arcege / Michael

Salem has an extremely rich history, from the most active seaport in the country, to the father of modern navigation, to the literary legend of Hawthorne. The Salem Witch Trials were a dark but small part of Salem history. Yes, there are witches living here; yes, you can come and meet them and have your future told. But please come and learn much more about Salem.

(But if you like, you can still have you picture taken at the “Bewitched” statue.)

A small city. Unfortunately we didn’t get to spend enough time here. But it was lovely and I enjoyed to see where my wife grew up. Khorram abad (abad mean “town”) is not far from the Iraqi border and during the Iran-Iraq war, my wife’s family was forced to evacuate the city for a few months. When they returned, they found damage and death. My wife’s family moved to Tehran and the city has survived and thrived. Now when my wife goes back, she feels unfamiliar with it. But I still like to imagine her as a little girl there.

Shiraz is lovely, but it seems to have it share of mausoleums to famous Persian poets. We visited two while there: Saadi, whose work is featured in the foyer of the U.N. building in NYC, and Hafez, said to be the greatest of all Persian poets and whose manuscript is used as an oracle to this day by Iranians.

Interestingly, Shiraz is also one of the only cities in Iran where restaurants are actually good. The citizens of the city, including the older set, regularly dine out – a very uncommon practice in Iran.