After an interesting journey from Manchester to Tehran via Istanbul I arrived into Iran at 3am on Saturday morning. Hours late, hot, bothered and tired but who cares - I was finally in Iran. I had heard that the Iranian people were really friendly and welcoming and I would feel very safe. This was shown to me within minutes of landing when I went to the Money Exchange. I handed over my cash to be told "this is an official exchange so the prices are set by the government. Wait until you get into the city and change your money there" I explained that I needed to pay for a taxi and he continued by saying he'd be ripping me off if he took my money so he'll go and speak to the taxi driver and explain!! He came out to the taxi rank explained that I didn't have any Rials and to get the money from the hotel where I was staying - you don't get that in Leeds. We eventually arrived at the hotel after a typical Middle Eastern car journey (the white lines are there for decoration and traffic lights are just a suggestion) the taxi driver spoke to the night manager he got paid and I went to bed. Wondering what had just happened!! I met up with the rest of the group at 12pm the next day. Our guide is called Mustafa, he is 29 and comes from Shiraz, which is in Southern Iran. Robert and Gabriel are husband and wife from Melbourne. They are currently on a gap year travelling around Europe, North Africa and the Middle East on a tandem. Although the tandem is currently having its own holiday in Istanbul. Next up is Elizabeth who is in her 70's, has been EVERYWHERE and is also from Australia, Enya is Polish but has lived in Australia for the past 30 years, John is retired and from Australia (you can see where I'm going with this!). Doug and Harry are also from Australia and then finally there's another John who is from......... New Zealand! It's a really good group, everyone is really nice even though I'm the youngest by about 20 years. After lunch we headed out into the hot, sticky, pollution filled air of Tehran for a walking tour. First stop was Golestan Palace, which was built in the 1500's and became the official residence of the Royal family in 1794 until 1925. It is set amongst the most beautiful, manicured gardens, full of colourful flowers, fountains and lush, green lawns. It is a really tranquil oasis in the middle of the madness that is Tehran. The palace itself is very very opulent and full of bling. There is a "Hall of Brilliance" so called because every inch of the walls and ceiling are covered in mosaics made from mirrors. Just in case that wasn't brilliant enough they then stuck in a huge crystal chandelier! Bit too tacky for my liking I like ny palaces with a bit of class - although the building is stunning. From the Palace we walked to the Bazaar, which was absolute chaos. To give you an idea of how cramped and crazy it is there are 4000 carpet merchants in just 60 passages. There are also hundreds of juice bars serving fresh fruit juices such as Melon, banana, pineapple - I had a strawberry juice and it was lovely. After the Bazaar we headed to the Iman Mosque before taking the underground back to the hotel. In the evening we went for dinner at the Armenian Club, which is a Christian establishment. Because of this women can legally eat without wearing the hejab and it sells alcohol - although sadly they had run out! I had what I feel is going to be the first of many lamb kebabs.