Gulf of Possibilities
Words | Kamin Mohammadi From dutyfree shopping to embracing fertility trees… experience this month’s Iranian New Year festival on the island of Kish, where the living is easy THIS LITTLE-KNOWN island in the Persian Gulf is a mere hour and a half’s flight away from Iran’s capital Tehran, but light years away from the traffic [...]
Words | Kamin Mohammadi
From dutyfree shopping to embracing fertility trees… experience this month’s Iranian New Year festival on the island of Kish, where the living is easy
THIS LITTLE-KNOWN island in the Persian Gulf is a mere hour and a half’s flight away from Iran’s capital Tehran, but light years away from the traffic fumes, stresses and strains of the big city. In Kish, the roads are clear, the taxi drivers relaxed and there is even a free bus service to ferry islanders and visitors along the 15km length of this compact island. Iranians have flocked to this destination since the mid-1990s, when it was declared a Free Trade Zone, not just for the turquoise sea and the duty-free shopping, but also for the more relaxed atmosphere that the place enjoys. Of the 1.5 million people who visit annually, many describe a weekend here as a ‘break for the mind’, a chance to cut some slack from the tighter Sharia laws that govern the Islamic Republic of Iran, to breathe in the more tolerant air of this laid-back island.
Inhabitants of the Persian Gulf say that only a sheet of paper divides man and hell, and although the island’s climate makes it devilishly
uncomfortable in high summer, Kish is perfect in winter and spring. In March the temperatures are a balmy 18-25ºC with soft sea breezes rustling the palm trees. And it’s not just modern leisure-lovers who appreciate Kish. Historically the isle was famous for its pearls;
when Marco Polo visited the Imperial court in China and commented on the Emperor’s wife’s pearls, he was told that they were from Kish.
Sea gems aside, shopping is still the main attraction for the Iranians, who swell the numbers of locals from 200,000 to over a million throughout the year. Huge malls rival Dubai’s shopping hold on the region. The vast retail centres attract both bargain hunters and Iran’s fashionistas, who browse the boutiques, buy clothes and shoes in the latest western styles and attend the concerts and festivals, which take place on the island throughout the year.
Kish was a quiet backwater until the 1970s, when the last Shah of Iran turned the island into a luxury resort for the international elite, complete with a grand casino and an airport designed to handle Concorde. In the Islamic Republic, where drinking and gambling
are banned, the casino has morphed into the wonderfully retro Shayan International Hotel. But despite its obvious attractions – crystal clear water, white beaches and excellent diving – Kish’s appeal is often lost on foreigners, who are not used to segregated beaches and the lack of alcohol.
While some Westerners may find it strange to be on such a beautiful island and not be sunbathing topless on the beach or hitting the bars at night, for Iranians it’s a different story. Women make the most of the Ladies’ Beach, at the top of the eastern coast. The cycle route that runs around the island keeps teenagers happy and there is horse riding on the main beach by the jetty, not to mention a noisy mish-mash of restaurants, cafés and fast food joints with tables on the sand.
As well as shopping there is diving and snorkelling in the peerlessly clear water, where the variety of polychromatic fish and coral is breathtaking. For nondivers, a glass-bottomed boat makes the underwater world accessible. Women hoping to get pregnant crowd the ‘green tree’, an ancient and massive Bodhi tree, to which they tie ribbons as they make their wish.
At weekends and during holidays such as Noruz, the Iranian New Year taking place this month (20-23 March), families and groups of friends congregate here, gathering in private villas and apartments or staying at one of Kish’s 46 hotels. None is more grand than the Dariush, a $125m five-star hotel built in the image of Persepolis, a symbol of the glory of the ancient Iranian civilisation. The Las Vegas-style hotel has become a tourist attraction in its own right.
Kish is an island paradise made of peculiarly Iranian stuff. For those who have the world at their feet, it may not rank alongside other tropical retreats, but for Iranians who can only dream of visiting the Maldives or Thailand’s beaches, Kish is a place where they can party with friends unbothered by the morality police, a place where, if they can’t exactly let their hair down, they can at least let that headscarf slip back further than at home.
Dariush Grand Hotel, +98 21 8850 5002, www.dariushgrandhotel.com
