After Yazd we headed to a tiny village (pop: 1000) called Fahraj, in the Dasht-e Lut desert, to break up our onward journey to Shiraz. The Dasht-e Lut is a large salt desert in south east Iran, and the village of Fahraj was like a mini-version of Yazd, with the same historic buildings in its old centre which included a crumbling castle, and what may well be the oldest purpose-built mosque in Iran. There was only one guesthouse there, the Farvardinn Desert Inn, owned by Masoud (another one) and his lovely wife Faima.

It was during our stay here - where we felt like we were staying with friends or family rather than at a guesthouse - that we learnt more about what life was like for a young, modern Iranian couple. Like a lot of women, Faima talked about her dislike for the hejab, or at least being forced to wear it, and she told us she was often told off by older women for not wearing her headscarf properly…to my surprise I was told I could take my headscarf off once we were inside and for the first time I felt more self-conscious when not wearing it, particularly when other guests arrived, for fear they thought I was flouting the law and being disrespectful. Dare I even say I felt a bit naked without it having worn it every day for a week! We ate dinner that night with Masoud and Faima - plus a few other European guests round the table - and they told us about the celebration they had just had for 200 people at their inn, following the tradition to celebrate their first home / new house together, which sounded like it was held just to please their mothers. They said that of course they / people do drink in Iran, but always behind closed doors and only in front of certain people. Masoud was equally vocal about women having to cover their hair, saying "there is absolutely nothing offensive about a girl showing her hair". Like a lot of the Iranians we met, they love talking about politics…most seem hopeful that the new government will take Iran in a better direction, and help ease the sanctions which paralyses a lot of Iran's business and industry.

Finally Masoud explained about'ta'arof', a system of formalised politeness traditional in Iranian culture. For example, when paying a taxi driver / a shop keeper / hotel owner you have to go through several rounds of them saying "it is nothing" and you saying "no please I insist" before you both carry out a payment transaction or social interaction. Like the woman in Esfahan who Simon almost bumped into while she was carrying three large ice creams. She instinctively held them out to Simon, offering a complete stranger her family's ice cream, which of course we refused. Outside a crowded kebab shop, a man in Yazd tried to pay for our lunch, and our kind friend Ali also tried to pay for our taxi in Yazd. Because Iranians are so friendly and welcoming, it would be easy to think they are just extremely generous as well, which I am sure they are but while we did not want to offend we also didn't want to accept generosity where it was not meant to be! That it is not to imply that they are not genuine, just adhering to a cultural norm we are not used to.

The next day we were off to Shiraz, via the ancient city of Persepolis and some other sights, with Masoud's brother Mohammed and his wife as our guide and taxi driver. We stopped at various tombs of former rulers (eg Cyrus the Great) and other ruins of the early Achaemenid Empire - or First Persian Empire (circa 550-330 BC). We also passed the (supposedly) oldest tree in the world, a Cyprus tree dating back 4000 years. We spent the last few hours of the day at Persepolis, admiring the magnificent ruins which still clearly showed the heights which the Achaemenid Empire reached. In its hey day (around 520BC) it used to spread over 125km squared, and was one of the four cities at the heart of the vast empire. It is said that Persepolis was built as a showcase for the empire, to awe visitors with its scale and beauty (which it still does today) and during the annual celebrations of No Ruz (New Year), subjects from across the empire travelled there to pay tribute to their kings. Persepolis was then burned to the ground by Alexander the Great in 330BC, and the city was lost for centuries (totally covered by dust and sand) and only excavated in the 1930s. During our visit you could still see hints of a very grand city and empire, with huge columns, staircases, elaborate reliefs, all very imposing and impressive. A walk up the hill behind, to visit the tombs of Artaxerxes 2 and 3 - former kings of Persia - gave us spectacular views of the whole site, particular as the sun started to set, bathing it in a beautiful, golden light.

We checked in to our hotel in Shiraz that night, grateful once again for a decent room and a wonderfully hot and powerful shower…we will always remember Iran for many things, but one thing we didn't expect was that it would be the country that had the best hotel showers than anywhere else on our trip! After our usual dinner (falafel baguette) we were heading back to our hotel where we bumped into Irish Paul, a fellow guest at the guesthouse we stayed at in Yazd, who happened to be staying at the hotel next door to ours in Shiraz. He was extremely excited as he had managed to get hold of some (contraband) red wine and was looking for someone to drink it with…well after our enforced detox for the last week or so we weren't ones to say no, and we went into the communal area of his hotel which was quite tucked away, to drink it. I would love to say it was as sweet as nectar but we suspected it was some dodgy homebrew (brought for him by some friendly Iranian) so it wasn't great… But still, we were in Shiraz, so it had to be done…although I felt like I was back at school, drinking illegally, slightly nervous that we would be found out which again doesn't make for very enjoyable drinking when you are 34, that was far more exciting at 16.

Shiraz was another great city to explore. Also a former capital of Iran (AD1747-79) it was one of the most important cities in the medieval Islamic world. We visited the fortress (a former citadel) with its wonky south east tower (an Iranian Pisa?), the tomb of Hafez, and of course the bazaar - a much quieter and calmer place to browse than the bazaars of Esfahan and Tehran, resulting in another tablecloth purchase….not sure how these Persian designs will look with the Asian artwork we have bought along the way as well, but loving it all too much to care!

Our next and last stop was Tabriz, in Iran's north-west, a 12+hour overnight train journey from Tehran which cost us a mere $4! Even more impressive was that for this price, it was one of the most luxurious sleeper trains we had been on, better than anything we had been on in Russia or China. We were joined in our 4 berth cabin by a young couple, Amir (34 - so yes, young) and his wife (name cannot remember, 20yrs old) - Amir didn't speak much English (and she none) yet we still spent the next few hours somehow talking, but more importantly sharing food, when it almost became a (friendly) competition to see who could loadmore food on the other, their more western snacks of Cheesy Wotsits, crisps and wafer biscuits nicely complementing our more local choice of almonds, walnuts, and dates. He called us Mr Simon and Madame Vicky, was intrigued by all the photos we had taken so far of Iran, and persevered chatting to us despite it being a bit of a struggle for him in English, so the pre-sleeping hours in the train cabin whizzed past.

Tabriz - another former capital - is known for its 'Azari welcome' and certainly lived up to its reputation as (another) very friendly city. The majority of Azerbaijanis don't actually live in Azerbaijan but in Iran, where they make up more than 25% of the population, and Iranian Azerbaijanis (Azaris) live mostly in the north west of Iran, so we saw plenty of the more traditional Azari dress on the male residents in Tabriz (woollen hats and wide, clown-like trousers held up by huge belts).

There were noticeably fewer foreigners in Tabriz - not that you see a great deal of tourists in Iran anyway - so maybe it shouldn't have been a surprise that some of our most memorable and amusing encounters took place in Tabriz, as we must have been the only target for their curious questions. We seemed to go from one brilliant encounter to another: while enjoying a tea stop in in the bazaar, we got talking to a carpet-seller who had all sorts of questions, all starting with "Tell me…" and then "how easy is it to get a visa to the UK / why are there so many Romanians in the UK / why does no-one like David Cameron?" After that we got pulled in to a tiny shop by its owner who was a former history teacher and now sold old coins, currency and other random bits and bobs. He put an Azari hat on Simon's head and asked Simon to hold his ancient-looking telephone (that is not an euphemism by the way!) while I took a photo of them both!While outside the old hammam, we met someone else who also spoke very good English, and he offered to show us around the hammam. It once again struck me that you would rarely get a someone in England stopping whatever they were doing that day to show a foreigner round an old building, just out of kindness.

On the way to the Blue Mosque we stopped in the adjoining park, to sit a bit amongst the pretty gardens as, after all, all this sight seeing can be tiring. We were soon joined by an older guy, on crutches, who sat down on the bench with us. At first, and to our later embarrassment, we though he was a tramp (scruffy clothes etc) or someone that wanted something from us, but neither was the case and we should have learnt by now that these sort of things just happen in Iran: he was just an inquisitive old man who wanted to practice his English. He asked the usual curious and funny questions, for example: if divorcing in England does the wife always get 50%? He seemed quite disgruntled about that. Then another friend of the old guy joined and soon enough there was a mini crowd of people who had come over to talk to us...including our hammam 'guide' from earlier. We were a motley crew - a molecular medicine student who was an atheist and big fan of Richard Dawkins; two other older guys who are just sat on the bench not saying much; and then another funny guy who again looked slightly as if he lived on the street but was the most articulate and curious of all, coming out with the most unexpected questions to date: being English can we vote in the referendum regrading Scottish independence, and what would we vote for; who has more power, the House of Lords or Commons...and so on. Our hammam friend then got stuck in with his own questions: "I hear the British love gardening / drinking tea / eating fish & chips?" ("Yes, yes, and not just on Fridays").

This scene in the park was too good a photo opportunity to miss, so I asked if I could take a photo of Simon with all our new acquaintances. As everyone stood in a line for this comical photo shoot, the Scottish independence guy stood next to Simon and said "touch me please" .....anywhere else else that would be weird, here it was just the cherry on top. We then left this curious group behind, before our arguments on God vs Richard Dawkins, Scottish independence etc became too lacking, chuckling to ourselves, and not really surprised that our last day in Iran was full of surprises and random interchanges.

Iran is certainly somewhere you learn to leave all your preconceptions and 'British reserve' behind, and we felt truly disarmed and humbled by the generosity and welcome we received from pretty much everyone we met.... So contrary to what the media would have you perceive. As a result it also felt so safe, as you got the impression that everyone was looking out for you, and that they wanted you to have a good experience in their country. Because of the sanctions against Iran, as a foreigner you cannot get money out of the local banks or ATMs, or use any foreign credit cards, so you have to calculate how much money you think you will need before going and take it all out beforehand....I am sure in some other countries, the fact that foreigners are known to be carrying around large bundles of cash would make them an instant target, but that didn't seem the case in Iran.

It is also such a beautiful country, oozing with history from every pore, and I imagine is absolute paradise for history / architecture buffs. But it really was the people - and perhaps the food! - that made it for us, and the robust warmth and friendliness - very different to the shy smiles and welcome in south East Asia. Did I mention that they are also really, really good-looking? The immigration guy on arrival at Tehran airport was a lovely welcome (although he only said 'Salam, passport please'), but looked like a 50s movie star, and generally there were some stunning Iranian men and women. The Iranians are also known for their rather prominent noses, and even more famously for the plastic surgery they have to amend this....it was very common, particularly in Tehran, to see people with bandages across their nose, and this has now become such a symbol of wealth that it is now also common for some to wear the bandages, even if they haven't had the surgery.

Iran today must be a totally different place for those who were alive before the 1979 revolution - when you see images of Iran in the 60s and 70s it's difficult to imagine it is the same country, especially with women wearing miniskirts!! Most people we talked to were very hopeful ("Inshallah") that the new government will take the country into a better direction than previous ones, and open up dialogue with the west. The every day Iranian wants nothing more than for their country to be opened up, and to move forward. The Iranians we met were so articulate and knowledgeable that we almost felt put to shame. They are also only too aware of the image Iran has abroad, and as much as I believe their friendliness was genuine I also think they want to dispel the misconceptions about their country and every visitor to go back as an ambassador...national pride in Iran runs very high, with one of the most commons questions put to us being "what do you think of Iran?"

So, I am doing my bit...go to Iran. It is a fascinating country, absolutely full of surprises - in the best possible way. I am not saying that's its a model country, nor am I choosing to ignore the violent crackdown in response to the 2009 protests, the question over its nuclear energy use, support of the current Syrian regime etc...I am saying that just associating those stories with Iran is a very one-dimensional view, and you soon learn to see the country's government and its people as two separate entities. There is certainly nothing dark or scary about Iran, and there is so much more (good) to Iran that you just don't hear about. I think it will always be one of the top highlights of our trip, I personally cannot wait to go back...and not just to stock up on soft furnishings.