EDMONDS — One of Snohomish County’s most famous residents, Rick Steves, is venturing from his European comfort zone to Iran.
Well known for his public television show Rick Steves’ Europe Through the Back Door, radio appearances, guidebooks and newspaper columns, Steves is currently filming a travel show in Iran.
According to his blog, Steves flew into Tehran Saturday and plans to spend 10 days exploring the city and traveling to Isfahan, Shiraz and Persepolis. He plans to produce a show that features “no politics, just travel” titled “Iran: Its People and Culture, Yesterday and Today.”
The Edmonds resident said on his blog he is filming the show to help defuse tension that could lead to war. In his blog, he writes about humanizing Iranian people so that if the U.S. does go to war with Iran, his viewers would have a better idea of what’s at stake.
“Who’s paying for this production? Me,” Steves writes in his blog. “I figure this adventure will cost me roughly what each household in the U.S. is already paying for Iraq. If I can help avert an extra war — even just a little bit — this will be a brilliant personal investment — and lots of people will owe me big-time.”
The U.S. Department of State warns American citizens against traveling to Iran, but does not ban it. Hostility toward Americans, large demonstrations and the country’s imprisonment of American academics have led the department to advise against traveling to Iran.
Nonetheless, Americans with family in Iran, as well as scholars and journalists, travel to the country regularly, according to Department of State spokeswoman Nancy Beck.
To read Steves’ blog, go to http://www.ricksteves.com/blog/.
Reporter Kaitlin Manry: 425-339-3292 or kmanry@heraldnet.com.
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