

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Nazanin Karimi who is fashion designer and entrepreneur shows her products in Instagram. Nazanin has 147K followers in this social network and he sell her products in  3 shops in Instagram.

Nazanin take photos for her catalog in one of the old traditional house in Kashan.

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